IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WELDED IRON TUBES
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, 'T'HOMAS
HENRY RUSSELL, of Wednesbury, in the County of Stafford, Iron Tube
Manufacturer, and CORNELIUS WHITEHOUSE, of the same Place, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Seventh day of March, in the fifth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Thomas
Henry Russell and Cornelius Whitehouse, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that we, the said Thoma's Henry Russell and
Cornelius Whitehouse, our exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said Thomas Henry Russell and Cornelius Whitehouse, our exors, admors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF WELDED IRON TUBES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso,
that we, the said Thomas Henry Russell and Cornelius Whitehouse, or one of
us, shall cause a particular description of the nature of oursaid Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Thomas Henry Russell and Cornelius Whitehouse do hereby declare that the
nature of our Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed, are fully described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon (that is to say) :-
Our Invention relates to improvements in welding the joints or scams of
wrought-iron tubes when made by external pressure, by passing the iron in a
welding state between dies or through holes; and the improvements consist
of a means of employing internal support, and in such manner that the
instrument which gives the internal support, being introduced into a partly
formed tube, is caused to pass with the tube through the dies or holes used,
by which the requisite external pressure is obtained; and when the weld is
completed, the instrument used for giving internal support, owing to its being
of small diameter when compared with the diameter of the finished tube, may
readily be withdrawn by causing the welded tube to be pressed into a cylin-
drical form.
And in order that our Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect we will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
a, Figure 1, represents an end view of'n skelp of iron, turned into the shape
shown. This skelp, being heated to a light or moderate welding heat, is
drawn through the tongs b, Figure 2; these tongs have a bell or enlarged
'mouth opening, and the upper part at c is so sunk as to cause the turned skelp
of iron to assume the shape shown at Figure 3, one edge of the skelp touching
the inner surface at the other edge of the skelp, which is caused to overlap,
as is clearly shown at d, and a partial weld is thus effected. A cylindrical bar
or rod of iron e is then introduced into the interior of the skelp or partly
formed tube, and the skelp or partly formed tube is to be heated to a welding
heat, and then by means of a draw-bench, the tube, with the instrument e within
it, is drawn through the hole in the dies or tongs, Figure 4, the pressure being
in the direction of the dotted line y, y, by which the metal of the joint or
seam will be pressed together, and the instrument e, which will not have
become very highly heated, will be securely held in the tube. The tube being
kept at a welding heat is again drawn through the hole of the die or tongs,
Figure 4; in this instance the principal pressure will, however, be in the
direction of the dotted lines z, z, in Figure 5, and the seam or joint will be

page_text: pressed on a little on one side of the central line thereof. Then the tube is
again drawn through a hole in the tongs or dies, Figure 4, which are caused
to give the principal pressure a little on the other side of the central line of
the seam or joint, as is indicated by the dotted lines a, a, Figure 5, the tube
being turned in such manner that the tongs may grasp it in the positions
indicated by the dotted lines a, a, and z, z, by which means a very effective
lap joint and weld will be obtained to the tube. We prefer to use three pair
of tongs, Figure 4, for this purpose, so that the tongs used for each time of
drawing may be immediately put into water, and any scale which may adhere
removed. The tube is then drawn through the hole in the die or tongs, Figure 6,
which causes the tube to assume a cylindrical shape, and, owing to the smaller
diameter of the rod or bare, it will be immediately released, and may readily
be withdrawn from the welded tube. We would remark that we prefer the
pressing dies used to be in the form of tongs, owing to the cheapness of their
construction and the facility they offer for being cleansed by dipping them in
water after each time of use, when the scale (if any adhere) may be readily
removed; such construction of dies also allowing the workman to change from
one size of tube to another more readily. At the same time we do not confine
ourselves to the use of dies in the form of tongs, as grooved rollers or other
dies, such, for instance, as are described in the Specification of Cornelius
Whitehouse's Patent, of 26 July 1825, may be used for performing the
welding processes when the internal support e has been introduced; but we
consider hand dies in the shape of tongs to be the best. The workman in
using the tongs rests them against a suitable stop formed on the draw-bench,
and he causes the parts of the die to close as the tube begins to pass through
the die. We would also remark that the dies and manner of using them
shewn and described are very similar to those now used in the making of
welded iron tubes, according to the Specification of the former Patent granted
to the said Cornelius Whitehouse, they differing only in the shape of the bell-
mouth given to them respectively. And we would wish it to be understood
that we do not claim the using of such dies when uncombined with the use of an
internal support e, similar to that shewn in the Drawing; nor do we claim the
use of an internal support when using external pressure in welding iron tubes,
unless the instrument for giving internal support be such as to pass with the
tube through the holes or dies used, and offer internal support from end to
end of the seam or joint of the tube which is to be welded, the bar or rod e
being of such diameter in respect to the tube that on shaping the tube the
bar or rod shall be released, as before mentioned, so as to be readily with-

page_text: drawn, owing to the smallness of the diameter when compared with the tubo
welded thereon; it will therefore be seen that the tube does not move or slide
on the bar or rode when the process of welding is being performed. In order
to obtain lightness of the instrumente, used for giving internal support, we
prefer that it should be hollow, and we have used strong welded iron tubes for
this purpose. The instrumente is longer than the tube welded thereon, and
protrudes a short distance through at each end, and care is to be observed in
raising the tube to a welding heat that the ends of the partly formed tube, and
also of the instrument e, are to be kept out of the strong action of the fire, in
order to prevent those parts being raised to a welding heat; for this object
we have a hole at the back of the furnace for the end of the instrumente to
protrude through, and for the end of the tube to enter, so that the heat is
applied to the tube only, and not quite up to the end thereof, and when the fire
or furnace is not sufficiently long to heat the length of tube desired at one
heat, then we first make the tube in the manner described above for a part of
the length of the skelp, and when the same has been cooled, we insert the
instrument e, and finish the other end of the skelp by raising it to a welding
heat and drawing it in like manner to the first end of the skelp. The
tube thus made is subsequently raised to a bright red heat or a moderate
welding heat, and is drawn through a pair of dies rather less than those at
Figure 6, which slightly reduces the diameter of the tube and brings it to the
size desired; the tube is then to be straightened as heretofore, and the ends
cut off, when the tube will be complete. We prefer that the instrument e
should simply be straightened, and not cooled down between each succeeding
tube in which it is used, it being desirable to keep the instruinente hot. We
would observe that this Invention is particularly applicable when thin welded
iron tubes are desired, such as for the tubular flues of locomotive or similar
steam boilers, for which purpose we are now using iron of No. 14 of the wire
gunge; and we are now making such tubes from one and a half to two inches
diameter, but those dimensions may be varied. The Drawings show the size
of the bar or rod used when making tubes of two inch internal diameter; and
it will be evident that the diameter of the bar or rode will be varied according
to the size to be made.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, we would wish it to be
understood that we do not confine ourselves to the various details shown and
described, provided the peculiar mode of applying internal support, combined
with the welding of wrought-iron tubes by external pressure, be retained,
whereby a bar or rod e, though of much sinaller diameter than the tube welded

page_text: thereon, is caused to give efficient support to the seam or joint of a tube when
being welded by external pressure, and whereby the rod or bare is caused to
pass under
pressure with the tube, and be released after the weld is obtained
by the subsequent shaping of the tube, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Henry Russell, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-two.
THOMAS HENRY (L.s.) RUSSELL.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixth day of September, in thé
year of our Lord 1842, the aforesaid Thomas Henry Russell came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Seventh day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-two,