IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM BOILERS, APPLICABLE ALSO TO OTHER PURPOSES WHERE CIRCULAR, OVAL, OR OTHER CONTINUOUS FORMS ARE USED
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Smith Longridge, of Alderwasley Iron
Works, in the County of Derby, Engineer, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM BOILERS, APPLICABLE ALSO TO
OTHER PURPOSES WHERE CIRCULAR, OVAL, OR OTHER CONTINUOUS FORMS ARE
USED."
Sealed the 16th September 1864, and dated the 16th March 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Smith Longridge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th March 1864.
WILLIAM SMITH LONGRIDGE, of Alderwasley Iron Works, in the County
of Derby, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM BOILERS, APPLICABLE ALSO TO OTHER
PURPOSES WHERE CIRCULAR, OVAL, OR OTHER CONTINUOUS FORMS ARE USED," to be
as follows:-
My improvements relate to the preparation of rings, hoops, or other con-
tinuous forms of iron or other material used in the manufacture of parts of
steam boilers, or for other purposes where such or similar forms are used, these
being prepared in the ordinary way, as is well known,. by the use of straight
or flat plates or bars bent or curved into the form desired, and seamed or
joined by means of riveting or welding to form the rings, hoops, or other

page_text: continuous forms, one or more plates or bars being required or used to
form each ring, hoop, or other continuous form, according to size, diameter, or
convenience.
My improvements consist, first, in dispensing entirely with the use of straight
or flat plates or bars in the preparation or formation of such rings, hoops, or
other continuous forms, and preparing such forms from hollow blooms or
ingots of comparatively small diameters and considerable thicknesses by the
operations of hammering, pressing, or rolling into circular, oval, or other
continuous forms of the required thicknesses without joins or seams.
Secondly, in the application of ignited gas in jets to the surfaces of rings,
hoops, or other continuous forms during the operations of hammering,
pressing, or rolling, for the purpose of maintaining them at a sufficient.
temperature.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Smith Longridge in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th September 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE. PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SMITH LONGRIDGE, of Alderwasley Iron Works, in the County of Derby,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Smith Longridge, Her special license that I, the said William
Smith Longridge, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Smith Longridge, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM BOILERS, APPLICABLE ALSO TO
OTHER PURPOSES WHERE CIRCULAR, OVAL, OR OTHER CONTINUOUS FORMS ARE
USED," upon the condition, amongst others, that I; the said William Smith
Longridge, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed

page_text: in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Smith Longridge, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say) :-
My improvements in the construction of steam boilers, and applicable for
other purposes where circular or oval or other continuous forms are used,
relate to the preparation of "hoops or rings" or other continuous forms,
generally of considerable breadth, which are used to form parts of the shells
and flues of steam boilers, and for other purposes where such hoops or rings
or other continuous forms may be required. Hitherto these hoops or rings
have been prepared by using straight or flat plates or bars, bending them-to
the curvature or form desired, and joining the ends of such plates or bars
together by riveting or welding, so as to make the hoops or rings or other
forms, one or more of such plates or bars being required to form or prepare
each hoop or ring or other form; by this method the seams or joinings of the
plates or rings are considerably weaker than the bodies or solid portions.
My improvements consist, first, in dispensing entirely with the use of
straight or flat, plates or bars in the preparation of hoops or rings or other
continuous forms, thereby avoiding the necessity of any seams or joinings in
such hoops or rings or other forms, by which they are very considerably
strengthened, and instead of such straight or flat plates or bars I use ingots or
blooms of iron or other materials from which the hoops or rings or other con-
tinuous forms are to be made, such ingots or blooms being of comparatively
small diameters or sizes, and of considerable thickness, but sufficient in
quantities of material to form the hoops or rings or other forms of the sizes
desired, and subsequently, by the operations of pressing, hammering, and
rolling, or either or any of such operations, form such ingots or blooms into
hoops or rings or other forms, as desired, and without any joinings or seams
whatever.
I will now describe one method or means of carrying out my improvement.
I form my ingot or bloom in any manner as in use for such, and well known,
but I prefer forming the bloom by coils of bars of iron, or the material to
be used, such bars being in part coiled in one or right-handed direction, and
in part in another or left-handed direction, so that the joints or seams of the
coils break joint with each other in the bloom. The bloom thus formed will
be hollow and circular. I then heat the bloom to its proper heat, and submit
it to the process of pressing, hammering, and rolling, or either of such

page_text: processes, so as to effect the welding of the mass, and which will now be of
the form of a short thick tube. I now submit it to the rolling process, pre-
ferring to employ for this purpose the machine described in the Specification
of Patent granted to me, and dated, No. 3397, Nineteenth December, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and whereby the bloom ultimately
takes the form of a hoop or ring of the size desired.
My improvements consists, secondly, in the use and application of heat to
the hoops or rings to the iron or other materials under operation by means of
ignited jets of gas, for the purpose of maintaining them at a sufficient
temperature; the pipes and burners which I employ for this purpose I
arrange so that the jets of ignited gas shall impinge upon the surfaces of hoops
or rings during the operation of rolling them, and so that they may be easily
removed so as not to impede the actions of the machines or of the men attending
them.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Smith Longridge, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
WILLIAM S. LONGRIDGE. (L.S.)