NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR FLANGING PLATES AND STRIPS OF METAL."
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Alton, of the Town and County of Derby,
Boiler Maker, for the Invention of "NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR
FLANGING PLATES AND STRIPS OF METAL."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Alton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
December 1864.
I, GEORGE ALTON, of the Town and County of Derby, Boiler Maker, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "NEW OR IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR FLANGING PLATES AND STRIPS OF METAL," to be as follows:-
My Invention for flanging plates consists of machinery constructed as
hereafter described.
The machine is composed of two main parts, the one stationary and the
other movable. The stationary part is a table or block, carrying clamps for
the purpose of receiving the plate or strip of metal to be flanged, and of
securing it on the block. The movable part consists of a frame, carrying one,
two, or more rollers made to revolve so as to bring the rollers parallel to the
edge of the plate to be flanged. The frame is also free to advance towards
and recede from the block as required; or the movable part consists of one
roller, the axes of which are carried by blocks free to move up and down and
to and fro in heads provided for the purpose. Again, instead of a roller, I
sometimes use a pressing cam.

page_text: Supposing a plate to require to be flanged and curved, say, for instance, for
the body of a locomotive boiler, the plate is placed in a furnace, and at a
proper heat is withdrawn and placed upon the block, where it is securely held
by the clamps, the edge projecting over the block to the extent necessary for
the flange required. The movable roller machine of one or other kind before
mentioned is caused to approach and bend down the edge so as to flange it
against the side of the block; the plate thus flanged may be taken to a
curving or bending machine, the subject of an application for Letters
Patent made by me of even date herewith, entitled "A New Method of
and Machinery for Curving Flanged Boiler and other Metal Plates," and
consisting of rolls similar to those ordinarily used for rolling metals, but with
a part or parts removed so as to form a space in which the flange enters,
while the surface of the rolls acts upon the body of the plate; the plate issues
from the rolls flanged and bent to the curve required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Alton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th June 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
ALTON, of the Town and County of Derby, Boiler Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said George Alton, Her special licence that I, the
said George Alton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said George Alton, 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 "NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR FLANGING PLATES AND STRIPS OF METAL,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Alton, 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

page_text: within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Alton, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
My Invention for flanging plates consists of machinery constructed as
herein-after described.
The machine is composed of two main parts, the one stationary and the
other movable. The stationary part is a table or block, carrying clamps for
the purpose of receiving the plate or strip of metal to be flanged, and of
securing it on the block. The movable part consists of a frame, carrying one,
two, or more rollers made to revolve so as to bring the rollers parallel to the
edge of the plate to be flanged. The frame is also free to advance towards and
recede from the block as required; or the movable part consists of one roller,
the axes of which are carried by blocks free to move up and down and to and
fro in heads provided for the purpose. Again, instead of a roller I sometimes
use a pressing cam.
Supposing a plate to require to be flanged and curved, say, for instance, for
the body of a locomotive boiler, the plate is placed in a furnace, and at a
proper beat is withdrawn and placed upon the block, where it is securely held
by the clamps, the edge projecting over the block to the extent necessary for
the flange required. The movable roller machine of one or other kind before
mentioned, is caused to approach and bend down the edge so as to flange it
against the side of the block; the plate thus flanged may then be taken to a
curving or bending machine, the subject of Letters Patent granted to me of
even date herewith, and consisting of rolls similar to those ordinarily used for
rolling metals, but with a part or parts removed so as to form a space in
which the flange enters, while the surface of the rolls acts upon the body of
the plate; the plate issues from the rolls flanged and bent to the curve
required.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is an end elevation, Figure 2 a
side elevation, and Figure 3 a plan, of a machine for flanging plates con-
structed according to my Invention; Figure 4 is an elevation of the clamp
frame. A is a stationary table or block; B is a wrought iron or steel corner
piece secured to the table A, and capable of being detached therefrom to
allow of the insertion of a corner piece of different form to suit the angle to
which the plate is to be flanged.
The plate C to be flanged is placed upou

