US1550153A - Method of producing tubular metallic articles - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 18, 1925. 1,550,153

W. L. R. EMMET ET AL METHOD OF PRODUCING TUBULAR METALLIC ARTICLES Filed March 28, 1925 Patented Aug. 18, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

WILLIAM L. R. EMMET. OF SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK, AND SAMUEL T. THORPE, OF

BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT; SAID THQRPE ASSIGNOR TO THE HORTON MANUFACTUR- ING COMPANY, OF BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

METHOD OF PRODUCING TUBULAR METALLIC ARTICLES.

Application filed March 28, 1925. Serial No. 19,089.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, WILLIAM L. R. EMMET and SAMUEL T. Tnonrn, citizens of the United States, residing, respectively, at Schenectady, county of Schenectady, State of New York, and at Bristol, county of Hartford, State of Connecticut, have invented a certain new and Improved Method of Producing Tubular Metallic, Articles; and we do hereby declare the following to be a. full, clear, and exact description of the Same, reference. being. had to the accompanyingdrawings forming part of this specification.

Our invention relates to-an improved method of producing tubular metallic shafts or similar articles, and particularly to the method of producing tubular metallicshafts which are designed to withstand severe and repeated bending and twisting strains and. which, when distorted, will return to their. original form when-the strain to which they are subjected is removed. Our invention rc-. lates particularly to an improved method of producing tubular metallic shafts for use as the shafts of golf clubs and for similar purposes.

This application is a continuation, as to all matter common to the two applications, of our pending application Serial No. 518,-. 483, for seamed. metal articles, filed November 28, 1921, which has matured into United I States Letters Patent No. 1,543,497, granted June 23, 1925.

I. The shaft of a golf club-is subjected to repeated. bending and twisting strainswhich: are often severe in nature. The golf club'- shaft to be successful must be so made that it will withstand such strains,withou;t failing at; any point or losing'i-ts resilient 'and: flexible characteristics. In manufacturing tubular metallic shafts from sheet .metal, great difficulty has been experienced in forming the ,seam by which the edges of the metal blank are united to form a tubular" shaft. Such aseam must be so formed that it will not destroy the resilience or flexibil i-ty of the finished'shaft and it must belso.- formed as to be substantially as resilient and flexible as the body of the tube The chief object-of our present invention is to provide a method of forming a seamed tubular metallic shaft by which the finished product has. the desired uniform resilience and flexibility and is strong enough to withstand the repeated flexing to which such an article is 55 subjected in use. Y

A further. object of our present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing seamed metallic tubular shafts or rods which enables thev manufacture of such articles on 0 a commercial scale at a comparatively low cost while producing an article which has the necessary strength to ,withstand repeated. strains while possessing the resilience and flexibility which such an article needs .When 65 it is to -be .used as the shaft ofa golf club, for instance.

In one instance we accomplish the objects of our invention by the devices and means.

disclosed in the following specification. Our-. 7

invention is clearly defined and pointed out in the appended claims.

The method constitutingthepreferred embodiment of our invention is set forth in the following specification and illustrated by 75 reference to the accompanying drawings, in which,-

F igurel is a perspective view of the blank from which a tapered steel tube is. made formed into shape preparatory to joining the -30 Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a golf club, 00

the shaft of which has been formed of 'a tube similar to that shown in Fig.4.

A sheet metal blank formed up, preferably of steel, is trimmed to the desired shape, depending upon the taper of the tube which is 95 to be formed from it. If the tube to be formed is to be cylindrical, of course, this blankx-will be rectangular. Thisblank is. preferably formed of steel of the desired gage and chemical analysis, depending upon me the weight of the shaft which is to be formed and the degree of flexibility or resilience which such shaft must have. The blank is then formed roughly into the shape of the tubular shaft which is to be madepthus'los bringing the longitudinal edges of the blank,- W

