Device for continuous bending of metal mesh

A material-forming device for a wire mesh having longitudinally extending wires and laterally extending wires overlapping the longitudinally extending wires, the material-forming device comprising:

• a frame defining a longitudinal axis along which the wire mesh is feedable with the longitudinally extending wires oriented in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the device;
• and
• a plurality of contact rods that are supported by the frame and elongated along the longitudinal axis, the plurality of contact rods being configured to threadedly receive a sheet of the wire mesh that moves through the plurality of contact rods in a downstream direction that is parallel to the longitudinal axis,
• the plurality of contact rods including an inner contact rod and an outer contact rod that are each configured to engage a first side of the sheet of wire mesh, and a middle contact rod positioned between the inner contact rod and the outer rod and configured to engage a second side of the sheet of wire mesh that opposes the first side, wherein at least one of the outer contact rod and the inner contact rod is configured to bend the sheet of wire mesh about the middle contact rod as the sheet of wire mesh moves in the downstream direction;
• wherein the plurality of contact rods are positioned such that a trajectory of a point of contact between at least one of the outer contact rod and the sheet of wire mesh or the inner contact rod and the sheet of wire mesh defines an involute curve about the middle contact rod when projected onto a plane that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, and
• wherein the involute curve is defined such that the point of contact always contacts the sheet of wire mesh between a pair of the longitudinal wires to thereby restrict lateral displacement of the sheet of wire mesh when being fed downstream in the device.