Improvements in the Manufacture of Corrugated Metal Cylinders.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Oct., 1889-Accepted, 2nd Nov., 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Corrugated Metal Cylinders.
I, THOMAS F. ROWLAND, of 329 Madison Avenue, in the City County and State of
New York, United States of America, Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to the manufacture of corrugated cylinders, and particularly
to cylinders such as are used as boiler furnaces, that is as the exterior or body part
of a steam boiler furnace; which cylinders are usually made in large sizes, and are
laterally corrugated.
In the manufacture of such cylinders, the flat metal blank is first brought to a
Cylindrical form with its opposite edges adjoining, which edges are then welded
together, thus forming a plain cylinder having a longitudinal seam.
Such a plain cylinder is then heated throughout, and when brought to the proper
temperature is submitted to the action of corrugating rolls that give it its final
corrugated form, after which it is again heated and annealed.
It has heretofore been the practice to heat and corrugate these plain cylinders
when they are in a horizontal position. This method, however, I have found to be
objectionable in various respects. The cylinder is necessarily heated to a point
where the metal is softened sufficiently to be readily worked in the corrugated
machinery, but such softening of the metal is also sufficient to permit the cylinder
when in a horizontal position to collapse more or less. That is, there is a tendency of
these cylinders when heated to become somewhat flattened or to lose their true cylin-
drical form during the process of heating, as well as during the subsequent steps of
their removal from the furnace to the corrugating rolls, and the corrugating thereof.
If the cylinders do lose, even to a slight extent, their cylindrical form, the corru-
gating thereof cannot be properly accomplished, or, at least, not without considerable
difficulty, and in some cases they may require to be re-heated and again submitted
to the rolls; all of which, obviously adds greatly to the cost of their manufacture,
besides tending to the production of poor work. The reason for the necessity of
keeping the cylinders in true cylindrical form, is that, since the rolls act upon them
at right angles to their axis, any practical deviation of the surface of the cylinder
from a true cylindrical form tends to cause the corrugations being formed to take a
spiral direction, and, if they do take a spiral direction, the correction thereof is a
matter of great difficulty which calls for careful readjustment of the corrugating
machinery and further manipulation of the cylinder, thereby producing a loss of time
during which the metal may cool to a point at which it cannot be worked. So, too,
if the finished or corrugated cylinder be beated and annealed in the horizontal
position, it is likely to become bowed on one side, or otherwise misshapen.
I have discovered that if the plain cylinders be kept in an upright or vertical position
during the heating and corrugating thereof, as also during the annealing process, the
difficulties explained are obviated.
My invention consists, therefore, in the improved mode of producing corrugated
cylinders by beating and working the plain cylinders while maintaining them in an
upright or vertical position; and also in annealing the corrugated cylinders while
they are in a vertical position.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 is an elevation view showing the heating and annealing furnaces in
section, and the corrugating machinery.
Figure 2 is a like view, but showing how the plain cylinder is conveyed from the
heating furnace to the corrugating machinery, and showing a cylinder in process of
corrugating.

page_text: A is a furnace of any suitable form adapted to properly heat the plain cylinder;
it will usually be a gas furnace. The dome of this furnace B is made movable, and
the top of the furnace is substantially on the same level as the receiving bed of the
corrugating rolls CC. These rolls are arranged in an upright position, and one of
them is adapted to be lifted vertically away, or otherwise removed, from and returned
to its operative position, in order that the heated cylinder may be placed between the
rolls. D is a crane or other suitable machinery, by which the cylinder may be
lifted from the furnace and swung to the corrugating rolls. E is a cylinder shown
in position in the furnace. F is the annealing furnace, and G is a crane for removing
the corrugated cylinder from the corrugating rolls to this furnace: H represents a
corrugated cylinder.
The plain cylinder is put into the furnace in an upright or vertical position, the
furnace is closed and the cylinder brought to the proper temperature; it is then lifted
out by the crane machinery which preserves its vertical position, and is swung to the
bed of the corrugating rolls; the removable roll is returned through the cylinder
to its bearings, and the corrugating of the cylinder is performed.
After the plain cylinder has been thus corrugated, it is removed from the corru-
gating rolls and transferred to the annealing furnace, where it is reheated and
annealed, this being usually essential to the proper finishing of the cylinder. In
lieu of annealing the corrugated cylinder in a special furnace, it may be returned
to the heating furnace for that purpose, but it is preferred to have two furnaces as
shown and described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
First. The herein described method of producing corrugated cylinders, consisting
in heating a plain cylinder in an upright position in a furnace, and then, while
still maintaining the cylinder in a vertical position, removing it from the furnace to
and corrugating it between suitable rolls, substantially as described.
Second. The herein described method of producing corrugated cylinders, consisting
in bringing a plain cylinder to a working heat while in an upright position, and, still
maintaining the cylinder in the upright position, corrugating it between suitable
rolls and then reheating and annealing it, substantially as described.
Dated this 1st day of October 1889.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.