CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING PIPES
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
RICHARD PROSSER, of Cherry Street, Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I did by petition humbly represent unto Her present
Most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, that after considerable applica-
tion and expense I had invented "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING PIPES," and Her said Majesty, being
willing to give encouragement to all arts and inventions which may be
for the public good, was graciously pleased, by Her Royal Letters
Patent under the great seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-
seventh day of March One thousand eight hundred and forty, in
the third year of Her reign, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
to give and grant unto me the said Richard Prosser, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege, and authority, that I or they, by myself or themselves
or by my or their deputies, servants, or agents, or such others as I or
they
should agree with (and no others), during the term of fourteen years
from the date of the said Letters Patent, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend my said Invention within that part of Her
said Majesty's dominions called England, Her dominion of Wales,

page_text: and town of Berwick upon Tweed, and also in all Her Majesty's
colonies and plantations abroad, in such manner as to me, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, shall seem meet, and as that I or they
shall enjoy the whole profit and advantage arising by reason of the said
Invention, during the said term of fourteen years; and for that end Her
said Majesty requires and strictly commands all Her subjects whatsoever
within England, Wales, and Berwick upon Tweed, and also in the
colonies and plantations aforesaid, that they shall not, neither directly nor
indirectly, make, use, or put in practice my said Invention, or any part
thereof, nor in anywise counterfeit, imitate, or resemble the same, nor
make any addition thereto or subtraction therefrom, whereby to
pretend himself or themselves to be the Inventor or Inventors thereof.
AND WHEREAS the said Letters Patent also contain a proviso,
obliging me the said Richard Prosser particularly to 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 to cause the same to be enrolled in Her 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that, in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Richard Prosser, do hereby declare that my said invention is
described and ascertained in manner following and by the aid of the
six sheets of drawings hereunto annexed; (that is to say) my said
improvements relate to that kind of machinery or apparatus for
manufacturing pipes of metal which operates by means of a pair of
revolving rollers, that is, two such rollers having concave grooves
around their circumferences, and the said grooves around one roller
corresponding to those around the other roller, so as be adapted to
receive and take in the metal pipe between the two rollers within two of
the said corresponding concave grooves, in order that by the revolving
motion of the pair of rollers the metal may be passed through between
them in the said two corresponding concave grooves, and that the metal
may be compressed and elongated in so passing suitably for giving the
required external form and extension to the pipe at several repetitions

page_text: of the rolling thereof between the rollers; and the mode of manufac-
turing pipes of metal by rolling as aforesaid between a pair of revolving
grooved rollers was, as regards pipes of lead, invented by Mr. Wilkinson,
who had a patent for the same in or about the year One thousand
seven hundred and ninety, and as regards pipes which are bended or
turned up out of strips of wrought iron plate and welded at the meeting
edges of such strips, was the subject of a patent granted to Henry
Osborne, on or about the first of March One thousand eight hundred
and seventeen. But whereas in such machinery or apparatus for
manufacturing pipes of metal only one pair of revolving grooved
rollers is used (that is, two such rollers disposed one above the other)
to roll the metal between them, it follows that the compression which
can be thereby exerted upon the metal of the pipe at each time of
rolling, it must be chiefly operative at the upper and lower side of
the pipe, and only slightly, if at all, laterally or at each side of the pipe,
part of my said Improvements is to combine two pair of revolving
grooved rollers in one combination of machinery or apparatus for
manufacturing pipes in such manner as that, whilst one pair are
operating to compress the metal of the pipe at the upper and lower
side thereof, the other pair shall be operating to so compress the same
metal laterally at each side of the pipe. Machinery of this kind may
be constructed in various ways, but the construction which I prefer is
represented in sheets I., II., III. of the drawings hereunto annexed;
sheet I. being a vertical clevation in front, sheet II. a horizontal
plan, and sheet III. a vertical section corresponding to sheet II.; the
same letters of reference denote the same parts wherever they appear in
all the said drawings. A, and B, are two horizontal axes, disposed one
above the other in the same vertical plane; one of them is turned
round by the power of mill-work, and a corresponding revolving motion
is communicated to the other axes by the two equal spur cog wheels
C, D, which are fastened upon the axes A, B, and their teeth gear
together. E, and F, are two circular wheels fastened upon the axes
A, B, respectively, and having a concave groove around the circum-
ference of each. The two wheels, E, F, being one above the other in the
same vertical plane, and forming a pair with their grooves correspond-
ing, and operating, when turned round by their axes A, B, and spur

