AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING METALLIC TUBES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Thomas Grice, of Birmingham, in the County.
of Warwick, Tube Maker, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING METALLIC TUBES."
Sealed the 7th June 1861, and dated the 4th April 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Thomas Grice at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th April 1861.
I, JAMES THOMAS GRICE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Tube
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING METALLIC TUBES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to that method of ornamenting metallic tubes in which
the tube to be ornamented is subjected to pressure by a series of rolls, so
arranged as to press simultaneously on all sides of the tube as it is drawn
through the opening around which the said rolls are situated. The peripheries
of the rolls have on them the design which it is wished to impress on the tube
as it passes between them. The tube in the ordinary manufacture either has
a steel or solid mandril within, or is without a mandril as it is passed between
the rolls.
My Invention consists in filling the tube to be ornamented with pitch or
lead, or other soft fusible metal or alloy, or sand, or other substance which will
support the tube at those parts where great pressure is not exerted, but which
will yield where great pressure is exerted. By filling the tube with pitch or
material of the kind described, the ornament is more perfectly impressed 'on

page_text: the tube than when no mandril is used in the tube or when a steel one is em-
ployed. When the ornament to be impressed on the tube is disposed in the
form of a rib or flute I prefer to prepare the tube by fluting it before subject-
ing it to the action of the ornamenting rolls. When I use pitch or fusible
metal or alloy I melt the said pitch or alloy and fill the tube therewith. After
the tube is ornamented I melt out the pitch or metal or alloy. When sand
or other solid in powder is employed it only requires to be poured into and out
of the tube.
My Invention is applicable both to tubes of the same diameter throughout,
and to taper tubes as well as to twisted tubes, that is to say, tubes in which
the ornament is disposed in the form of a helix or spiral on the tube; but
the essence of my Invention consists in filling the tube with a substance of the
kind herein-before described before subjecting it to the ornamenting process.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Thomas Grice in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th September 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
THOMAS GRICE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Tube Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Thomas Grice, Her special licence that I, the said James
Thomas Grice, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Thomas Grice, 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
"AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING METALLIC TUBES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Thomas Grice, my exe-
cutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, 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 in the Great Seal Patent Office within six

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Thomas Grice, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say,-
My Invention relates to that method of ornamenting metallic tubes, in
which the tube to be ornamented is subjected to pressure by a series of rolls,
the axes of which are all situated in the same plane, and so arranged that the
peripheries of the rolls press simultaneously on all sides of the tube as it is
drawn through the opening formed by the opposed portions of the said peri-
pheries of the rolls. The design to be impressed on the tube is engraved or
otherwise made on the peripheries of the rolls, and is impressed by the said
rolls on the tube as it passes under the operation of the rolls. In the ordinary
manufacture the tube to be ornamented has a steel mandril, which will not
yield to the pressure applied, inserted in it while being passed between the
rolls, or it is operated upon by the rolls without having any internal support.
As my Invention consists, as herein-after explained, in preparing the tube
to be ornamented before subjecting it to the action of the ornamenting machine,
I do not consider it necessary to represent or further describe the said machine.
The said machine is no part of. my Invention.
My said Invention of an improvement or improvements in ornamenting
metallic tubes consists in filling the tube, which is to be ornamented by the
method herein-before described, with some yielding or plastic material, which
will support the tube at those parts where great pressure is not exerted, but
which will yield where great pressure is exerted. The materials which I have
found to answer well in practice are pitch or lead, or other soft fusible metal
or alloy, or gutta percha or sand or wood. An alloy of two parts by weight
of lead and one part by weight of tin I have found to answer very well, but
I prefer pitch to any other material. When I use pitch or other fusible
material or fusible metal or alloy I melt the said pitch or fusible material or
metal or alloy and fill the tube therewith by pouring the melted material
therein, the lower end of the tube being closed. After the melted matter in
the tube has solidified the tube is ornamented; after the tube has been orna-
mented I melt out the pitch or metal or alloy, or other fusible material.
When I employ sand or other powdered solid it only requires to be poured
into and out of the tube. When I employ wood I make the wood of a cylin-
drical figure so as to fit the interior of the tube, and the said wood is fixed in
the interior of the tube by the ornamenting process. When the ornament to

page_text: be impressed on the tube is disposed in the form of a rib or flute I prefer to
prepare the tube by fluting it before subjecting it to the action of the orna-
menting rolls. The said fluting may be effected by rolling or drawing, as is
well understood. The tube prepared or filled, according to my Invention, is
passed between the rolls, by which the ornament is impressed upon it in the
same way as is practised when the tube has a steel mandril in it, or is without
any internal support.
My Invention is applicable to tubes of the same diameter throughout, and
to taper tubes as well as to twisted tubes, that is to say, tubes in which the
ornament is in the form of a helix or spiral on the tube. By filling the tube
to be ornamented with pitch or other material of the kind described the orna-
ment is more perfectly impressed on the tube than when no mandril is used in
the tube, or when a steel mandril is employed.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I claim as my
Invention the improvement or improvements in ornamenting metallic tubes
herein-before described, that is to say, filling metallic tubes which are to be
ornamented by the pressure of ornamented rolls with pitch or other substance
of the kinds herein-before described, whereby the tube receives such an
amount of internal support, while under the pressure of the rolls, as causes the
ornament to be more perfectly impressed upon it than when the said tube is
supported by a steel mandril, or is without internal support during the orna-
menting process.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Thomas Grice, have hereunto set
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year-
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
my
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JAMES THOMAS GRICE. (L.S.)