' strains to which such a shaft issubjected and which would not detract from the resilience or flexibility of the finished tube. In accordance with our invention, we propose to form this seam by means of a steel connecting strip inserted between the adjacent edges of the body of the tube and lapping and secured to adjacent portions of the body of the tube by a suitable binder of the character hereinafter described. This connectin stri is preferably made of steel and we nd it highly desirable to use steel for this strip of substantially the same carbon content as the steel of the blank forming the body of the tube. This has the advantage that the connecting strip and the body of the tube are of steel having substantially the same characteristics in so far as resilience and flexibility are concerned. We find it desirable to form this steel strip into the shape shown in Fig. 2. The strip is folded at 12 over upon the body portion 11 of the strip, then bent so as to provide the portion 13 extending at right angles to the body of the strip and thence bent back again so as to form the flange 14 which lies parallel to the body of the strip but is spaced therefrom slightly. The strip thus formed is inserted between the adjacent edges of the tube formed by the body of the blank. In doing this, the operator takes a suitable tube and draws the strip into position. When inserted, the body. portion 11 of the strip lies within the tube. The portion 13 of the strip is disposed between the adjacent edges of the body of the tube. The

flange 14 overlies the outer side of the body of the tube while the portions 12 and-11 of the strip engage the inner surface of the body of the tube adjacent the meeting edges "thereof.

When the connecting strip has been inserted between the edges of the tube as described, it serves to support the adj aoent portions of the blank in proper relation to each other and also serves to form a part of the seam which connects the edges of the blank to form the finished tube. The next step in the manufacture of this tubular metallic shaft is to wrap the tube with an asbestos tap: which is wound spirally." around the tu so as to' hold the edges of the'blank in proper contact with the connecting strip. This tape may well be wet before being wound upon the tube, with the result that,

when drv it grips the tube very tightly. The

next step in the manufacture of this tubular metallic shaft is to iointhe connecting strip and the edges of the blank forming the body of the tube by means of a suitable metallic binder. It is important to select a binder and a method of joining these arts which does not involve a high degree 0 heat because the steel used in forming the body of the tube and the connectin strip has a considerable percentage of car on in order that it may have the desired resilience and flexibility and,'if any of the usual methods of welding are employed, the heat necessarily incident thereto is so great as to decarbonize the portions of the tube adjacent the seam and hence destroy or decrease their resilience and flexi- 'bility, thus forming a weak zone in the meof copper wiire+thejnumbeii of strands toibe used depending upon 'the amountv ofcopper.

which it is desired to useiwaiorm the binder -are inserted within the tubelsoftha-t thjey lie adjacent the conne'ctin strip, and such strands are temporarily he din that relation, if desired, by any suitable means. The tube, with the strands of copper wire, is then inserted in a furnace in an atmosphere of hydrogen, the furnace being maintained at or about the melting point of the copper. The fused copper runs'into the interstices between the connecting strip and the adjacent portions of the body of the tube and forms a very secure union between these parts. After the tube has been allowed to remain in the furnace for the proper length of time to secure this union, it is withdrawn through an atmosphere of hydrogen and allowed to cool in the absence 'of air. For instance, the tube may be passed from the atmosphere of hydrogen directly into a suitable cooling bath. After the seam has been formed as above described and the tubes are cooled, the asbestos tape is removed therefrom and the finished tubular shaft is subjected to any desired finishing operation. Where it is desired to provide a smooth exterior for the finished product, the flange 14 on the exterior of the tube may be removed in any suitable way as, for instance, by grinding it off. The result of this method is that it provides for the manufacture, at a comparatively low cost, of tubular metallic shafts or rods which have a high degree of flexibility or resilience so that they maybe flexed or bent laterally repeatedly, without failing under these refrom the resilience or flexibility of the finished product, but it provides a very strong connecting seam joining the edges of the blank, which will stand upunder the severe strains to which it is subjected.

