IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CYLINDRICAL AND OTHER TUBES
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HICKMAN, of Walsall, in the County of Stafford, Clerk, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of
May, in the thirteenth year of Her reign, did give and grant unto me, the
said John Hickman, my exors, adñors, and assigns, Her especial licence;.
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Hickman, my
exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Hickman,
my exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter, during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend
my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CYLINDRICAL AND
OTHER TUBES," within that part of Her Majesty's United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in Her Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark,
and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad;
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso requiring that I,
the said John Hickman, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature.
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same 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

page_text: Letters Patent, as, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear..
NOW KNOW YE, that, in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Hickman, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention
is ascertained, and the manner in which the same is to be performed is
described, in and by this present Instrument, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawing hereunto belonging, and forming part hereof, that
is to say:
My said Invention, which has reference to drawn tubes, and more especially
those of brass or other soft metal, consists,―
Firstly, in manufacturing cylindrical or other tubes, by drawing or com-
pressing the metal of which they are composed upon a mandril, by means of
a wire passed round the tube and stretched upon its exterior surface. And,
Secondly, in manufacturing fluted or longitudinally corrugated tubes by
means of bars or strips of metal laid upon or against the outer side of the
metal which is to constitute the tube, and forcing those portions of its surface
immediately under the bars or strips into corresponding indentations in or
upon a mandril of the required form and size.
The nature of my said Invention being thus ascertained, I will now proceed
to describe the manner in which the same is to be performed by the aid of
the accompanying Drawing and following explanation, premising that although
my Invention is generally applicable to the manufacture of cylindrical, ellip-
tical, or other tubes of the kind before mentioned, it is more particularly
applicable to the manufacture of taper or conical tubes, or such as vary
progressively in sectional area or form, which latter application, therefore, I
have exemplified in the Drawing.
First division. Figure 1 is a front elevation of an apparatus for effecting
the process ascertained under this division of my said Invention; and Figure 2
a plan or horizontal section thereof. a is a wooden frame in which two
horizontal bars b, b, have motion upwards and downwards against rebates or
recesses formed thereon. c, c, are two vertical bars which are supported by
the inner ends of four levers d, d, two on either side of the frame. These
levers turn on fulcra d*, dx, and maintain the bars c, c, in their vertical
position, but allow them to advance towards, or recede from, the centre of the
apparatus, and the tail ends of the said levers pass between straps e, e, and the
frame a. ff, are weights which, being connected with the horizontal bars in
the manner shewn, cause them to press forcibly towards each other. h is the
tube or metal which is to constitute the tube which is bent upon a mandril i,
and its edges soldered or joined in the ordinary manner.
It is to be placed.

page_text: while on the mandril with its smaller end between the two pairs of bars, an:l
so that it may be embraced by a wire k, which coils and is kept in a state of
tension around it. The tension may be given either by a weight, as shewn at
7, or a spring, as shewn at m, or in any convenient manner. The manufacture
of this tube is then to be completed by drawing it on the mandril through the
col of wire, which is prevented from following by means of the bars against
which it takes an abutment, the coil expanding and the distances between the
bars increasing relatively with the increase of the diameter or sectional form of
the mandril at the point or part immediately under operation. The amount
of tension on the wire k must be such as to press the metal into correct form
against the mandril, but not to prevent the required enlargement or adaptation
of the coil to the size or form of the mandril. For the convenience of
illustration I have represented and described the apparatus as above, but in
practice I construct the bars in the manner represented in the Figures
3, 4, and 5, so as to allow the wire k to have a greater amount of resisting
surface or contact against them, and also that they themselves may be
kept from pressing against the tube and causing unnecessary friction.
Second division. Figures 6 and 7 shew a front view and section exempli-
fying the process ascertained under this division of my said Invention with
respect to a fluted tube of conical or tapering form. i is the fluted mandril
and p, p, the bars or strips of metal corresponding to the size or form
of the flutings or groovings upon it. h is the plain tube or metal to be
operated upon. q is an ordinary soft metal die, which, however, is plain instead
of being fluted, as is ordinarily the case in the manufacture of tapering tubes.
By drawing the tube through the die whilst on its mandril, and with the
several bars or strips p, p, in their respective positions, as represented, the said
bars or strips will forcibly press the metal of the tube into the required form,
as shewn in Figures 8 and 9, the soft metal die expanding in use as diameter
increases while the process is proceeding. It is to be observed that I lay
no claim to a soft metal die as a part of my Invention, except when used
in the manner and for the purpose above described.
Instead of drawing
through a soft metal die, a coil of wire may be used as indicated by
red lines, and in the manner described under the first division of my
Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hickman, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
JOHN (L.s.) HICKMAN.
JOHN (L.S.) HICKMAN.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-third day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid John Hickman 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.