IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WELDED IRON AND STEEL TUBES
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Edward Smith, of Wednesbury, in the County
of Stafford, Tube Manufacturer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WELDED IRON
AND STEEL TUBES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Edward Smith
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th January 1880.
CHARLES EDWARD SMITH, of Wednesbury, in the County of Stafford, Tube
Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF WELDED IRON AND STEEL TUBES."
In the manufacture of welded iron and steel tubes, the strip of sheet iron or steel
is ordinarily heated and bent into the form of an open jointed tube called a skelp,
the opposite longitudinal edges of the skelp overlapping each other or being presented
to each other edge to edge according as the skelp is to be made into a lap welded
or butt welded tube.
My Invention has reference to machinery or apparatus for forming the said
skelps.
In constructing the said machinery or apparatus according to my Invention, I
form the die through which the strip is drawn to complete its figure of one solid.
iron casting. The said die consists of a base, flat at its extreme front or that part
at which the heated strip of iron or steel to be operated upon enters it, and having at
that part guides between which the strip enters, and by which it is guided. The front
of the base passes from a flat to an arched figure, or a figure nearly resembling that of
the letter inverted. At this part a slightly curved mandril of the ordinary kind
is fixed to the die by screws, the sides of the die rising on each side of the mandril
and nearly closing over it, a slot or longitudinal opening being left for the passage
of the tongs by which the strip is drawn through the apparatus. Over the front
part of the base of the die a screw or other press is situated, the plunger of the
press carrying a moveable die, the figure of which is the counter part of the part of
the base over which it is situated.

page_text: The strip to be operated upon having been heated, its fore end is drawn from the
furnace and placed upon the front of the base of the apparatus. The moveable die
carried by the plunger of the press brought down upon it, and it is thereby made
to take the figure of the front of the base of the apparatus. The shaped fore end
of the strip is seized by the tongs of the draw bench, and the strip is drawn from
between the moveable die and the front of the base through the tubular part of
the apparatus. By the action of the said tubular part and the mandril the strip is
converted either into a lap jointed or butt jointed skelp.
In place of the press described, a pair of rolls may be employed, the said rolls
having such figures that they bend the strip of heated iron or steel passed between
them into the figure of the letter U inverted. When I use rolls, the apparatus does
not require to be provided with a fore part of the kind herein before before described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Charles Edward Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd
July 1880.
CHARLES EDWARD SMITH, of Wednesbury, in the County of Stafford, Tube
Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF WELDED IRON AND STEEL TUBES."
In the manufacture of welded iron and steel tubes, the strip of sheet iron or steel
is ordinarily heated and bent into the form of an open jointed tube called a skelp,
the opposite longitudinal edges of the skelp overlapping each other, or being
presented to each other edge to edge, according as the skelp is to be made into a lap
welded or butt welded tube.
My Invention has reference to machinery or apparatus for forming the said
skelps.
In constructing the said machinery or apparatus according to my Invention I
form the die through which the strip is drawn to complete its figure of one solid
iron casting. The said die consists of a base flat at its extreme front, or that part
at which the heated strip of iron or steel to be operated upon enters it, and having
at that part guides between which the strip enters, and by which it is guided.
The front of the base passes from a flat to an arched figure, or a figure nearly
resembling that of the letter U inverted. At this part a slightly curved mandril of
the ordinary kind may be fixed to the die by screws, but a mandril is unnecessary,
and I prefer to use the apparatus without a mandril. A slot or longitudinal
opening is left in the die for the passage of the tongs by which the strip is
drawn through the apparatus. Over the front part of the base of the die a
screw or other press is situated, the plunger of the press carrying a moveable
die, the figure of which is the counterpart of the part of the base over which it is
situated.
The strip to be operated upon having been heated, its free end is drawn from the
furnace and placed upon the front of the base of the apparatus. The moveable die
carried by the plunger of the press is brought down upon it, and it is thereby made
to take the figure of the front of the base of the apparatus. The shaped fore end
of the strip is seized by the tongs of the draw bench, and the strip is drawn from
between the moveable die and the front of the base through the tubular part of the
apparatus. By the action of the said tubular part the partly shaped strip is
converted either into a lap jointed or butt jointed skelp.