page_text: wheels C, D, as a pair of revolving grooved rollers, in order to receive
and take in the pipe between them in the manner shown at a, their
operation being to compress the metal at the upper and under sides
of the pipe a. I, J, are two other revolving circular wheels, each
having a concave groove around its circumference, exactly the same as
the wheels E, F, except that the two wheels I, J, are disposed one on
each side of the pipe a, both wheels being in the same horizontal
plane, with their concave grooves in correspondence, so as to form a
second or additional pair of revolving grooved rollers for receiving and
taking in the pipe between them, as shown at a, their operation being
to compress the metal laterally at the opposite sides of the pipe a, at
the same time that the said metal is undergoing compression at the
upper and under sides of the pipe a, in manner already described, by
the other first-mentioned pair of wheels or rollers, E, and F. The
requisite motion is communicated to the two wheels or rollers I, and J,
by means of bevil or mitre cog wheels H, and L, which are fastened
to each of the wheels or rollers I, and J, and the teeth of which gear
with those of similar bevil or mitre cog wheels, G, and K, which are
fastened to each of the wheels or rollers E, and F; and the said mitre
wheels G,H, and K,L, being all four of equal size one to the other, and the
wheels I, J, and E, F, being also all four of equal size one to the other,
the motion of the grooved circumferences of all the said four wheels
E, F, and I, J, which receive the pipe a, between them, will be exactly
alike, and suitable for passing the pipe a, through between them, and
compressing the metal of the pipe above and below, and also at each of
its sides, at the same time. The edges of the circumference of each
wheel or roller I, J, and E, F, at each side of the concave groove there-
in is formed to a bevil or mitre, whereby the circumference of all four
wheels are adapted to apply one to the other with contact around the
pipe a, as represented in sheet I., and the concave groove in each wheel
being formed to one fourth part of a circle of the same diameter that
the outside of the pipe is to be, then all the four grooves will, between
them, leave a circular space or passage a, which is adapted to receive
and take in the pipe, so as, by rolling it through between the four
wheels or rollers I, J, and E, F, to compress the metal of the pipea, on all

page_text: sides, as already explained, that is the case if the pipe is required to be of
a cylindrical form; but by excavating or turning the concave grooves to
any other required form, they may be adapted to give that form to the
pipe a. The axes of all the four wheels or rollers I, J, and E, F, are situ-
ated in the same vertical plane; and by means of suitable fixed framing
W, and bearings, 1, 1, 1, for the pivots or gudgeons of those axes, they
are sustained in their respective places, and at such distances apart, as
that the mitred edges of the circumferences of the four wheels or rollers
I, J, and E, F, will be in due contact one with another in manner afore-
said. The bearings 1, 1, 1, for the pivots or gudgeons of each axes may
be forked, as represented in sheet I., to conclude each wheel or roller
E, F, and I, J, between two of the said bearings; and cach forked piece
may be fastened by three or more screws against the flat surface of the
fixed framing W, but with a small liberty of adjustment by means of
wedges 2, inserted between the ends of the several forked pieces and
prominent parts b, b, of the frame W, so as to adjust the bearings to
their proper positions, and to retain them therein. And when machinery
or apparatus of this kind is to be used for manufacturing welded
pipes of wrought iron, then the iron is to be prepared by roll-
ing the same into thin narrow plates, bars, or strips of suitable
length, breadth, and thickness, in the usual manner of what
are called skelps (see figure X, sheet III.), and about eight
or ten inches at one end of such a plate or strip is bended or
turned up, as shown by figures Y, and Z, into an approximation
towards the form of a pipe with the edges of the iron meeting each
other, or nearly so, by way of a commencement for the intended pipe,
the remainder of the length of the iron continuing a flat plate or strip.
The iron so prepared is then heated in a reverberatory or other
suitable furnace to a welding heat, and on being withdrawn from the
furnace in that state, that end Z, which has been previously turned
up, is presented end foremost to the passage a, between the concave
grooves of the four revolving wheels or rollers E, F, and I, J, sheet I.,
and by their motion they take in the heated iron between them, and
compress the iron so much as to bring the meeting edges of the iron
together into accurate and close contact whilst the iron is at a welding
heat, and thereby those edges become welded together, that action

