Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Mar., 1357
Complete Left, 19th Dec., 1887
Complete Accepted, 27th Jan., 1888
I JOHN THOMAS ONIONS of Scarborough House, Penfield, Wolverhampton, in the
County of Stafford, Merchant and Commission Agent do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
My invention has for its object to enable waste pieces of metal tubing such as those of
iron, steel, brass and copper which have heretofore been consigned to the scrap heap
for remelting to be utilized by being converted into merchantable strips or plates.
And it consists in a method of slitting the waste piece of tube longitudinally by
means of a sawing, cutting or planing tool, opening it out flat by means of a fixed
or rolling wedge or die and finally rolling and planishing strip so as to convert it
into a merchantable article, these operations being performed whilst the metal is hot
in a machine provided with rollers or other means of drawing or forcing it up to
the tools.
J. T. ONIONS.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London,
Patent Agents.

page_text: An Improved Mode of Utilizing Waste Metal Tubing.
I, JOHN THOMAS ONIONS, of Scarborough House, Pennfields, Wolverhampton in
the County of Stafford, Merchant and Commission Agent, 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, reference
heing had to the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon
(that is to say) —
Waste ends or lengths of metal tubing such as those of wrought iron, steel, brass,
and other metals and metallic alloys capable of being rolled into plates or strips, have
heretofore been considered to be, and have been treated as, simply scrap metal, that
is to say they have been consigned to the balling furnace or to the melting furnace
as the character of the metal may have required. It is obvious, however, that such
ends or lengths of metal are simply plates or strips in a cylindrical form.
Now, the object of this invention is to take advantage of the fact that such ends
and lengths are already in the form of plates or strips of various thicknesses, though
in a cylindrical shape, and are therefore in an advanced stage of manufacture
towards being suitable from which to punch or ent articles of merchandise, such as
washers and nails.
For the purpose of, and according to, this invention the waste ends or lengths are
first slit down one side, then opened out flat, or approximately so, and finally rolled
to sufficiently obliterate any grooves or striations which may have been forined by
the dies in the process of drawing the tubes, and to bring them to the required
thickness for the special purpose for which they are to be used. The slitting may be
effected by means of a circular saw, the end or length of tube being in such case
preferably in a heated state, in the case of metals such as wrought iron and steel,
which are more readily sawn whilst hot, or by means of a cutting tool as in planing.
The end or length of tube is then opened out by means of tongs, or of tools similar
to that hereinafter described with reference to the drawings, and is then laid with
what was formerly its inner surface downwards upon a plate or floor and is flattened
(approximately) by means of a mallet, and is then rolled in ordinary plain rolls.
The slitting by means of a saw, flattening and rolling, may be all carried out without
reheating the metal, if it is thoroughly heated at first and no unnecessary delay takes
place during the complete operation. In the case of some metals, such as brass, it

page_text: may be preferred to saw the ends or lengths cold and afterwards heat them for
rolling but this and similar matters will be readily understood by persons accustomed
to work in the different metals, without minute instructions being given here. It is
preferred to roll the metal in such a manner that what was the lengthway of the
plate or strip when in the form of a tube shall be parallel with the axis of the rolls,
that is transverse to the direction in which the plate or strip passes through the rolls,
as the rolling in the manner indicated tends more effectually to obliterate any
longitudinal grooves or striations which may have been scored into the metal by the
dies in the process of drawing the tubes than if the plate or strip is passed through
the rolls with such grooves or striations lying in the direction in which the plate is
rolled.
A convenient apparatus for slitting the waste ends or lengths of tube is shewn by
the drawings herewith, of which figure 1 is a plan of such apparatus, figure 2 a side
elevation of the lower side of figure 1, and figure 3 a transverse section on line xx of
figure 2. The apparatus consists, in the main, simply of a circular saw A driven in
the usual manner of such saws and running in a trough of water a, of a pair of
longitudinal guides bb fixed upon the bed B by means of bolts cc passing through
slotted holes so that the position of the guides towards and from one another may be
readily adjusted, and of a top guide d carried by a support from the bed. The
guides form with the part of the bed which is between them a channel along
which an end or length of tube is pushed or fed as its underside is slit by the saw,
and the top guide d prevents the tube from being raised by the operation of the saw.
The arrows m, m', (figure 2) indicate the relative directions of the revolution of the saw
and the travel of the tube. The guided consists, preferably, of a roller, having an inwardly
cambered face, mounted so as to be free to revolve on anarine carried, so as to be adjustable
as to height, by a stem or support f which is fixed by means of a footy to the bed of the
apparatus. A bolt which fixes the foot to the bed may pass through a slotted hole,
as shewn, and the stem be cylindrical and the arm e be mounted thereon so that it
may be turned in a horizontal plane but be capable of being rigidly fixed thereto by
a set-pin h, or by other convenient means, and thus the position of the guide d may
be adjusted in any direction as required. Rollers i i may be carried to project slightly
above the bed and thus reduce the friction occasioned by the movement of the end or
length of tube therealong.
A convenient tool for opening out the end or length of tube after it has been slit
is shewn by figure 4. It consists simply of a plain bar k, and of a pair of
prongs on one end thereof and as close together as will readily allow of their
being pushed one over and the other under the thickness of metal forming
the tube. Two of these tools should be used together so as to pull against one
another.
The rolls are of the usual character employed for rolling plates or sheets, and
require no special description.
For smaller sizes the ends or lengths of tube may be conveniently opened out by
means of ordinary tongs, by first inserting the end of a pair of tongs into the end
of the slit tube and then opening out the tongs to partially open the end of the tube,
after which two pairs of tongs may be employed along the edges to open out the
entire length. Tongs may be employed also in opening out the larger sizes of tube,
but are not so convenient as the tool above described.
It is not, of course, proposed to apply this invention to very small sizes of tube,
but it is difficult to fix any exact limit of size below which the invention will not be
useful in its application, as it will depend to some extent on the metal under
consideration, and the purpose for which the plate or strip which may be rolled from
the waste ends or lengths is to be used.
By the employment of this invention plates and strips of a size and character
suitable for the manufacture of washers, cut nails, and various other articles, may be
produced at a much cheaper rate than the merchant plates and strips usually
employed for the purpose.

page_text: 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. Utilizing waste metal tubing by opening it out and rolling it, substantially as
described for the purpose set forth.
2. Utilizing waste metal tubing by slitting it along one side by means of a
circular saw, or otherwise, opening it out flat, or approximately so, and rolling it to
the thickness required for the special purpose for which it is intended, substantially
as described.
3. The improved method of utilizing waste metal tubing, substantially as described
for the purpose set forth.
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