Roll-forming machine
AssigneeThe Bradbury Company, Inc.
InventorsPhilip E. Bradbury, Karl E. Voth, Wayne Fisher
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A roll-forming apparatus is provided with a plurality of roll-forming stations adapted to facilitate the formation of either a C-shaped component or a Z-shaped component from a sheet of material. The roll-forming stations have forming rolls that make contact with the sheet of material and a pair of telescoping arbor assemblies that support the forming rolls so that the lateral distance between the forming rolls may be adjusted. The roll-forming apparatus has a number of movable forming rolls and a number of fixed forming rolls having two different forming surfaces to facilitate the formation of both C-shaped and Z-shaped components.
Claims35
A roll-forming apparatus having a plurality of roll-forming stations adapted to form a first component having a Z-shaped cross section, said first component having a center portion, a pair of legs connected to said center portion, and a pair of flanges connected to said legs, said roll-forming stations being adapted to form a second component having a C-shaped cross section, said second component having a center portion, a pair of legs connected to said center portion of said second component, and a pair of flanges connected to said legs of said second component, said roll-forming apparatus comprising:
- a first roll-forming station adapted to facilitate the formation of either a C-shaped or Z-shaped component from a sheet of material, said first roll-forming station making a pair of bends in said sheet of material at a first pair of laterally spaced locations on said sheet of material, said first roll-forming station comprising:
- a first pair of forming rolls that make contact with said sheet of material;
- a first telescoping arbor assembly that supports said first pair of forming rolls, said first telescoping arbor assembly having a variable length to allow the lateral distance between said first pair of forming rolls to be adjusted;
- a second pair of forming rolls that make contact with said sheet of material;
- and
- a second telescoping arbor assembly that supports said second pair of forming rolls, said second telescoping arbor assembly having a variable length to allow the lateral distance between said second pair of forming rolls to be adjusted;
- a second roll-forming station adapted to facilitate the formation of either a C-shaped or Z-shaped component from a sheet of material, said second roll-forming station making a pair of bends in said sheet of material at a second pair of laterally spaced locations on said sheet of material after said pair of bends are made in said sheet of material by said first roll-forming station, said second roll-forming station comprising:
- a first pair of forming rolls that make contact with said sheet of material;
- a first telescoping arbor assembly that supports said first pair of forming rolls of said second roll-forming station, said first telescoping arbor assembly of said second roll-forming station having a variable length to allow the lateral distance between said first pair of forming rolls of said second roll-forming station to be adjusted;
- a second pair of forming rolls that make contact with said sheet of material;
- and
- a second telescoping arbor assembly that supports said second pair of forming rolls of said second roll-forming station, said second telescoping arbor assembly of said second roll-forming station having a variable length to allow the lateral distance between said second pair of forming rolls of said second roll-forming station to be adjusted;
- and
- a two-surface forming roll having a first forming surface and a second forming surface, said two-surface forming roll being positioned so that said first forming surface makes contact with said sheet of material when said sheet of material is being formed into a Z-shaped component and so that said second forming surface makes contact with said sheet of material when said sheet of material is being formed into a C-shaped component.
A roll-forming apparatus having a plurality of roll-forming stations adapted to form a first component having a Z-shaped cross section, said first component having a center portion, a pair of legs connected to said center portion, and a pair of flanges connected to said legs, said roll-forming stations being adapted to form a second component having a C-shaped cross section, said second component having a center portion, a pair of legs connected to said center portion of said second component, and a pair of flanges connected to said legs of said second component, said roll-forming apparatus comprising:
- a first roll-forming station adapted to facilitate the formation of either a C-shaped component or a Z-shaped component from a sheet of material, said first roll-forming station making a pair of bends in said sheet of material at a first pair of laterally spaced locations on said sheet of material, said first pair of laterally spaced locations being laterally spaced apart by a first distance, said first roll-forming station comprising:
- a first pair of forming rolls that make contact with said sheet of material;
- a first telescoping arbor assembly that supports said first pair of forming rolls, said first telescoping arbor assembly having a variable length to allow the lateral distance between said first pair of forming rolls to be adjusted;
- a second pair of forming rolls that make contact with said sheet of material;
- and
- a second telescoping arbor assembly that supports said second pair of forming rolls, said second telescoping arbor assembly having a variable length to allow the lateral distance between said second pair of forming rolls to be adjusted;
- and
- a second roll-forming station adapted to facilitate the formation of either a C-shaped component or a Z-shaped component from a sheet of material, said second roll-forming station making a pair of bends in said sheet of material at a second pair of laterally spaced locations on said sheet of material after said pair of bends are made in said sheet of material by said first roll-forming station, said second pair of laterally spaced locations being laterally spaced apart by a second distance, said second distance being smaller than said first distance, said second roll-forming station comprising:
- a first pair of forming rolls that make contact with said sheet of material;
- a first telescoping arbor assembly that supports said first pair of forming rolls of said second roll-forming station, said first telescoping arbor assembly of said second roll-forming station having a variable length to allow the lateral distance between said first pair of forming rolls of said second roll-forming station to be adjusted;
- a second pair of forming rolls that make contact with said sheet of material;
- and
- a second telescoping arbor assembly that supports said second pair of forming rolls of said second roll-forming station, said second telescoping arbor assembly of said second roll-forming station having a variable length to allow the lateral distance between said second pair of forming rolls of said second roll-forming station to be adjusted.
