Improvements in Machinery for the Manufacture of Welded Iron and Steel Tubes.
Year: 1899

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for the Manufacture of Welded Iron
and Steel Tubes.
I, JOHN CLARKE JOHNSON, of Claremont Lodge, Brunswick Terrace, Wednes-
bury, in the County of Stafford, Manager of Tube Works, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows: -
My invention has reference to the welding rolls by which the lap joints or
other joints of iron and steel tubes are welded, and consists of the improvements
in, or additions hereinafter described to, the said welding rolls for guiding the
heated tubes from the heating furnace to the grooves or holes of the welding rolls.
By the improvements in or additions to the welding rolls constituting my
invention, the lap or other joints of long tubes can be readily welded and the
welding operation completed without allowing the tubes to get cool.
I use a pair of tube welding rolls preferably having two grooves or holes, one
of the said grooves or holes being used for effecting the preliminary welding of
the joint of the tube and the other groove or hole for perfecting or finishing
the welding of the joint.
In front of the tube welding rolls I mount a horizontal platform having fixed
vertical side cheeks, slightly curved or inclined outwards, the inner faces of the
said side cheeks bearing closely against the collars at the outer edges of the two
grooves or holes of the rolls. Midway between the two fixed guide cheeks on the
platform and the two grooves or holes in the rolls, is a movable vertical tongue or
guide cheek having motion through a small angle in a vertical plane. Pivots at
the top and bottom of this vertical tongue or guide cheek turn respectively in a
cross bar over the platform and in the platform, and by means of a handle or
lever fitted on the square projecting end of the top pivot the cheek can be moved
towards or from one or other of the fixed cheeks.
When the movable tongue or guide cheek is moved outwards or from the fixed
cheek of the first or preparatory welding groove or hole in the rolls a trough
shaped guide with expanded mouth is formed in front of the said first or prepara-
tory groove or hole for guiding the tube to it; and when the position of the
movable tongue or guide cheek is reversed, that is, is turned from the fixed cheek
of the second or finishing groove or hole, a similar trough shaped guide is formed
in front of the said second groove or hole for guiding the tube to it. The motion
in either direction of the movable tongue or guide cheek is limited by a pin or
stud on the underside of the front or unjointed end of it working in a curved
slot in the platform.
In welding the lap or other joints of welded iron or steel tubes by the use of
my invention I proceed as follows:-Skelps with lap joints having been made are
placed upon mandrils and heated in a heating furnace of the ordinary kind in
front of the rolls. A heated skelp or partly made tube is conveyed from the
furnace into the trough guide in front of the first groove or hole in the rolls by

page_text: which it is guided to the said groove. It is then seized by the said groove and its
joint partly welded. The tube passed through the rolls is returned to the furnace
and conveyed a second time to the guide and first groove in the rolls for further
welding the joint. The position of the movable tongue or guide cheek being
reversed a trough guide is formed in front of the second groove or hole in the
rolls and the partly welded tube having been re-heated is passed one or more times
through the second groove or hole so as to finish or perfect the welding of the
joint. In this way long tubes can be readily welded at one operation that is,
before the tubes are allowed to cool. The welded tubes are straightened in the
ordinary way.
Dated this Fifteenth day of August 1899.
WT.
WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant.
CUALI LEIM DIMITIVATION,
Improvements in Machinery for the Manufacture of Welded Iron
and Steel Tubes.
1, EMMA JOHNSON, of Claremont Lodge, Brunswick Terrace, Wednesbury, in
the County of Stafford, Widow and Sole Executrix of the last will and testament
of John Clarke Johnson, late of the above address, deceased, 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 following statement:-
The said invention has reference to the welding rolls by which the lap joints
or other joints of iron and steel tubes are welded and consists of the improve-
ments in or additions hereinafter described to, the said welding rolls for guiding
the heated tubes from the heating furnace to the grooves or holes of the welding
rolls.
By the improvements in or additions to the welding rolls constituting the said
invention the lap or other joints of long tubes can be readily welded and the
welding operation completed without allowing the tubes to get cool.
I use a pair of tube welding rolls preferably having two grooves or holes one
of the said grooves or holes being used for effecting the preliminary welding of
the joint of the tube and the other groove or hole for perfecting or finishing the
welding of the joint.
In front of the tube welding rolls. I mount a horizontal platform having fixed
vertical side cheeks, slightly curved or inclined outwards the inner faces of the
said side cheeks bearing closely against the collars at the outer edges of the two
grooves or holes in the rolls. Midway between the two fixed guide cheeks on the
platform and the two grooves or holes in the rolls, is a movable vertical tongue
or guide cheek having motion through a small angle in a vertical plane. Pivots
at the top and bottom of this vertical tongue or guide cheek turn respectively
in a cross bar over the platform and in the platform and by grasping the end of
the cheek or by means of a handle or lever fitted on the square projecting ends of
the top pivot, the cheek can be moved towards or from one or other of the fixed
cheeks.
When the movable tongue or guide cheek is moved outwards or from the fixed
cheek of the first or preparatory welding groove or hole in the rolls a trough
shaped guide with expanded mouth is formed in front of the said first or prepara-
tory groove or hole for guiding the tube to it; and when the position of the
movable tongue or guide cheek is reversed, that is, is turned from the fixed cheek
of the second or finishing groove or hole, a similar trough shaped guide is formed