page_text: being begun at the end Z; but as the iron is taken in and moves
forwards through between the four revolving wheels or rollers, the
remainder of the length of the iron becomes bended or turned up by
their action from a flat plate into the form of a pipe, with the edges
meeting in the same manner as was previously commenced at the
end Z; that bending and turning up by action of the four revolving
wheels or rollers taking place just before the iron actually gets in
between them to their gripe or place of mutual contact a; but as fast
as the iron that is so turned up arrives at that said gripe or place of
contact, it is compressed so as to bring the meeting edges into close
contact whilst the iron is at a welding heat, and thereby the edges
become welded together throughout the length of the iron, and it is
converted or manufactured into a welded pipe. But note, although
the action of the four revolving wheels or rollers will thus perform the
continuance and completion of the turning up of the skelp or plate in
manner aforesaid, without previously preparing more than a short
portion Z, of one end thereof, nevertheless the whole length of the
iron skelp or plate may be previously bended or turned up, if that
mode is preferred, or the whole lengtli of the plate or skelp may be
previously bended into the form of a concave gutter (that is, it may be
partly turned up), and one end of that gutter completely turned up in
manner represented at Z, and that end being presented when the whole
of the iron is at a welding heat between the four revolving wheels
or rollers, they will, as they take the iron in between them, complete
the bending and turning up of the remainder of the length from a con-
cave gutter into the form of a pipe, with the edges meeting, and the
action of the four rollers will compress those edges together, so as to
effect the welding as already stated. A mandrel or piston of a suitable
size is disposed in the manner shown at R, r, sheets II. and III., within
the interior of the pipe, whilst it is passing through between the four
revolving wheels or rollers, and whilst the iron is receiving compression
from them, the mandrel R, r, remaining stationary within the interior of
the pipe whilst the pipe is moved forwards through between the gripe
of the rollers. For this purpose the said mandrel or piston r, is formed
on the foremost end of a long rod R, of a smaller size than the interior

page_text: bore of the pipe, or than the mandril or piston ; which is, in fact, an
enlargement of the foremost end of the said rod R; and that rod R, is
applied in a horizontal position behind the machine, with its hindermost
end supported in a socket at the end of an adjusting screw 3, which
screw is borne by a fixed standard S, situated at the end of a long
horizontal table or platform T, fixed behind the rollers, and which table
receives the pipe after it has passed through between the rollers. The
screw 3, serves to adjust the mandrel rod R, r, endways, so that its
enlarged end, or piston 1, may be retained in a proper position between
the gripe of the four rollers E, F, and I, J, as shown in the section
sheet 111.; and when the turned up end Z, of the heated iron is first
presented, as already mentioned, to the passage a, sheet I., in order to
be taken in and passed through between the gripe of the four revolving
rollers, then the opening of the turned up end Z, is inserted upon the
foremost end of the piston or mandrel, which end is made pointed for
the purpose of readily entering such open end Z; and then, by the fur-
ther motion that is given to the heated iron by action of the rollers
taking it in and passing it through between them, the pipe, as fast as
it is formed, is moved along over the stationary mandrel or piston r, and
the mandrel rod R, until the whole length of the pipe has so moved and
passed, the said rod R, and table or platform T, being long enough for thof
purpose. The effect of the piston or mandrel r, when so applied, is to
render the pipe smooth withinside by the said motion of the iron over the
piston or mandrel, which in reality passes through all the length at
the pipe, although it is the pipe which moves and the mandrel which
stands still. The mandrel 7, also supports the iron internally, where
it is compressed between the four revolving rollers in passing through
the gripe thereof, preventing the iron from closing in and encroaching
upon the intended interior capacity or bore of the pipe; the piston or
real mandrel, being the enlarged end 1, of the rod R, 1, is for that
purpose of nearly the same diameter as the said interior capacity or
bore of the pipe is intended to be. And note, the aforesaid mode of
applying a mandrel R, 7, is no part of my Invention, the same having
been heretofore used, but with an ordinary pair of revolving grooved
rollers, but is equally applicable to be used along with the machinery or