In place of the press described a pair of rolls may be employed, the said rolls
having such figures that they bend the strip of heated iron or steel passed between
them into the figure of the letter U inverted. When I use rolls the apparatus
does not require to be provided with a fore part of the kind herein before
described.
I will now proceed to describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawings,
the manner in which my Invention is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in plan of upper side, and Figure 2 in front elevation, and
Figure 3 in back elevation, a portion of a machine or apparatus drawn of the full
size, constructed according to my Invention, to be used in the manufacture of lap
welded tube skelps; Figure 4 represents a side elevation of the same with the
noveable die or cap (shown in section) in its place at the front of the apparatus ;
Figure 5 represents a plan, and Figure 6 an end elevation of the moveable die or
cap detached; Figure 7 represents a front elevation, and Figure 8 a plan of the
front portion of the apparatus, exhibiting the moveable die or cap, and the press
used for working the said die or cap, the said Figures 7 and 8 being drawn to a
smaller scale than Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6; Figure 9 represents the tongs which
I use for drawing the skelp through the die,

page_text: The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7, and 8.
a is the base plate of the apparatus, and b is the tubular die through which the
partly bent skelp is drawn to complete its figure. The said die b is bell mouthed
at the front end c, the bell mouth having the arched figure seen in Figure 2, which
gradually passes into a cylindrical figure at the back half d of the tubular die, as
seen in Figure 3. The extreme front e of the apparatus, or that part at which the
heated strip of iron or steel enters the apparatus, is flat, guides f, f, at the ends of
the flat part e guiding the strip as it enters, the apparatus. The front of the base
of the apparatus marked g, between the part e and the front end c of the tubular
die 6 passes from a flat to an arched or nearly semi-circular figure in cross section,
that is to say, the front of the part g has the figure of a flattened arch, as seen
at h, h, Figure 2, which gradually passes into an arch of the size indicated in
dotted lines at h², h³, in Figure 2, where it joints, the front part c of the tubular
die b.
The base plate a, die b, and the parts e, f, g, i, may be made of one solid iron
casting, or of two parts joined together.
Over the arched part g of the front of the base of the apparatus, and the sides i, i,
a moveable die or cap k (represented separately in Figures 5 and 6) is arranged.
The said cap or die k is worked by a screw (or other) press situated over the said
arched part g, as represented in Figures 7 and 8, where the press is marked l. The
figure of the said cap or moveable die k carried by the plunger of the press is the
counterpart of the arched shaped base g of the apparatus, as represented.
In the tubular die b is a slot or opening 62 for the passage of the tongs,
represented in Figure 9, by which the strip is drawn through the apparatus. A
depression g is also made in the arched base part g, and a similar shaped opening k
in the moveable die or cap k to permit of the tongs gripping the partially made
skelp. At the back end of the tubular die b, and at the bottom thereof, a recess is
left in which a block of steel m is fitted, the said block being held in its place by
the plate and screw at n. By the use of this block of steel the cutting of the back
of the die by the finished skelp is largely prevented.
In using the apparatus the heated strip to be made into a skelp is drawn from
the furnace, and its end is placed over the arched base part g of the apparatus, and
against the front c of the tubular die b. The moveable die or cap k carried by the
press situated over the part g brought down upon the heated end of the strip,
and the said strip is thereby made to take the figure of the said base part g and
die k, that is, a nearly semi-tubular figure is given to the said end of the strip.
The cap or moveable die k being slightly raised from its lowest position,
the shaped fore end of the strip is seized by the tongs, Figure 9, of the draw
bench, the said tongs being passed into the slot 63 in the die b, and into the
opening g in the base part g of the apparatus. By the action of the endless
chain of the draw bench to which the tongs are connected in the ordinary way, the
strip is drawn from between the moveable die or cap k and the base part g of the
apparatus (the said parts k and g constituting an arch shaped draw plate) into and
through the tubular die b, by the action of which die b the strip is converted into
a lap jointed skelp, as represented in the back elevation of the tubular die b,
Figure 3. The bottom of the back end of the tubular die b is furnished with the
ordinary shoulder for producing the required lap of the skelp. After the skelp has
been thus made the moveable die or cap k is raised from the base part g, as illus-
trated in Figure 7, and the end of a second heated strip is placed upon the said base
part g and operated upon so as to convert it into a skelp in the manner before
described.
