IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TUBES AND CYLINDERS OF COPPER AND ALLOYS OF COPPER
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Parkes, of Bath Row, Holloway Head,
Birmingham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF TUBES AND CYLINDERS OF COPPER AND ALLOYS OF COPPER."
Spaled the 22nd January 1858, and dated the 10th November 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Parkes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th November 1857.
I, ALEXANDER PARKES, of Bath Road, Holloway Head, Birmingham, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENT IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF TUBES AND CYLINDERS OF COPPER AND ALLOYS OF COPPER," to
be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of tubes
and cylinders of copper and alloys of copper. For these purposes, when using
ingots or masses cast hollow, in place of casting the same in close moulds as
heretofore, they are cast in like manner to that practised when casting ingots,
that is, in open moulds, so that the metal poured into the mould is uncovered
on its upper surface. The mould is preferred to be rectangular, and of such
depth and length as to produce the length and thickness of ingot or mass
desired. The ends of the mould are made with ledges or projections, or
otherwise suitable for supporting a core by its two ends, in such a position
that when the melted metal is poured into the mould; the metal may, when
the mould is filled to the desired extent, be 'as thick above as below the core.

page_text: Or, in place of casting ingots or masses hollow, I cast them solid; I then
drill a hole through each, and make a saw cut through the mass or ingot.
Such hollow ingots or masses are then to be rolled out or extended and opened,
as heretofore. Heretofore, when casting hollow ingots or masses of copper,
and of copper or its alloys, for the making of tubes and cylinders, it has been
usual to melt the same without using any reducing fluxes. I have found
that the casting of such hollow ingots or masses for the making of cylinders
and tubes therefrom is greatly improved by employing reducing alkaline fluxes
when melting copper, or copper and its alloys, preparatory to casting the same
into hollow ingots or masses suitable for making cylinders or tubes. When
using sheet copper for making cylinders or tubes for printers, I employ silver
or silver solder for joining the edges. In place of casting ingots or masses
hollow, I in some cases cast the mass of copper or alloy of copper solid, and
then, when at a high temperature and inclosed in a suitable die, I punch out
the central portion, so as to produce the requisite hollow mass of copper. In
order to extend hollow masses or ingots of copper or alloys of copper, in place
of using the ordinary draw plates or dies, I use dies or plates with an inclined
or screw thread on the interior, and when drawing or passing a tube or
cylinder through such die or draw plate, such die orplate is caused to revolve.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Parkes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th May 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
PARKES, of Bath Row, Holloway Head, Birmingham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alexander Parkes, Her special licence that I, the said Alexander Parkes,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alex.
ander Parkes, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF TUBES AND CYLINDERS OF COPPER AND ALLOYS OF COPPER,"

page_text: upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Parkes, my
executors 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 calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Parkes, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of tubes
and cylinders of copper and alloys of copper. For these purposes, when
using ingots or masses cast hollow, in place of casting the same in close
moulds, as heretofore, they are cast in like manner to that practised when
casting ingots, that is, in open moulds, so that the metal poured into the
mould is uncovered on its upper surface. The mould is preferred to be rect-
angular,and of such depth and length as to produce the length and thickness
of ingot or mass desired. The ends of the mould are made with ledges or
projections, or otherwise suitable for supporting a core by its two ends, in such
a position that when the melted metal is poured into the mould, the metal
may, when the mould is filled to the desired extent, be as thick above as below
the core. Or, in place of casting ingots or masses hollow, I cast them solid;
I then drill a hole through each, and make a saw cut through the mass or
ingot. Such hollow ingots or masses are then to be rolled out or extended,
and opened, as heretofore. Heretofore, when casting hollow ingots or masses
of copper, and of copper or its alloys, for the making of tubes and cylinders,
it has been usual to melt the same without using any reducing fluxes. I have
found that the casting of such hollow iugots or masses for the making of
cylinders and tubes therefrom is greatly improved by employing reducing
alkaline fluxes when melting copper, or copper and its alloys, preparatory to
casting the same into hollow ingots or masses suitable for making cylinders or
tubes. When using sheet copper for making cylinders or tubes for printers,
I employ silver or silver solder for joining the edges. In place of casting
ingots or masses hollow, I in some cases cast the mass of copper or alloy of
copper solid, and then, when at a high temperature and inclosed in a suitable
die, I punch out the central portion, so as to produce the requisite hollow mass
of copper. In order to extend hollow masses or ingots of copper or alloys of
copper, in place of using the ordinary draw plates or dies, I use dies or plates