page_text: apparatus constructed according to this part of my improvements, with
four revolving rollers instead of two such. The piston or enlarged end
2, of the mandrel rod, R, r, should be made of steel, in order to resist
wearing by the friction wherewith the iron passes over it. When the
pipe has passed all its length through between the rollers and over the
rod R, and is completed, the pipe with the mandrel in it is then
removed from the table or platform T, on which it rests, and the
mandrel is withdrawn from the pipe; whilst the pipe remains very
hot the piston or enlarged end, is cooled, if necessary, and the rod R, 1,
may then be restored to its position in the machine, as shown in
sheet III., ready for rolling another pipe; but several such mandrels
R, 1, should be provided, to be used in succession one after another,
without waiting for withdrawing each mandrel from the pipe and
cooling it. The circumferences of the revolving grooved rollers E, F,
and I, J, which effect the welding of the pipes, may move at the rate of
three hundred and twenty feet per minute, or even quicker than that, in
order to diminish the time during which a pipe is passing through between
the rollers and undergoing the operation of welding, which time will, at
the aforesaid rate of motion, be about two seconds for a pipe ten feet in
length. But note, for welding pipes of that length, it is necessary to
support the mandrel rod R, at or near to the middle of its length by
a bracket Q, sheets II. and III., which is fixed upon the table or
platform T, and the rod R, resting in the inside of the bracket Q,
is prevented from bending materially away from it proper straight
line. The interior of the bracket Q, is formed with a bell mouth
at the side which presents itself towards the four revolving rollers,
in order that the foremost end of the iron of the pipe when it is
moving rapidly forwards along the rod R, of the mandrel may have
no difficulty in entering into the interior of the bracket Q. The
rod R, being rather smaller than the interior capacity or bore of
the pipe, the iron will advance very easily along the rod.
And note,
the whole of the rod R, may be made of steel if required, in order to
be stiffer and less liable to bend than an iron rod, but an iron rod
hammered very hard between swages will in general be stiff' enough.
Note, a vertical covering plate of iron is applied over the front side

page_text: of the fixed frame W, sheet I, to enclose the wheelwork there repre-
sented and prevent accidents; and through the middle of that
plate is an aperture exactly opposite to the passage a, through between
the four revolving wheels or rollers E, F, and I, J, that aperture serving
as a guide for the introduction of the heated iron into the said passage
in a correct manner. The said covering plate is omitted in the drawings
to avoid concealing the wheelwork and framing. Sheet IV. of the draw-
ings hereunto annexed represents the reverberatory air furnace for
heating the plates or skelps of iron to a welding heat, and although
such furnace forms no part of my present invention, yet being an
important part of the apparatus for manufacturing welded iron pipes,
it is proper to be described here. Figure 1, is a horizontal plan show-
ing the bed of the furnace, the long fire place, and fire bars across it,
the holes B, B, B, through which coal is introduced to the fire place,
and the tunnel leading to the chimney. Figure 2, is a side clevation of
the furnace at the fire grate side, showing the aforesaid holes B, B, B,
also the fire grate and the ash holes beneath the same, also showing
by dotted lines the arch of the reverberating roof of the furnace.
Figure 3, is a front elevation of the furnace, corresponding to figure 2,
and showing by dotted lines the situation of the fire place, the fire bars,
the ash hole, and the fire bridge over which the flame from the fire
place passes and is reverberated downwards by the arched roof of the
body of the furnace to strike upon the iron which is lying upon the
flat bed of the furnace. Figure 4, is a side section through the fire place,
answering to figure 2; and figure 5, is a longitudinal section answering
to figure 3. When the furnace is become properly heated, the skelps
or plates of iron bended and turned up at one end, as shown at
figure Z, sheet III., are introduced with that end foremost, one by
one, through the opening C, figure 1, sheet IV., into the body of
the furnace, and are laid along the bed of the furnace side by side
with their length crossways to the direction of the current of flame
which is passing over the fire bridge, so as by the reverberation of that
flanie downwards upon the arched roof and striking upon the iron, it
shall be heated uniformly and steadily along all its length until it
acquires a proper welding heat, the iron lying in the furnace nearly in a