As the binding material, we prefer to use copper in a highly purified state, preferably copper which is free from occluded .gases and from which all oxide has been instance, certain alloys of copper. One such alloy consists of ninety-three parts copper and seven parts aluminum; another is composed of ninety-three parts copper and ten parts nickel. Silver, also, under certain conditions, may be used as the binding material. The composition of the connecting strip should be chosen so that, in the finished tube, it has an elasticity at least as great as that: of the body portion 10. Both body portion and strip may be formed of any one of various alloys of steel. In many cases, we find it desirable to use a non-rust ing metal, such as alloys of steel and chromium.

While we have disclosed the connecting strip as formed of sheet metal bent into the form shown, the strip might be formed as a solid bar rolled or drawn into the required shape. When the material of which the strip is composed is a high carbon steel, it is in general easier to form the strip of sheet metal by bending it to the form described from the fiat.

We are aware that the particular method described in this specification may be varied considerably in its details without departing from the spirit of our invention and, there fore, we claim our invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A method of making a thin walled steel tubular article of small diameter which consists in forming a thin sheet steel blank in tubular form with edges in abutting relation; placing a thin steel strip between said edges andoverlapping in close contact inner and outer surfaces of the tube, whereby the edges and strip mutually support each other in proper relation for brazing; placing a cuprous brazing material longitudinally along the strip; and subjecting the assembled blank strip and brazing material to heat in an atmosphere of hydrogen suflicient to melt and cause the brazing material to fill the interstices between and unite the proximate surfaces of the strip and blank.

2. A method of making a thin walled steel tubular article of small diameter, which consists in forming a. thin sheet steel blank in tubular form with edges in abutting relation, placing a thin steel sl-rip between said edges and overlapping in close contact inner and outer surfaces of the tube whereby the edges and strip mutually support each other in proper relation for brazing; placing a cuprous brazing material longitudinally along the strip; and subjecting the assembled blank strip and brazing material to heat in an atmosphere of hydro-gen suflicient to melt and cause the brazing material to fill the interstices between and unite the proximate surfaces of the strip and blank; and finally removing the portion of the strip lying on the outer side of the tube.

3. The method of securing together the edges of a seamed steel tube by means of a T-shaped steel strip and a cuprous binder which consists in inserting the body portion of the strip between adjacent edges of the tube with the arms of the strip lying against the inner surface of the tube, holding the strip and tube together throu hout their length, applying the material orming the binder and subjecting the whole to a temperature suflicient to melt the binder in an atmosphere of hydrogen.

4. A method of making a seamed article which consists in formin a steel blank having abutting edges, placing between said edges and in contact with portions of the surface of said blank a steel strip, joining said strip to said edges and surface by melting copper in contact with the same in an atmosphere of hydrogen and tempering the article so formed.

5. The method of forming tubular metallic articles, consisting of forming a sheet metal blank into the shape required fo the body of the tube, inserting a metal connecting strip between the adjacent edges of said body and in contact with the portions thereof adjacent said body, and joining said strip to said body portion by fusing a suitable binding material and causing it to flow into the interstices between said strip and the body of said tube, said binding material being of different material than the strip and such as to fuse at a temperature below that at which decarbonization of steel takes place.

6. The method of forming a tubular metallic shaft, comprising forming a sheet metal blank into the shape required for the body of the tube, disposing a metal connecting strip having a higher melting point than copper in engagement with portions of the body of the tube adjacent the longitudinal edges thereof, and uniting said strip and said portions to the body by fusing copper and allowing the fused copper to cent the portions of said blank adjoining flow into the interstices between said strip the longitudinal edges thereof and bridging and said body. the gap between said edges, and uniting 7. The method of forming a tubular mesaid connecting strip to the body of the tube 6 tallic shaft, consisting in forming a sheet by fusing copper and permitting the fused steel blank into the shape required for the copper to flow into 'the interstices between body of the tube, thus bringing the longisaid strip and the adjacent portions of said tudinal edges of said blank into juxtaposi blank. tion, disposing a steel strip of substantially WILLIAM L. R. EMMET. 10 the same carbon content as said blank adja- SAMUEL T. THORPE.

Images