page_text: in front of the said second groove or hole for guiding the tube to it. The motion,
in either direction, of the movable tongue or guide cheek is limited by a pin or
stud on the underside of the front or unjointed end of it working in a curved
slot in the platform
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents in front elevation, Figure 2
in end elevation; Figure 3 in vertical section (taken through the middle collar
of the tube welding rolls), and Figure 4 in plan, a pair of tube welding rolls to
which guides constructed according to this invention are applied for guiding the
heated tubes from the heating furnace to the grooves or holes of the said welding
rolls.
Figure 5 represents in section a portion of the platform and movable vertical
tongue or guide cheek of the rolls and exhibits the mode of locking the said cheek
in its place after adjustment.
Figure 6 représents in side elevation, Figure 7 in plan and Figure 8 in end
elevation, partly in section, the movable vertical tongue or guide cheek detached,
drawn to a larger scale.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of
the drawings.
"1, b are the pair of welding rolls turning in housings and driven in the
ordinary way, the said rolls being provided with two welding grooves or holes c, d
the groove or hole e being used for effecting the preliminary welding of the joint
of the tube and the groove or hole being used for perfecting or finishing the
welding of the joint as hereinafter described; e is the horizontal platform mounted
in front of the rolls. The said horizontal platform e is provided with fixed curved
side cheeks f and g. These side cheeks f and g are preferably made capable of
adjustment to adapt them to the welding of the joints of tubes of different
diameters by means of the pins and slots at h, h. The inner ends or edges of
the said side cheeks f, g are curved and bear closely against the outer collars of
the rolls a, b is the movable vertical tongue or guide cheek having motion
through a small angle in a vertical plane. The said tongue or guide, cheek i is
situated.midway between the two fixed guide cheeks f, g on the platform e and
the two grooves or holes c, d in the welding rolls as best seen in the plan Figure 4.
The said vertical tongue or guide cheek is provided at top and bottom with
pivots, the upper pivot turning in a bearing in the middle of the cross bar k
over the platform and the lower pivot turning in a bearing in the said platform
see Figure 3. The ends of the cross bar are fitted in seats or bearings on the
housings of the rolls. It will be seen by an examination of Figure 3 that the
heel part of the guide cheek i, or that part projecting beyond the joint, is curved
in opposite directions and fits closely against the middle collars of the rolls. By
grasping the outer end of the movable guide cheek the said cheek may be
moved towards the fixed side cheek f as represented in Figure 4 or towards the
other side cheek g as indicated in dotted lines in the said Figure 4; or the cheek i
may be moved to either of the positions shown by means of a handle or lever fitted
on a square projecting end of the top pivot of the said cheek.
When the movable tongue or guide cheek i is moved outwards or from the
fixed cheek g of the first or preparatory welding groove or hole e in the rolls as
represented in Figure 4, a trough shaped guide A with expanded mouth is formed
in front of the said first or preparatory groove or hole c for guiding the heated
tube to the said groove or hole; and when the position of the movable tongue or
guide cheek is reversed or moved into the position indicated in dotted lines in
Figure 4, a similar trough shaped guide B is formed in front of the second or
finishing groove or hole d for guiding the heated tube to that groove or hole.
The motion in either direction of the movable tongue or guide cheek i is limited
by a pin or stud on its underside and near its unjointed end working in a curved
slot m in the platform e. In order to lock or fix the movable tongue cr cheek i
in its adjusted position a curved locking barn (best seen in the section Figure 5)
is dropped into the curved slot m in which the stud / works. It is necessary

page_text: before the position of the movable tongue or cheek i can be altered to lift, by
means of a pair of pliers, the locking bar n from the curved slot m in the platform.
The tube welding rolls and the tube guiding appliances represented are placed
in front of the tube heating furnace in the position of the ordinary welding rolls
having a single hole or groove.
In welding the lap or other joints of welded iron or steel tubes by the use of
this invention the process is conducted as follows. Skelps with lap joints having
been made are placed upon mandrels and heated in the heating furnace of the
ordinary kind in front of the rolls. A heated skelp or partly made tube is con-
veyed from the furnace into the trough guide A in front of the first groove or
hole in the rolls by which it is guided to the said groove c. The direction of
the heated tube from the heating furnace into the guide A and thence into the
groove is indicated by the arrows in Figure 4. The tube on being passed into
the groove is seized by the said groove and its joint partly welded. The tube
passed through the rolls is returned to the furnace and conveyed a second time
to the guide A and first groove c in the rolls for further welding the joint if
necessary or desirable. The position of the movable tongue or guide cheek i being
reversed as indicated in dotted lines in Figure 4 a trough guide B is formed in
front of the second groove or hole d in the rolls and the partly welded tube
having been re-heated is passed one or more times through the second groove or
hole so as to finish or perfect the welding of the joint In this way long tubes can
be readily welded at one operation, that is, before the tubes are allowed to cool.
The welded tubes are straightened in the ordinary way.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that I claim
as the said invention of "improvements in machinery for the manufacture of
welded iron and steel tubes":-
The addition to or combination with a pair of tube welding rolls having two
grooves or holes (one for effecting the preliminary welding of the joint of the
tube and the other for finishing or perfecting the joint of the tube) of trough
shaped guides for guiding the heated tube from the heating furnace in front of
the rolls to the grooves or holes of the said rolls, the said guides consisting essen-
tially of a movable vertical tongue or guide cheek having motion through a small
angle in a vertical plane situated midway between two fixed side cheeks, the said
movable tongue or guide cheek being capable of being moved towards one or
other of the said fixed cheeks for forming in front of either the preliminary groove
or the finishing groove of the rolls a trough guide for guiding the heated tube
from the furnace to the groove of the rolls substantially as hereinbefore described
and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated the Eighth day of M... 1000