IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING METAL TUBES
Year: 1855

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Emanuel Wharton at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 31st May
1855.
I, EMANUEL WHARTON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING METAL TUBES" to be
as follows:-
The first part of my improvements consist of a machine for rolling various
sized tubes of copper, brass, or other alloys with one sett of rolls which have
but one groove or aperture. This machine consists of four rolls of equal dia-
meters, mounted in standards and driven by suitable geering, the peripheries
of the rolls being of such a form that when put together they form nearly
an octagonal groove or aperture in the centre. Three of the rolls have, by
means of worms, wheels, and screws, an advancing and receding motion from
and towards the centre of the machine, for the purpose of enlarging or con-
tracting the octagonal groove or aperture in the rolls for the different sized
tubes, likewise for reducing the tubes to the requisite thickness. The metal
tube is first cast in a short length, and of a proportionate thickness to the
length and strength of the tube required, its end section being of the same
form as the groove or aperture form in the rolls. The short thick tube is
brought to the proper thickness and length by being successively roll through
the groove or aperture, and over a mandrill or piston, which is secured in the
centre or grip of the rolls. The rolls have a reciprocating or backward and

page_text: forward motion, so as to roll and re-roll the tube over the mandrill or piston,
the groove or aperture being contracted, as before described, a little each
time the tube is passed through the rolls, untill the tube is brought to the
required thickness. To make the tubes cylindrical, they must be pass
through a circular die or rolls with circular grooves.
The second part of my improvements consist of a machine for bevilling
the edges of wrought-iron plates or skelps, and for bending or forming them
into a cylindrical shape while in a heated state preparatory to welding them
into tubes. This machine is constructed of three pairs of rolls, mounted in
standards and driven by suitable geering. The plates or skelps are heated to
a good heat, and are put into the first pair of rolls, which bevils the edges,
likewise carry the plate or skelp forward to the second pair of rolls, which
bends it over an oval-shaped block into a trough or gutter shape, and is still
carried forward by the action of these rolls to the third pair of rolls, that
brings it into a cylindrical form, and closes it upon a mandrill or piston
secured in the grip or centre of the rolls, the mandrill having a long stem
to it, so that the turn-up skelp or tube passes along and rests upon it after
leaving the machine.
The third part of my improvements is another method of bending or forming
wrought-iron plates or skelps into a cylindrical form, and consists of a machine
with two pairs of rolls, and a conical die placed between them with suitable
standards and geering. The plate or skelp is heated as before described, and
put into the first pair of rolls, which forms it into a trough or gutter shape,
and is forced by the action of the rolls into and through the conical die, which
is made of a proper size and form, that when it leaves the smaller end of the
conical die it has nearly attained a cylindrical form; it then immediately enters
the second pair of rolls, which closes it upon a mandrill or piston secured in
the grip or centre of the rolls, as before described. Likewise plates or skelps
of copper, brass, or other alloys can be bent and formed into a cylindrical
shape by this machine.
The fourth part of my improvements consist of an arrangement of circular
steel cutters, for shearing or cutting of superfluous metal or fins that are form
upon tubes in the process of manufacture.