For making lap welded tube skelps of large diameter, I prefer to modify the
machinery or apparatus in the manner represented in Figures 10, 11, 12, and 13 of
the Drawings; Figure 10 representing the apparatus in plan without the moveable
die or cap; Figure 11, a longitudinal vertical section of the apparatus in com-

page_text: bination with the moveable die or cap, and Figures 12 and 13 cross sections of the
apparatus, the section Figure 12 being taken on the line p, p, Figure 11, and the
section Figure 13 on the line q, q, Figure 11. In this modification the front of the
base part e is made concave or trough shaped instead of convex, and the moveable
die k is convex instead of hollow or concave. The longitudinal slot or opening b²
in the die b for the passage of the tongs is made in the bottom of the said die. By
this means a more direct pull of the endless chain of the draw bench upon the strip
is obtained than when the tongs work in a slot in the top of the die. Openings
are also made in the moveable die k and base part to permit the tongs to grasp
the partially made skelp for drawing it through the tubular die. The shoulder at
tbe back end of the tubular die b for producing the required lap in the skelp is
situated at the closed top of the said tubular die (see Figure 13).
The action of this modification is essentially the same as that of the arrangement
berein before described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.
When the arrangement, Figures 10, 11, 12, and 13, is employed for the
manufacture of tube skelps of small diameter and of thick metal, there is no
necessity for using a mandril in conjunction with the apparatus. When however
tube skelps of large diameter and of thin metal are to be made, I prefer the use of
a semi-cylindrical mandril in the rear part of the tubular die b. A mandril of this
kind is represented at 63 in Figure 13, the said mandril 6 being supported in its
place by screw bolts and nuts 6, Figures 10 and 13.
In applying my improvements to the manufacture of butt welded tube skelps,
I construct the parts as before described and illustrated, excepting that the
tubular die is modified in the manner represented in plan in Figure 14, and back
elevation in Figure 15, that is to say, the back end of the tubular die b is made
pear shaped in cross section, and a piece of steel p having a feather or projection
upon its upper face, is fixed in the bottom of the die for preventing the edges of
the skelp being closed in passing through the die.
The arrangement of parts represented in Figures 10, 11, 12, and 13, may also be
used with the modification described in Figures 14 and 15 for making butt welded
tube skelps.
For making large butt welded tube skelps, the tubular die b, Figures 14 and 15,
may be inverted so that the grip of the tongs upon the strip may be at the lower
instead of at the upper part of the tubular die.
A pair of troughing or bending rolls may be used in front of the tubular die for
troughing the heated strip in place of the pressing dies described and represented.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim as my Invention
of "Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus Used in the Manufacture of Welded
Iron and Steel Tubes,”-
First. The machinery or apparatus herein before described and illustrated in
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 of the accompanying Drawings for making lap
welded tube skelps, that is to say, machinery or apparatus consisting essentially of
a pair of dies, the upper or moveable die being actuated by a screw or other press,
the said pair of dies being combined with a tubular die of the kind described and
represented, by the operation of which machinery or apparatus the heated strip to
be formed into a skelp is first arched, and afterwards bent into a tubular form,
substantially as described and illustrated; also the modification herein described
in which a pair of troughing rolls is used in place of the pair of pressing dies.
Secondly. The modification herein before described and illustrated in Figures 10,
11, 12, and 13 of the accompanying Drawings, in which the lower fixed die of the
pressing dies is concave, and the upper moveable die is convex, whether the said
modification be used with a mandril in the tubular die, as represented in Figure 13,
or without the said mandril.
Thirdly. The modification of the tubular die, herein before described and
illustrated in Figures 14 and 15 of the accompanying Drawings, to be used in the

page_text: manufacture of butt welded tube skelps, also the inversion of the said tubular die,
as described with reference to the said Figures 14 and 15.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Edward Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
Witness,
MOSES H. LOWE,
Wednesbury,
Staffordshire.
CHARLES EDWARD SMITH. (L.S.)