page_text: direction corresponding with that of the rod R, 2, of the mandrel, if the
same were prolonged, and then the workman with a pair of tongs takes
hold of one of the heated plates or skelps which has just acquired the
proper heat, by introducing the tongs through the opening A, and
drawing out the heated iron by its end Z. Through that opening A, he
presents that end Z, to the aforesaid aperture which corresponds to the
passage a, between the four revolving rollers, which are situated at
about six feet distance from the opening A, of the furnace opposite
thereto, and the rollers instantly take in the iron between them, the
open end of the part Z, which is turned up applying over the pointed
end of the piston or mandrel r, which remains stationary, as already
explained, so that by the motion of the four rollers carrying the heated
iron through between them, they pass the iron forwards all its length
over the rod R, of the mandrel. The compression exerted on the
heated iron by the four revolving rollers at the moment when the iron
is passing through their gripe or place of contact, gathers the meeting
edges of the iron so closely together, that the iron being at a welding
heat they become welded together in their said passage, and the piston or
mandrel, gives internal support to the iron at the moment of the com-
pressure, and keeps open the internal capacity or bore of the pipe to its
full intended diameter, as already explained. A skelp or plate of iron
for making welded pipe, 1 inch internal diameter, being eleven feet long,
will become twelve feet long when it has passed once through between the
four revolving rollers at a welding heat, and has been manufactured by
their operation into a welded pipe. The breadth of the skelp or plate of
iron must be correctly suited to the circumference of the pipe, so that
when the skelp or plate is bended or turned up, with its edges meeting,
there will be a proper quantity of metal to reach around that circum-
ference, with just so much excess as that by the compressing action of
passing the iron between the four revolving rollers when it is at a good
welding heat, the meeting edges thereof will be so firmly pressed
together, so as to become securely welded at their junction. Also the
thickness of the skelp or plate of iron is to be correctly suited
to the intended thickness of the pipe, and the size of the piston or
mandrel, must be adapted accordingly, so as that it will, by the internal

page_text: support which it affords to the metal when it is passing through
between the gripe of the four revolving rollers, cause a due degree of
compressure without causing too great a compressure, and for this
purpose a considerable number of mandrel rods R, 7, should be provided
for use with the machine; but as they wear away by use, they will
become less in diameter at their piston or mandrel ends 1. And the
mandrels should be kept sorted in sets of mandrels of a like size; and
one set or another of such mandrels may be used as is found by trial to
suit best for effecting the welding of each lot of skelps or plates; and the
greatest care should in all cases be taken in making the skelps or plates
of iron, by the usual process of rolling iron, to render them of very
uniform breadth and thickness from end to end of each one; and that
being attained, every large lot of such skelps or plates is to be care-
fully sorted into smaller lots, consisting of skelps or plates of precisely
similar breadth and thickness, and each such small lot is to be manu-
factured into pipes by itself, using a set of mandrels of such a size as is
found best suited to each particular lot of skelps or plates for giving
the iron that exact degree of compression when it is passing through
between the four revolving rollers at a welding heat, as will effect the
welding in a perfect and sound manner; and very much will depend
upon the due heating of the skelps or plates to a proper welding heat
without over-heating, and with the greatest uniformity of that heat
from end to end, which depends solely upon the care of the workmen in
managing the fire on the fire-grate and regulating the draft by managing
the damper in the tunnel leading from the furnace to its chimney, so
that the fire shall burn at all parts of the length of the fireplace with
such force as to cause the utmost possible uniformity of heat within the
body of the furnace, and also uniformity of flame to strike down upon
the iron lying on the bed of the furnace, in order to impart equal heat
to all parts of the length of each skelp; and about three or four skelps
or plates are in the furnace together, and are introduced one after an-
other to lay side by side on the bed of the furnace, and each one, as it
acquires the proper heat, is withdrawn, and passed through between the
four revolving rollers. And note, the entrance to the ash-hole of the
furnace may be hung with a row of several doors or hanging

