US172606A - Improvement in the manufacture of tubes for lining ordnancf - Google Patents

Description

J. G. BUTLER.

MANUFACTURE OF TUBES FOR LIN'ING ORDNANCE.

No.17Z,66. Patented Jan. 25,1876.

FIGIV.

FIG-.I.

FIG.V.

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YLPETERS. PNOTDUTHDGRAFHEI WASHINGTON, D.C.

JOHN G. BUTLER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TUBES FOR LlNlNG ORDNANCE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 172,606, dated January 25, 1876; application filed December 20, 1875.

In the manufacture of wrought-iron tubesv used as a lining for large guns, and intended to withstand the heavy and repeated internalstrains due to the explosion of gunpowder, it has been found very important to follow someplan of construction by which the fiber of the iron shall run circumferentially about the tube. This has been found not only impracticable by the usual lap-weld process, (lapping the edges of a long strip, and passing it at a welding heat through rolls,) wherein long tubes the fiber of the iron must necessarily run longitudinally, but that process itself has not been found practicable with any save a very light character of tubing, such as is suitable for gas, steam, or water pipes. Consequently, in the class of large tubes above referred to, which may be required of indefinite diameter, length,and thickness, and in which to still further increase their strength it is deemed important, to have the fiber of the iron disposed circumferentially, it has been customary to construct them by coiling a long bar around a mandrel, and then jump-welding these coils together in sufficient numbers to produce a tube of the required length.

The objections to the first (or lap-weld) process are, that a tube of large size and thickness cannot, at least without great difficulty, be produced, and, even if produced, would be deficient in tangential strength, because the fiber of the ironis longitudinally disposed with reference to the tube. The objections to the second or coiling process are, first, that it is expensive, and, second, the great uncertainty of the jump-weld, which, together with the great number of coils in a tube of even moderate length, renders it extremely difficult to obtain a perfect tube-that is, one without more or less well-defined weld-marks, which are apt to open seriously when subjected to the heavy strains of discharge, and to the and afterward uniting these sections,so as to form a continuous tube of any desired length.

I willnow proceed to give in proper detail an explanation of my invention, referring for this purpose to the accompanying drawings, in which- .Figure I represents. in perspective, a

wrought-iron plate, the fiber of which is indicated by the direction of the arrows. Fig. II

is a crosssection through a short tube formed by bending and lapping the plate shown in Fig. I, after which the joint 'is welded. Fig. III is a cross-section through a tube similarly constructed, the edges of the plate having been previously beveled. Fig. IV represents a longitudinal section through several divisions or sections of a finished tube, showing the manner of uniting the said sections. Fig.

V is an elevation or exterior view of a portion of a finished tube, as in Fig. IV. Fig. VI represents, in longitudinal section, a combination of a coiled tube and an inner tube formed of welded sections.

To construct a large tube on my plan, first roll a wrought-iron plate of the desired thickness and of any convenient length; then dress or trim this long plate upon a planer along both longitudinal edges, so that it shall be of a width corresponding to such lengths of sec tion as may be convenient to manipulate; next divide this long plate across the fiber into short plates of a length equal to the circumference of the'desired tube, as shown in Fig. I.

The next step in the process is to scarf or bevel the opposite edges of each of these short plates across the fiber, as shown at a a, and b b in Fig. I, after which the plate heated, if necessaryis bent around a former in such a manner that the joint shall be lapped in proper position for welding, as is shown at a b, Fig. 11. Each section is then placed in a furnace or forge and brought to a welding one end, as shown at c c, Fig. IV, and atenon turned upon the other end, as shown at d d in the same figure, the diameter of the tenon being slightly greater than that of the mortise, and also tapered very slightly or bellmouthed, and the mortise made to correspond. This bevel is necessarily exaggerated in so small a drawing as Fig. IV. 7. W

The next operation is to unitethese several sections. This is done by expanding by heat the mortised or counterbored end of one section, and inserting therein the tenoned end of another, and allowing them to cool. When the two sections have thus been shrunk together, this portion of the tube is brought to a welding heat, and the tube slipped over the mandrel and the joint welded; then another section is added in a similar manner, and so. on until a tube of the required length has been produced. Thus, in Fig. IV, the section b is shrunk upon the tenoned end of section a, and, after heating and welding the joint, additional sections, as 0, may be attached in a similar manner.

Instead of the mortise and tenon-described,

the sections may be screwed together, as,

shown at E in Fig. IV; but I prefer the plan first described; and, instead of the lap-weld shown in Fig. II, the scarf-weld shown in Fig. III may be employed. This latter joint will furnish more readily the surplus metal necessary for welding.

In order to furnish a surplus'of metal about; the joints of the different sections, these may;

be made thicker at the ends, as shown in Fig. IV, and this may be accomplished by'sorolling the long plate (from which the short plates for forming the sections are cut transversely) that it shall be somewhat thicker along the dressed edges before cutting.

If desired, a tube constructed upon my plan may be used with a coiled tube as an auxiliary, for the purpose of preventing exposure of the many welded joints of the coiled tube to the action of the powder-gases. In such a combination, of course, the coiled tube is placed outside of the sectional tube, and they form together a compound tube of the proper thickness for a gun-lining. Such a tube is illustrated in Fig. VI, in which D D represent the'outer or coiled'tube, which, in

thiscase, being but one-half the usual thickness, is much more conveniently and perfectly fabricated than is a coiled tube of full thickness.

Having thus described my invention, which,

in its application, isnotnecessarily restricted toordnance, but which will prove useful in all cases where .heavyand repeated internal strains must be resisted, what Iclaim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. For the manufactureof ordnance, a lining or re-enforcing tube of =-,wrought-iron, (or other welding material composed of several tubular sections, each ,formed :of a :single plate, so that thefiberof 113116 material .shall be disposed circumferentially, substantially as and .for the purpose herein before .set forth.

2. A lining or ;-,re -en torcing ;tube,"coimposed of'sections,formed-Lot :plates and unitediupon a mortise-and-tenon principle, the sections being shrunk one upon the other and "welded together, substantially as-and for-thepnrpose hereinbefore set forth.

3. Thecombination .of the sectional tube-A B O with =the coiled tube D,'--substantially as and for the purposezhereinbeioresettforth.

JOHN G. BUTLER.

Witnesses:

Guns. H. EGBERT, Orr-As. H. CAMPBELL.

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