A roll-forming apparatus having a plurality of roll-forming stations adapted to form a first component having a Z-shaped cross section, said first component having a center portion and a pair of legs connected to said center portion, said roll-forming stations being adapted to form a second component having a C-shaped cross section, said second component having a center portion and a pair of legs connected to said center portion of said second component, said roll-forming apparatus comprising:
- a first roll-forming station adapted to facilitate the formation of either a C-shaped component or a Z-shaped component from a sheet of material, said first roll-forming station making a bend in said sheet of material and comprising a plurality of forming rolls;
- a second roll-forming station adapted to facilitate the formation of either a C-shaped component or a Z-shaped component from a sheet of material, said second roll-forming station making a bend in said sheet of material and comprising a plurality of forming rolls;
- and
- a two-surface forming roll having a first forming surface and a second forming surface, said two-surface forming roll being positioned so that said first forming surface makes contact with said sheet of material when said sheet of material is being formed into a Z-shaped component and so that said second forming surface makes contact with said sheet of material when said sheet of material is being formed into a C-shaped component.
A roll-forming apparatus having a given number of roll-forming stations adapted to form a first component having a Z-shaped cross section, said first component having a center portion and a pair of legs connected to said center portion, said roll-forming stations being adapted to form a second component having a C-shaped cross section, said second component having a center portion and a pair of legs connected to said center portion of said second component, said roll-forming apparatus comprising:
- a first roll-forming station which is adapted to facilitate the formation of either a C-shaped component or a Z-shaped component from a sheet of material, said first roll-forming station comprising a movable forming roll having a forming surface, said movable forming roll being movable between a first position in which said forming surface of said movable forming roll makes contact with a sheet of material being made into a Z-shaped component and a second position in which said forming surface of said movable forming roll makes contact with a sheet of material being made into a C-shaped component;
- and
- a plurality of second roll-forming stations which are adapted to facilitate the formation of either a C-shaped component or a Z-shaped component from a sheet of material, each of said second roll-forming stations comprising a plurality of fixed forming rolls that are disposed in fixed positions so that said fixed forming rolls may make contact with a sheet of material being formed into a C-shaped component when said fixed forming rolls are in said fixed positions and so that said fixed forming rolls may make contact with a sheet of material being formed into a Z-shaped component when said fixed forming rolls are in said fixed positions, said second roll-forming stations not having any movable forming rolls that must be moved in order to make contact with a sheet of material being formed into a C-shaped component and to make contact with a sheet of material being formed into a Z-shaped component.
A roll-forming station for facilitating the formation of either a Z-shaped component or a C-shaped component from a sheet of material, said roll-forming station making a pair of bends in said sheet of material at a first pair of laterally spaced locations on said sheet of material, said roll-forming station comprising:
- a first pair of forming rolls that make contact with said sheet of material;
- a first telescoping arbor assembly that supports said first pair of forming rolls, said first telescoping arbor assembly having a variable length to allow the lateral distance between said first pair of forming rolls to be adjusted;
- a second pair of forming rolls that make contact with said sheet of material;
- a second telescoping arbor assembly that supports said second pair of forming rolls, said second telescoping arbor assembly having a variable length to allow the lateral distance between said second pair of forming rolls to be adjusted;
- a first support plate that rotatably supports a first end of each of said arbor assemblies;
- a second support plate laterally spaced from said first support plate that rotatably supports a second end of each of said arbor assemblies;
- and
- a two-surface forming roll having a first forming surface and a second forming surface, said two-surface forming roll being positioned so that said first forming surface makes contact with a sheet of material being formed into a Z-shaped component and so that said second forming surface makes contact with a sheet of material being formed into a C-shaped component.