page_text: flaps, which, upon hanging down, will impede the free entrance of air
beneath the fire-grate, but when turned up will admit the air freely,-or
any other known registers for ash-pit draft; and by due regulation of
such doors, letting down some and turning up others, or opening or
shutting registers, the admission of air to each portion of the length of
the long fire may be regulated so as to cause each part to burn with
suitable force for heating the iron with regularity at every part of the
length of each skelp or plate, all which precautions are so well known
for heating iron for rolling, and also for manufacturing iron pipes by
welding, as to require no further explanation. And instead of an air
furnace, such as is shown in sheet IV., a furnace blown by blast is in
common use for that purpose, and may be used to heat the iron for the
rolling by the machinery herein described, if preferred. And, as already
mentioned, it is not necessary that the bending or turning up of the
skelp or plate of iron into the form of a pipe should be previously per-
formed, except at one end thereof, for about eight or ten inches of
its length, as represented at figures Y, and Z, sheet III., because the
action of the four revolving rollers will, of themselves, perform the
requisite bending and turning up of the remainder of the length of the
skelp or plate of iron (which remainder is a flat plate), as fast as the
same is taken in by the motion of the four revolving rollers, and
subjected to their gripe or compressure, the bending and turning up
beginning to take place on the edges of the flat plate at a small dis-
tance in advance of the gripe of the four revolving rollers, that is to
say, the bending or turning up begins before the iron in its motion
forward through between the said rollers has arrived at their gripe. And
as to the mode of bending and turning up a portion Z, at one end of each
skelp of plate, in order to prepare the same in manner represented at
figures Y, and Z., sheet III., the said bending and turning up may be per-
formed by heating the end of the skelp plate and operating thereon
called swages, in the usual
or
by hand-hammering with smiths' tools
mode of bending and turning up skelps or plates in preparation for
making welded iron pipes therefrom by hand labour without ma-
chinery, excepting that only a portion of one end, and only as much as

page_text: can be conveniently done at one heat, is so turned up instead of the whole
length; but if preferred, the whole length may be so bended or turned
up in preparation for welding into a pipe by operation of the four
revolving rollers, as herein-before explained; and in case of so bending
or turning up the whole length, it will be best to heat the whole length
of the skelp or plate to a moderate working or forging heat in the
furnace, sheet IV., and then the bending or turning up may be
done by hand hammering and swaging, employing two or more men
to work at the same time on different portions of the length, as may be
requisite; or otherwise the bending and turning up of the whole length
may be performed by machinery commonly used for such purpose in
manufacturing iron pipes, called a crocodile, and which is well known.
It operates by biting or pinching the skelp or plate between a pair of
strong jaws, which are opened and shut alternately by the power of
millwork, and the skelp or plate, being duly heated in the furnace to a
moderate working or forging heat, is introduced between the opened
jaws of the crocodile, which take in all the length of the iron; and it is
laid exactly over a concave gutter or channel formed in the under fixed
jaw, and then, when the upper moving jaw closes, it brings down upon
the hot iron a convex corresponding to the said concave gutter beneath
the iron, and pinches the same all its length at once into a gutter form;
which being done, and the upper moving jaw having opened again, the
iron in its said gutter form being still hot is removed to another concave
gutter of suitable form at one side of the former, and parallel thereto,
the edges of the iron being suitably placed in the concave, and when
the upper moving jaw closes again, it brings down a suitable concave
gutter over the hot iron in such manner as that, by being pinched
between the two concaves, it becomes turned up, with its edges meeting,
or nearly so, and ready, when heated in the furnace to a welding heat,
to be passed through between the four revolving rollers, in order to
become welded, as herein-before described. And note, it has been
already stated that the vertical covering plate which is fixed in front of
the wheelwork, sheet I., as an aperture through the middle of it
exactly opposite to the passage a, through between the four revolving

page_text: rollers, in order to conduct the heated iron correctly into that passage.
It should be remarked that the smallest part of such aperture
should be about one inch and three quarters diameter for making
a pipe of one inch diameter inside, and which will usually be
one inch and one fifth diameter outside, the large or front end
of the said aperture being of an ample size, as eight or ten inches
diameter, and projecting forwards a length of twelve or fourteen
inches. And in case of the skelp or plate being only bended or
turned up at a portion of one end Z, figures X, and V, sheet III., by
way of preparation for passing such iron (when heated to a welding
heat) through between the gripe of the four revolving rollers as herein-
before described, then it is the interior sides of the said aperture which,
as fast as the heated iron passes through the same, commences the
requisite bending and turning up of the remainder of the length of the
heated iron from the state of flat plate to such a concave or gutter
form as would be suitable for entering and being taken in between the
gripe of the four revolving rollers, in order by their action, as fast as the
iron arrives at their said gripe, to be completely turned up and the edges
brought to meet and compressed together so as to become welded toge-
ther. And note, if the said welding is performed at once passing through
between the four revolving rollers, it will require great care and preci-
sion in preparing the skelps or plate of very uniform breadth and thick-
ness, and with that breadth accurately adapted to suit the size of the
pipe, that the four revolving rollers are at the time adapted to make
(for note, as their grooves wear away wider the passage a, sheet I.,
between them will become somewhat larger). Also the size of the piston
1. of the mandrel R, r, is to be judiciously adapted to suit the thickness
of the particular skelps or plates that are at the time to be passed
through the four revolving rollers; all which precautions have been
already mentioned, are required in all the modes heretofore practised of
manufacturing welded iron pipes by rolling, but are still more necessary
in performing the operation by the machinery herein described, because
the heated iron is only to be passed through once for performing the
welding, instead of passing several times between two revolving grooved