page_text: the table A with its edge projecting over the corner piece B to the extent
necessary for the flange required, and is secured on the table by a clamp D,
screwed down by screws E, E, and nuts F, F; G, G, are frames or machine
heads free to move nearer to or further from the stationary table A by being
made to traverse on rails or blocks H, H, by means of toothed wheels I, I,
gearing into racks J, J, on the rails; K, K, are rollers held by straps or
plates L, L, and revolving round a shaft M as a common centre as well as on
their own axes. The straps or plates L, L, are mounted on the shaft M,
which revolves in bearings in the machine heads G, G. The ends of the
shaft M carry toothed wheels N, N, geared into by pinions 0, 0, actuated by
other pinions P, P, on the driving shaft Q.
The working is as follows:-The plate to be flanged after having been
brought to the proper heat in a furnace, is withdrawn and placed upon the
table or block A, the edge projecting over the corner piece B, as before
stated, to the extent necessary for the flange, the breadth of the projecting
part being regulated by a gauge plate, as hereafter described with reference to
Figure 9. The plate is then secured by the clamp D. The frames or machine
heads G, G, are next made to traverse towards the plate, and fixed in the
proper position; the driving gear is then set in motion to cause the
rollers K, K, to come in contact with and bend down the edge of the plate so
as to flange it against the face of the corner piece B. Instead of the table A
being stationary and the frames G, G, movable, the frames G, G, may be
fixed, and the table A made to traverse as required.
Figure 5 is an end elevation, Figure 6 a side elevation, and Figure 7 a
plan, shewing an arrangement in which there is only one flanging revolving
roller K, and the table or block A on which the plate C is flanged is made
movable, while the frames or heads G, G, are fixed. Similar letters to those
in Figures 1 to 4 refer to corresponding parts. The roller K is carried in
blocks R, R, free to slide up and down in guides S, S, in the frames G, G;
this up-and-down movement is imparted by connecting rods T, T, and
cranks U, U.
The working is as follows:-The movable table A is adjusted by means of
worms V and stop screws W, as seen in Figure 10, and the heated plate to be
flanged is then secured upon the table A by the clamp D, the breadth of the
projecting edge being regulated as in the arrangement previously described by
a gauge plate. The gearing is next set in motion, whereby the roller K is
caused to descend, come in contact with the projecting portion of the plate C,
and thus flange it to the angle of the corner piece B.
Figure 8 is an end elevation, Figure 9 a side elevation, and Figure 10 a

page_text: plan, showing another arrangement, in which one revolving flanging roller is
employed, and in which the table A is shewn movable; Figure 11 is a
sectional view of the table A, its foundation plate X, and the foundation
plate Y of the frames G, G. Similar letters in Figures 8 to 11 to those in
Figures 1 to 7 refer to corresponding parts. In place of the cranks U, U, in
Figures 5, 6, and 7, the connecting rods T, T, are formed with straps Z,
embracing excentrics a on a shaft b; c, c, are guide brackets for the movable
table A; d, Figures 9 and 10, is the gauge plate herein-before referred to; its
ends carry threaded rods, which pass through slots in one end of each of two
levers e, e, centred upon the table A; the opposite ends of these levers are
weighted to raise the gauge plate d to its original position after being pressed
down by the roller ready for the next plate to be gauged. The threaded ends
of the plate & are adjustable in the slots of the levers e, e, and held in the
required position by tightening nuts, whereby the gauge plate may be fixed
at any distance parallel from the corner piece B, according to the extent of
flange to be formed.
Instead of the clamp D being screwed down by screws and handles, as
shown, both ends may be worked together by means of a shaft and bevil
wheels.
Instead of a concentric flanging roller I sometimes use what I term a
pressing cam, that is, I mount a roller excentrically upon a shaft, which I
cause to revolve, and bring the face of the roller in contact with the edge
of the plate, so that at the greatest throw of the excentric the plate shall be
completely flanged.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, constructing
machinery for flanging plates and strips of metal, consisting of a flanging
table or bed and of a frame carrying one or more rollers or a pressing cam, all
acting substantially in manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Alton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of June One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-five.
GEO. ALTON. (L.S.)