IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING METAL TUBES, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR.
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Robert Cassels, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, and Thomas Morton, of Motherwell, in the same
County, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING METAL TUBES, AND
IN APPARATUS THEREFOR.".
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Robert Cassels and
Thomas Morton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
2nd February 1881.
JOHN ROBERT CASSELS, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
and THOMAS MORTON, of Motherwell, in the same County. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MAKING METAL TUBES, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."
This Invention relates to the making of tubes of any metal or metallic compound
which can be rolled, and its object is to improve and simplify the manufacturing
operations, so that a rough bar, or pile, or bloom may with a single heating be
converted into what is known as a skelp, which requires only the welding or
joining of the edges to form a complete tube. What are known as open-seamed
tubes can also be made in the same improved manner.
In carrying out the Invention the rough bar is first rolled into the form of a flat
strip, but such strip is by preference not so far reduced as to be as thin as the
intended finished tube. The strip is next rolled in a manner to bend its edges so
as to give it the tube-like form, such bending being effected by distinct stages;
and during one or more of such stages (accordingly as the metal retains less or
more heat) the reducing action is completed so as to bring the metal down to the
required thinness. The machinery to be employed will consist by preference of
what are known as three-high rolls; and a single set of three rolls may be used
for effecting the entire operation of converting the rough bar, or pile, or bloom into
the skelp. The use of three-high rolls and of a single set of rolls are not however
essential features of the Invention, as the commoner two-high rolls may be used,
or the several grooves required may be upon two or more pairs or sets of rolls.

page_text: The rolls are made with a series of grooves and counterparts of such graduated
forms as to convert the rough bar step by step, first into a strip of moderate thick-
ness, and afterwards into the skelp; and it is important to notice that the bar is
completely operated upon by one groove and its counterpart before it is subjected
to the next, not only whilst being shaped into a flat strip, but also whilst being
bended into a skelp or tube-like piece. The partly formed skelp or bended strip
is finally passed through a pair of roll grooves which are semicircular or nearly so;
and when the tube is to be butt-jointed there is formed or fixed at the bottom of
one of these grooves a projecting knife edge or fin of iron or steel which enters
between the edges of the skelp, and guiding them prevents overbending and
distortion of the joint.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Robert Cassels and Thomas Morton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th July 1881.
JOHN ROBERT CASSELS, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
and THOMAS MORTON, of Motherwell, in the same County. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MAKING METAL TUBES, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."
Our said Invention relates to the making of tubes of any metal or metallic
compound which can be rolled, and its object is to improve and simplify the
manufacturing operations, so that a rough bar, or pile, or bloom may with a single
heating be converted into what is known as a skelp, which requires only the
welding or joining of the edges to form a complete tube. What are known as
open-seamed tubes can also be made in the same improved manner.
In carrying out our Invention the rough bar is first rolled into the form of a flat
strip, but such strip is by preference not so far reduced as to be as thin as the
intended finished tube. The strip is next rolled in a manner to bend its edges so
as to give it the tube like form, such bending being effected by distinct stages;
and during one or more of such stages (accordingly as the metal retains less or
more heat), the reducing action is completed so as to bring the metal down to the
required thinness.
The machinery which we prefer to employ consists of what are known as three-
high rolls, and a single set of three rolls may be used for effecting the entire
operation of converting the rough bar, or pile, or bloom into the skelp. The use of
three-high rolls, and of a single set of rolls, are not however essential features of
our Invention, as the commoner two-high rolls may be used, or the several grooves
required may be upon two or more pairs or sets of rolls. The rolls are made with
a series of grooves and counterparts of such graduated forms as to convert the
rough bar step by step, first into a strip of moderate thickness, and afterwards into
the skelp; and it is important to notice that the bar is completely operated upon
by one groove and its counterpart before it is subjected to the next, not only
whilst being shaped into a flat strip, but also whilst being bended into a skelp or
tube-like piece.
And in order that our said Invention, and the manner of performing the same,
may be properly understood, we hereunto append a Sheet of explanatory
Drawings, to be hereinafter referred to, and representing machinery employed
for effecting our improvements in what wo at present believe to be the best
manner.
Figure 1 on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings is an elevation of the rolls,
which are carried in three pairs of housings or frames; Figures 2 to 5 are sectional
diagrams explanatory of the bending operations, and Figure 6 comprises sections A
to I, showing the forms of the metal at the several successive stages. In these
Drawings the same reference letters and numerals are used to mark the same or
corresponding parts wherever they are repeated.
In one pair of housings 7 there are carried three rolls 8, 9, 10, placed in the
same vertical plane, or, as it is termed, "three-high." These three rolls are formed
with grooves and counterparts for the first seven stages of the operations, the rough
bar being passed first backwards between rolls 8 and 9 at one end to receive the
form A; secondly, forwards between rolls 9 and 10 to receive form B; thirdly,
back wards between 8 and 9 for form C; fourthly, forwards between 9 and 10 for
form D; fifthly, backwards between 8 and 9 for form E; sixthly, forwards between
9 and 10 for form F; and, seventhly, backwards between 8 and 9 for form G. The
second pair of housings 11 carry a pair of rolls for giving form H, and the third

page_text: pair of housings 12 carry a pair of rolls for giving the final tube-like form I. The
rolls in the second and third pair of housings 11, 12, are represented as constructed
with grooves and counterparts for two different sizes of tubes, the larger grooves
being for the same size as those of the rolls in the first pair of housings 7.
The final roll grooves for giving form I are semicircular or nearly so, and when
the tube is to be butt-jointed there is formed or fixed at the bottom of one of these
grooves a projecting knife edge or fin 13 of iron or steel, which enters between
the edges of the skelp and guiding them prevents overbending and distortion of
the joint. Our improved system is, of course, also applicable for making skelps
to be lap-welded, the roll grooves and counterparts being for that purpose suitably
shaped to give the scarfed form to the edges of the metal.
Having thus particularly described our said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we have to state that we do not restrict ourselves to the
precise details herein described or delineated, but that what we believe to be
novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to us by and in terms of
the herein before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The system of making a metal tube, according to which a rough bar, or pile,
or bloom, is first rolled by separate stages into the form of a flat strip, and is
subsequently rolled also by separate stages so as to be bended and further reduced,
and finally formed into a tube-like skelp, the piece of metal being operated on
throughout its entire length at each stage before being subjected to the succeeding
stage, substantially as hereinbefore described.
2. The application and use of three-high rolls made with grooves and counter-
parts for operating according to the system forming the subject matter of the first
claim, and substantially as hereinbefore described.
3. The providing of the roll grooves by which the final tube-like form is given
with a projecting knife edge or fin to enter between and guide the edges of the
skelp, substantially as hercinbefore described.
In witness whereof, J, the said John Robert Cassels, on behalf of myself and
of the said Thomas Morton, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this
Twenty-eighth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and eighty-one.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
JOHN R. CASSELS. (L.S.)