page_text: But
rollers, and that through passages or grooves of smaller size at the
later times of passing than the former or preceding times of passing;
and although I have succeeded in making sound welded pipes at once
passing through between four revolving grooved rollers by taking great
care in the preparation of the skelps and the heating of them, and in
the several precautions herein-before explained, nevertheless if any diffi-
culty is found in doing that, the pipes which have been so welded may
be re-heated in the furnace to a moderate welding heat and re-passed
through another set of four revolving grooved rollers, exactly like those in
sheet I., but with the passage a, between them a very little smaller, and
a piston or mandrel 7, also a little smaller; and if twice passing in such
manner is not found sufficient for effectual welding, then the pipes
may be again re-heated in the furnace, and passed a third time through
another such machine as sheet I., but with a still smaller passage a,
and if requisite more such machines may be used in succession.
what I prefer is to employ the said two or three or more machines in
combination as one machine, so that the iron, in being passed once
through the first machine, sheet I., as already described, will also pass
through both or all three or more machines, the iron being subjected
by their several sets of rollers to as many succeeding gripes or pressures,
and that so quickly one after the other that the iron will retain its
original welding heat. The said two, three, or more machines must be
fixed up in parallel vertical planes, one beyond another, with their
several passages a, in one horizontal straight line; and by toothed
wheelwork or millwork the four revolving rollers of each set must
be turned round with corresponding motions, so as to take in the pipe
forwards by each one as fast as the preceding one delivers or passes the
pipe through, which may be either to give an exact equality of velocity
to the grooved circumference of the rollers of each succeeding set, or
else the velocity of the second set may be greater than the first, so as
to effect a slight degree of drawing in the pipe while it is in both
machines, by communicating a faster motion to the second machine than
to the first, and so on. And in case of large pipes of iron and pipes
for the rollers of printing machines, &c. it will be desirable that a

page_text: reciprocating or backward and forward motion be communicated to the
machine, so as to roll and re-roll each pipe, instead of rolling it only
once.
Sheet V. shows an arrangement of machinery for rolling pipes turning
up flat plates or skelps into pipes. The wheels G, and H, gear into a
wheel D, (see note on drawing, sheet V.), and this provides for the
revolution of the wheels I, through the medium of the shaft i, and for the
motion of the wheel E, through the shaft A. Similar toothed wheels,
L, C, K, give motion to the wheels F, and J, through the medium of the
shafts, and B; 2, are the adjusting wedges, and b, blocks, which resist the
pressure and prevent the wheels F, J, E, I, receding from each other.
Figure 1, shows a method of construction which allows the wheel I, to
be removed with greater facility, and B, is part of the shaft upon which
such wheel I, is mounted, upon a square part of the end of such shaft B,
by means of two or more keys.
Sheet VI. shows an arrangement of three wheels or rollers I, F, E.
The wheel I, is moved through the medium of the shaft i, and the
wheel E, through the medium of shaft A, by bevil toothed wheels
G, D, H; and the wheel F, is moved through the medium of the shaft
B, by suitable power applied to the wheels C, D. All these three
wheels, I, F, E, are mounted upon their axes in the manner shown by
figure 1, on sheet V.
By the word pipes, I designate any hollow, cylindrical, elliptical, or other
form, of whatever metal or mixture of metals the pipe may be composed,
and without any limitation as to internal or external diameter or length;
and the machinery on drawings, sheets I., II., III., V., and VI., shows
my methods of applying my invention to the manufacturing of welded
iron pipes, whether such pipes are afterwards used for the conveyance
of gas or fluids, or used for railway bars in the form of hollow cylinders
or pipes. I also claim the employment of such machinery as shown in
drawings, sheets I., II., III., V., and VI., and for turning up flat strips
of metal into pipes; and also the application of such machinery to the
rolling of pipes of metal or mixtures of metal, such as pipes employed
in locomotive engines with tubular boilers, and pipes of copper

