Improvements in Forming Flanges on Metallic Tubes.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Apr., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 26th Jan., 1895-Accepted, 9th Mar., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Forming Flanges on Metallic Tubes.
I, SAMUEL EARNSHAW HOWELL Sheffield Tube Works, Wincobank, Sheffield
in the County of York, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention
to be as follows:-
My invention refers to an improved method of forming flanges upon ductile
metal tubes, in contradistinction to the present plan of making them separately
and screwing them upon the tubes or casting them upon cast tubes or pipes.
The invention is applicable either to solid drawn or to lap welded tubes, or other
wrought tubes.
My invention can be carried out in various ways, the hydraulic press being by
preference the operating machine; the process broadly speaking being to bring
the end of the tube to the desired heat, and then with the aid of suitable tools,
(such as dies and mandrils) to compress the heated part longitudinally and thereby
thicken it, and then to expand such thickened part until it assumes the form. of a
flange.
For example, I may compress the heated end and thereby shorten and thicken.it,
at the same time keeping all the extra thickness of metal upon the outside, and
not interfering with the bore; I preferably press the enlarged end into a conical
form, the base of the cone being the end of the pipe, by which form I obtain a
flange of equal thickness throughout, and if desired I may strengthen or enlarge
a flange so formed by. welding a washer shaped ring upon it.
I may vary the above process by compressing the excess of metal inside the
bore of the pipe, or partly inside and partly outside, and opening, it, out as before
described; or 1 may weld a ring or short length of tube either inside or outside
the end of the tube, and open it out as a flange by pressure in the manner
aforesaid.
Upon any of these flanges so formed I may produce at the time of pressing a
number of concentric rings or the like, for use in jointing pipes together.
Dated the 25th day of April 1894:
ROBT. F. DRURY, C.P.A.,
Bank Buildings, George Street, Sheffield, Agent for Applicant.
Improvements in Forming Flanges on Metallic Tubes.
I, SAMUEL EARNSHAW HOWELL Sheffield Tube Works, Wincobank; Sheffield
in the County of York, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same has to be performed, to be particularly described
and' ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention consists of an improved method of forming solid flanges upon
ductile metallic tubes in contradistinction to making such flanges separately and
either screwing, rivetting, or by like means securing them upon such tubes. Thie
n

page_text: to compress such heated part longitudinally and thereby thicken the end for some
distance, then to open or expand such thickened part until it assumes the form of a
flange of equal thickness throughout.
The annexed sheet of drawings illustrates the invention, and some different
forms in which the ends. of the tube may be thickened by compression to produce
the flange.
Fig. 1, section of a piece of tube.
Fig. 2, the same compressed.
Fig. 3 the same formed into a flange.
Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, show the different forms into which the heated metal of the tube
may be compressed; the end of tube E, and flange F, are also indicated.
Fig. 8, the thickening produced-by "welding" a ring, and Fig. 9, produced by
"casting" a ring upon the tube.
In carrying out my invention I proceed as follows:
I take a length of steel tube T, for example, as in Fig. 1, and bring one of its
ends E, to a welding heat, I then place the tube in the hydraulic press with its
cold end against a suitable abutment, and the heated end between a pair of gripping
dies which close upon it with the exception of a portion which projects beyond
their faces.
The inside of this divided die, facing the operating ram, is turned out to a
conical form of larger diameter than the tube (or to any other desired for such as
those shown in Figs. 4 to 7,) to receive and give the desired shape to the compressed
metal as seen in Fig. 2.
The operating hydraulic ram (which is in line concentrically with the tube,) is
provided with a-mandril or plug to fit into the bore of the tube, and a shoulder or
pressing face of the same diameter (or thereabouts) of the intended flange.
When the ram is put in action, the mandril enters the tube at E, to support it
during the operation, and the shoulder or collar compresses the projecting end E,
of the tube T, into the annual conical space round the tube, in the end of the die,
thus producing the thickened portion P, shown in Fig. 2.
The end of the tube is again heated and subjected to the action of one or more
cones placed upon the mandril, which expand and open out the end of the tube to
the approximate form of a flange, the final flattening and finishing process being
given by the pressure of the shoulder aforesaid which forces the flange into a
circular recess corresponding in shape and size with the required flange which is
made.
It will be well understood by practical men that if a flange F, was opened out from
the end of a tube without the process of thickening before described, such flange
would be spread and be thinner at the outer edge, and would not answer its purpose
effectively.
I may vary the disposition or form of the compressed metal as may be found
most effective or desirable, thus in Fig. 4, I have shown the excess of metal P,
upon the outside, and in Fig. 5, it is in the inside of the tube in the form of a
parallel collar, Fig. 6, shows it as an outside cone, Fig. 7, an inside cone, Fig. 8,
shows a flange of thin proportions made as before described and strengthened by
the addition of an extra ring. welded upon the said flange.
I may also weld a ring W, R, either upon the outside or inside of the end of the
pipe, and then open out the end so strengthened by means of the tools and in the
manner aforesaid.
According to another method see Fig. 9, I cast. upon the end of a tube T, a
surrounding annular cone C, in such a manner that it shall cause the tube to

page_text: partially melt and become incorporated and homogeneous with it. It is then
subjected to the action of the press which process transforms it from a casting
into a forging and produces the conical form indicated by the dotted lines D, and
it is finally turned back into the flange F, by the means before described.
When pressing the flanges so constructed into the finished form, I may produce
one or more concentric rings upon the face of the flange, or other equivalent
projections to engage one with the other, for use in making the joints of adjacent
pipes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1. The process of forming flanges upon ductile metallic tubes, by thickening
the end of the tube under longitudinal pressure, and afterwards spreading out and
pressing the thickened end into the form of a flange of equal thickness as
hereinbefore described.
2. The process of forming flanges upon ductile metallic tubes, by first increasing
the thickness of the end of the tube by welding an inside or an outside ring upon
it, then opening or spreading out such thickened end and pressing it into the form
of a flange, by means of suitable tools, as herein before described.
3. The process of forming flanges upon ductile metallic tubes, by first casting
upon the end of the tube (and so as to become incorporated with it) a surrounding
ring of metal, then compressing the same, and afterwards spreading it out to a
flange as hereinbefore described and shown in Fig. 9.
Dated the 24th day of January 1895.
ROBT. F. DRURY, C.P.A.,
Bank Buildings, George Street, Sheffield, Agent for Applicant.