A roll-forming station for facilitating the formation of either a Z-shaped component or a C-shaped component from a sheet of material, said roll-forming station comprising:
- a first pair of forming rolls that make contact with said sheet of material;
- a first telescoping arbor assembly that supports said first pair of forming rolls, said first telescoping arbor assembly having a variable length to allow the lateral distance between said first pair of forming rolls to be adjusted;
- a second pair of forming rolls that make contact with said sheet of material;
- a second telescoping arbor assembly that supports said second pair of forming rolls, said second telescoping arbor assembly having a variable length to allow the lateral distance between said second pair of forming rolls to be adjusted;
- a first support plate that rotatably supports a first end of each of said arbor assemblies;
- a second support plate laterally spaced from said first support plate that rotatably supports a second end of each of said arbor assemblies;
- a movable forming roll having a forming surface;
- and
- a support that is adapted to support said movable forming roll at a first elevation at which said forming surface of said movable forming roll makes contact with a sheet of material that is being made into a Z-shaped component and at a second elevation at which said forming surface of said movable forming roll makes contact with a sheet of material that is being made into a C-shaped component.
A method of forming components comprising the steps of:
- (a) feeding a first sheet of material into a roll-forming machine having a plurality of fixed roll-forming stations and a plurality of reconfigurable roll-forming stations so that said first sheet of material passes through each of said fixed and reconfigurable roll-forming stations so that said first sheet of material is formed into a C-shaped component, said reconfigurable roll-forming stations having a first configuration designed to produce C-shaped components and a second configuration designed to produce Z-shaped components and said fixed roll-forming stations having a single configuration designed to produce both C-shaped components and Z-shaped components;
- (b) after said first sheet of material is formed into a C-shaped component, changing the configuration of each said reconfigurable roll-forming stations from said first configuration to said second configuration without changing said single configuration of said fixed roll-forming stations;
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- (c) feeding a second sheet of material into said roll-forming machine so that said second sheet of material passes through each of said fixed and reconfigurable roll-forming stations so that said second sheet of material is formed into a Z-shaped component.
A method of forming components comprising the steps of:
- (a) feeding a first sheet of material into a roll-forming machine having a plurality of fixed roll-forming stations and a plurality of reconfigurable roll-forming stations so that said first sheet of material passes through each of said fixed and reconfigurable roll-forming stations so that said first sheet of material is formed into a Z-shaped component, said reconfigurable roll-forming stations having a first configuration designed to produce C-shaped components and a second configuration designed to produce Z-shaped components and said fixed roll-forming stations having a single configuration designed to produce both C-shaped components and Z-shaped components;
- (b) after said first sheet of material is formed into a Z-shaped component, changing the configuration of each said reconfigurable roll-forming stations from said second configuration to said first configuration without changing said single configuration of said fixed roll-forming stations;
- and
- (c) feeding a second sheet of material into said roll-forming machine so that said second sheet of material passes through each of said fixed and reconfigurable roll-forming stations so that said second sheet of material is formed into a C-shaped component.
A roll-forming apparatus, comprising:
- a plurality of roll-forming stations which are adapted to facilitate the formation of C-shaped components from sheets of material, said roll-forming stations also being adapted to facilitate the formation of Z-shaped components from sheets of material;
- and
- a component straightener that is adapted to straighten both C-shaped components and Z-shaped components, said component straightener comprising:
- a frame;
- a first straightener fixture associated with said frame, said first straightener fixture having at least two forming rolls and being adapted to straighten a C-shaped component;
- a second straightener fixture associated with said frame, said second straightener fixture having at least two forming rolls and being adapted to straighten a Z-shaped component;
- and
- an actuator that causes said first straightener fixture to be aligned to receive C-shaped components from said roll-forming stations when said roll-forming stations are forming said C-shaped components, said actuator causing said second straightener fixture to be aligned to receive Z-shaped components from said roll-forming stations when said roll-forming stations are forming said Z-shaped components.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.