page_text: 245 w De employed as Toners for printing cance
substances.
Having now described my said Improvements in machinery and appa-
ratus for manufacturing pipes, I the said Richard Prosser do hereby
declare, that the new Invention, whereby the exclusive use is granted
to me by the said Letters Patent, consists partly in the combination
herein-before described of four or three revolving grooved rollers so dis-
posed that they will all four (or all three) act in concert to compress the
metal of the pipe which is passed through between them at all the four,
or all the three sides of the circumference of the pipe, at the same time
such four (or three) revolving grooved rollers being connected together by
toothed wheelwork, according to either of the two modes herein-before
described, or else in any other suitable mode, so as to ensure that their
several circumferences which operate upon the pipe shall move in the
same direction, and either with equal velocities of motion or else with
such regulated difference of velocity between the velocity of the said cir-
cumference or circumferences one or more of such rollers and the velocity
of the circumferences or circumference of the others or the other of the
said four (or three) revolving rollers as may best suit for forming the
particular kind of pipes upon which the said machinery or apparatus
is intended to operate; and such two or three combined revolving
rollers to revolve either continuously in the same direction, or else
to turn alternately forwards and backwards, that is to say, first for-
wards in one direction, in order to pass the pipe through between them,
and then backwards, or in a contrary direction, in order to repass the
pipe back again between them, according as one or other of those modes
of rolling may best suit for forming the particular form of pipes upon
which the said machinery or apparatus is intended to operate: And
partly in the further combination herein-before described of two, three,
or more sets or systems of such combined revolving grooved rollers as
aforesaid, through or between the gripes of which sets of rollers the same
pipe will pass in close and quick succession from one such gripe to the
next, so as to be compressed first by passing through between the com-
bined revolving rollers of one set, and then the same pipe, as it passes a
B

page_text: little further onwards, being compressed again by passing through
between the combined revolving rollers of a second set; and then the
same pipe may be again compressed by passing through between the
combined revolving rollers of another succeeding set, a third set
be provided, and so on, through as many sets as may be combined toge-
ther, the several sets of rollers being disposed at such distances apart one
from another as will best suit; that is, they may be either as close toge-
ther as the construction of their wheel-work and framing will admit, so
that the pipe will begin to enter into between the revolving rollers of a
succeeding set immediately after having passed through between those of
a preceding set, and therefore the pipe will be undergoing compression at
different parts of its length at the same time, or the said sets of rollers
may be situated as far apart one from another as the greater part of or
nearly the whole length of the pipe that is to be operated upon, so that
the foremost end of the pipe will only just arrive at and begin to be
taken in by or between one succeeding set a little before the whole
length has completely passed through and escaped from the preceding
set; and such successive sets of rollers as aforesaid may be set slightly
out of parallelism one with another, that is, with the central lines of
their several passages a, sheet I., arranged in a curved line instead of in
a straight line, in order that the pipe in passing through such a set may
become curved to an inch of a circle, in case of curved pipes being
required: And partly in the further combination which such machinery,
containing, as aforesaid, four or three revolving grooved rollers, of a
trumpet-mouth aperture to receive and conduct the metal into the gripe
of or passage through between the rollers, whereby, together with the
action of those rollers, the bending and turning up of the plate of metal
from a flat state or from a gutter state to the form of a pipe, with the
edges meeting or nearly meeting, as may be required, a portion of one
end only of such plate having been previously bended or turned up by
way of commencement for entering in between the gripe of the rollers;
and such bending or turning up of plates into the form of pipe, by this
action of the said machinery, being performed either on iron skelps or
plates heated to a working red heat, and turned up, with the edges

page_text: meeting or nearly so in the form of pipes, as a preparation for being
afterwards welded together either by action of the said or like ma-
chinery, or by any other means, or else for bending and turning up
plates with the edges meeting close, in the manner of pipes, to be
united by soldering, or to be merely united by close contact, without
adhesion.
In witness whereof, I the said Richard Prosser have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
forty
And be it remembered, that on the Twenty-sixth day of September
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty, the
aforesaid Richard Prosser came before our said Lady the Queen in
Her Chancery, and acknowledged the specification aforesaid, and all and
everything therein contained and specified in the form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor
of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty.