MAKING SKELPS POR IRON OR STEEL TUBES DIRECT FROM
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Hingley, of Harts Hill Ironworks, in the
Parish of Dudley, in the County of Worcester, Ironmaster, for the
Invention of "MAKING SKELPS POR IRON OR STEEL TUBES DIRECT FROM THE
Sealed the 12th September 1865, and dated the 15th July 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Hingley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
July 1865.
I, SAMUEL HINGLEY, of Harts Hill Ironworks, in the Parish of Dudley, in
the County of Worcester, Ironmaster, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "MAKING SKELPS FOR IRON OR STEEL TUBES DIRECT FROM THE
ROLLS, AND FOR MACHINERY TO BE USED IN THE SAME," to be as follows:-
I fix to a cross bar attached to the housings of the rolls through which I
last pass the flat strip a metal box or frame, at the one end of which, directly
opposite the groove in the rolls, is an aperture or horizontal slit, through which
the flat strip enters the metal box or frame as the strip leaves the rolls. The
box or frame is hollow, and so shaped internally that the flat strip as it is
driven through it by the rolls is gradually coiled, and leaves the box or frame
at the opposite side an oval-shaped tube with an open seam and a flat end,
and is, when the flat end is cut off, a skelp ready for welding into a tube
without requiring further heating, bending, or shaping by means of a crocodile,
or by any other meaus now in use.

page_text: My machinery consists of a metal box or frame divided horizontally into
two halves, and opened and closed by means of levers or a screw. The box or
frame when closed has a horizontal slit in the centre of the end nearest the
rolls to admit the flat strip, and in the centre of the opposite end an oval
aperture to permit its escape. A mandrel or tongue is raised on the interior
surface of one half of the box or frame, which mandril or tongue is widest at
the end nearest the rolls and is circular at that end, but gradually tapers to a
point, and is sunk deeper towards the other end of the box or frame until it
incets the oval aperture. The interior of the other half of the box or frame
is hollowed the reverse of the first described half, and a space is left between
the upper and lower halves of the box or frame wide enough to allow the strip
to pass through. The box or frame is fixed to a cross bar which is attached
to the housings at the back of the rolls.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Hingley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
HINGLEY, of Harts Hill Ironworks, in the Parish of Dudley, in the County of
Worcester, Ironmaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord Onc
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reigu, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
him, the said Samuel Hingley, his' executors, administrators, and assigns.
Her special licence that he, the said Samuel Hingley, his executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as he, the said Samuel
Hingley, his 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 "MAKING
SKELPS FOR IRON OR STEEL TUBES, AND FOR MACHINERY TO BE USED IN THE SAME,”
upon the condition (amongst others) that he, the said Samuel Hingley, his
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under his, 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 per-

page_text: formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
"
i
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Hingley, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and'ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
"
My Invention consists of a method of forming a skelp or iron tube with an
open seam direct from the rolls.
Hitherto drawn and rolled iron tubes have been made from flat bars called
"flat strip," supplied by ironmasters to tube makers, and the tube makers
have had to reheat such flat strip and to bend the one half of its length in
some few cases, but in most cases the whole of its length by a machine called
a "crocodile," or by another machine called a "bell," before putting the
skelp into the drawing furnace or rolling mill. By means of my machine I
entirely do away with the necessity of reheating and bending the strip by the
crocodile or by the bell, inasmuch as my machine bends it as it leaves the
rolls without any additional force. I am also enabled to form a skelp uniform
in shape throughout its length, and which can be more readily drawn or
rolled and welded into a tube than a skelp formed by means of a crocodile
or a bell.
The manner in which my Invention is performed is as follows:-I fix to
a cross bar attached to the housings of the rolls and at the back of the rolls
through which I last pass the flat strip a metal box or frame, at the one end of
which, directly opposite the groove in the rolls, is an aperture or horizontal slit
through which the flat strip enters the metal box or frame as the strip leaves
the rolls. The box or frame is hollow, and so shaped internally that the flat
strip as it is driven through it by the rolls is gradually coiled, and leaves the
box or frame at the opposite end an oval-shaped tube with an open seam and
a flat end, and is, when the ragged end is cut off, a skelp ready for welding
into a tube without requiring further heating, bending, or shaping by means
of a crocodile or a bell, or by any other means now in use. The box or
frame is opened as each skelp is finished to admit the escape of the butt end
of the skelp.
My machinery consists of a-metal box or frame divided horizontally into
two halves, and opened and closed by means of levers or a screw. The box
or frame when closed has a horizontal slit in the centre of the end nearest the
rolls to admit the flat strip, and in the centre of the opposite end an oval
aperture to permit its escape. A mandrel or tongue is raised on the interior

page_text: surface of the upper half of the box or frame, which mandrel or tongue is
widest at the end nearest the rolls and is concave at that end, but gradually
tapers to a groove or channel at the other end of the box. The shape of the
interior surface of the lower half of the box or frame is convex and exactly
the reverse of the upper half until it meets the tapering where it forms the
other half of the groove or channel. A space is left in the interior of the box
or frame, between the upper and lower halves of the box or frame, wide
enough to allow the strip to pass freely through. The box or frame is fixed
to the back of the rolls by a cross bar which is attached to the housings.
The interior and exterior of the box or frame, and the mode in which it is
affixed to the rolls, and the mode in which the box or frame is opened and
closed are fully shown on the plan deposited with this Specification.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I claim the rolling of iron or steel skelps for the
manufacture of gas, locomotive, and all other metal tubes as herein set out.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Hingley, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
SAMUEL HINGLEY. (L.s.)