page_text: with an inclined screw thread on the interior, and when drawing or passing a
tube or cylinder through such die or draw plate, such die or plate is caused to
revolve.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
In casting hollow ingots of copper or of its alloys in an open mould,
according to my Invention, I prefer to use copper moulds, but iron or other
moulds may be employed. These moulds are by preference of a rectangular
form; the ends of the moulds are made with ledges or projections, or other-
wise suitable for supporting a core by its two ends. The core I also prefer
to be of copper, coated with lime, bone-ash, loam, sand, or other substances
that will prevent the adhesion of the metal when poured into the mould. I
prefer the mould to be of such depth as to admit of several hollow ingots of
copper or an alloy of copper being cast into the same mould, one over the
other, in the same manner as is now practised when casting solid cakes or
ingots of copper for rolling, provision being made to hold several cores which
are introduced in succession into the mould, and castings are made and
allowed to set. The thickness of copper or its alloy surrounding the core is
to be regulated according to the purpose for which the hollow ingot is required.
The ingots when cast may be consolidated by hammering or rolling, to elongate
´and extend them preparatory to their being opened into a cylindrical form,
and after opening them out they may be finished as cylinders or tubes by the
ordinary methods of drawing, rolling, hydraulic power, or otherwise. Or, in
place of casting hollow ingots, as above described, I cast solid ingots or cakes
of copper in the usual way, in open moulds; I then drill a hole through the
longer axis, and then by a saw or cutter I cut a passage through the ingot to
the required width, leaving sufficient metal on all sides of the cut through the
ingot, by which a hollow ingot of the desired character will be obtained. I
then proceed to make a tube in the way above described when acting on a
hollow cast ingot.
:
Heretofore, when casting hollow ingots or masses of copper, or of its alloys,
in the manufacture of tubes and cylinders, it has been usual to melt the metal
without using any reducing fluxes. I have found, when manufacturing tubes
and cylinders, that the casting of such hollow ingots or masses is greatly
improved by employing reducing alkaline fluxes, preferring cyanide or ferro-
cyanide of potassium, muriate of ammonia, or carbonates of the alkalies with
charcoal, when melting copperand its alloys, preparatory to casting into hollow
ingots or masses. The metal being melted, I skim off the fluxes. By thus
using alkaline fluxes ás a preparatory process in the manufacture of tubes and

page_text: cylinders, when using sheet copper for making cylinders or tubes for calico
and embossing rollers, I employ for joining the edges silver, or silver solder,
prepared by fusing silver, copper, and zinc, or nickel, copper, and zinc, as is well
understood, by which a better and more suitable joint is produced than when
using other materials. When the sheet metal has been turned up into a
cylinder or tube, and I take great care to make a good close joint, I charge
with the silver or solder from the inside of the tube, loaming or otherwise
covering the exterior surface over the joint, to prevent the solder coming
through and spreading on the outer surface. I roughly round the tube on
mandrils by hammering.
In order to make such sheets true externally, I prefer to place them in a
cylindrical die, smooth on the inside, and of a diameter corresponding with
that of the finished shell to be expanded within such die in any convenient
For this purpose I prefer either to cause the die and shell to revolve
against pressing tools, the pressing tools being moved from end to end of the
shell; or, the pressing tools may revolve, and the dyeing shell remain
stationary.
manner.
The best arrangement of pressing tools for these purposes, I believe to be
a cylinder having on its peripliery three rollers, at equal distances apart around
the circumference of such cylinder, the rollers being on axes at an angle to the
axis of the cylinder, and capable of being moved more and more from the
axis of the cylinder. And I prefer that such rollers should be set on a spiral
line around the cylinder, but I make no claim to the mode by which such
shells are expanded, or otherwise made true on their outer surfaces.
Or, in place of the above I make rollers or tubes by casting solid masses
of copper or alloys of copper(by preference in copper moulds) of a cylindrical
form, and whilst hot and in suitable dies or tools (preferring that the die or
tool should surround the metal), with collars or guides at each end, for guiding
the punch, which corresponds with the size of the hole required to be made
through the mass, and with a steam hammer or other power I operate upon
the punch so as to force it into and through the mass of metal; for this
purpose I can use either a blund or rounded ended punch or a cutting punch.
In case of using a punch with a blunt or rounded end, the metal will be
consolidated and elongated within the die or tool; if I use a cutting punch, the
central portion will be removed.
I would remark that I do not claim the forcing of holes through masses of
copper or alloys thereof generally; this part of my Invention consists in so
perforating blocks of a circular section, and then extending such perforated
castings into tubes or cylinders, and I extend such perforated castings by

page_text: rolling, drawing through dies, by draw-bench, or by hydraulic or other power'
or by hammering, as is well understood.
In order to elongate or extend cylinders or tubes, I employ tools upon the
principle of the screw, and so formed that one thread will work close up to
the other, or one thread may be made to obliterate the effect of the other.
As the tube passes through the tool, I place the tube or cylinder on a
mandril, by preference with slight grooves longitudinally; or the mandril
may sexagonal, or of any other figure, to prevent the tube moving round
thereon, and I make such mandril somewhat tapering. The screw tool which
I use consists of a cylinder or collar, having internal inclined projections, each
being part of the thread of a screw. Or such projections may be rollers on
axes, at an angle to the axis of the cylindrical, such internal projections or
rollers being arranged to be set more and more in towards the axis of the
cylindrical die. The tube or cylinder to be extended in its length is either to
be forced through such tool, the tool being caused to revolve, or the tube and
its mandril, on which it is being pressed and elongated, may revolve, and be
moved through the die, the die remaining fixed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Parkes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
ALEXANDER PARKES. (L.S.)