Elbow formation apparatus
AssigneeFormtek, Inc.
InventorMATTHEW LAWLER
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus for forming and rotating interconnected sections of a cylindrical sheet metal workpiece to provide an elbow. The apparatus includes a frame, a head rotatably arranged within the frame and a tool ring mounted to the frame, the head and tool ring being co-operable for sectioning and joining segments of the workpiece. The apparatus also includes a drive drum mounted within the frame for gripping and rotating the segments, and a control module for selectively activating the head, the ring, and the drive drum to form an elbow.
Claims17
An apparatus for forming an elbow from a sheet metal tube with an outer diameter within a predetermined range of diameters, said apparatus comprising:
- a frame defining a vertical axis and a tube axis offset from the vertical axis by a tube angle;
- a top plate, mounted to the top of said frame, with a through-hole defining a cut axis offset from the tube axis by a cut angle;
- a tool ring rotatably mounted to said top plate substantially coaxial with and surrounding the through-hole;
- a tool shoe slidably mounted to said tool ring for radial motion toward and away from the cut axis across the through-hole, according to the diameter of said sheet metal tube, rotation of said tool ring within said top plate causing the radial motion of said tool shoe;
- a baseplate supported within said frame below said top plate and substantially perpendicular to the tube axis;
- a locking drum assembly supported within said frame between said top plate and said baseplate and substantially coaxial with the tube axis, said locking drum assembly including clamp heads for gripping said sheet metal tube, the clamp heads being radially movable within said locking drum assembly toward and away from the tube axis according to the diameter of said sheet metal tube, and the locking drum assembly being rotatably movable within said frame by means of a locking drum motor;
- an arbor column mounted to said baseplate substantially parallel with the tube axis;
- an arbor head mounted to said arbor column, said arbor head including a pinhead rotatable about an arbor axis substantially parallel with the cut axis;
- a slide block slidably mounted on said arbor head, rotation of the pinhead causing radial motion of said slide block toward and away from the arbor axis;
- and
- a jointless drivetrain extending from the pinhead of said arbor head through said arbor column, substantially parallel with the cut axis and to the arbor axis, and operatively connecting the pinhead to a motor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.