Method and a machine for the automatic manufacture of pressurized or liquefied gas tanks
AssigneeRoger Pelleray
InventorPaul Nee
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a method for the manufacture of substantially cylindrical pressurized or liquefied gas tanks first and second portions deformable to open-ended cylindrical shape are stamped out of a same metal sheet, the cylindrical portions then being welded together by their free edges which mated in the sheet. A machine for automatically carrying out the method comprises means for stamping, shaping and assembling the portions.
Claims12
A machine for the manufacture of substantially cylindrical fluid containers from metal sheets, said containers including a base support and an upper opening adapted to receive an adaptation element for a valve, said machine comprising:
- means for producing, by stamping from a first and a second piece of sheet metal, respectively, substantially identical blanks of a first portion and a second portion of each container such that the said substantially identical blanks each have the shape of a cylinder open at one end, whereof the free edges substantially form a cross-section of the said cylinder, the said first portion serving as the lower portion of the said container, and the second portion serving as the upper portion of the said container,
- first transfer means for alternatively transporting the said blanks from the stamping means to a first station at which the diameter of the free edges of said first portion is modified and a second station at which the said upper opening is produced in said second portion,
- said first station including a device for modifying the diameter of the free edges of said first portion and said second station including a device for producing the upper opening in said second portion,
- second transfer means for transporting the first portion blanks from said first station to a first side of a first transport belt and the second portion blanks from said second station to a second side of said transport belt,
- a device located on the first side of the transport belt for arranging the base supports on the blanks of said first portion,
- a device located on the second side of the transport belt for arranging the adaptation element on the second portion blanks,
- third transfer means for discharging said first and second portions from the transport belt and for bringing said portions, by pairs, to an assembling station, and
- means at said assembly station for assembling, by welding, the said free edges of the open ends of the first and second portion of the container.
A machine according to claim 16, which comprises sixth transfer means for discharging the containers from the cooling duct and for conveying the discharged containers on a plate for testing the pressure resistance of the said containers, checking stations being arranged on the periphery of the said plate, means for mounting said plate for pivoting about a vertical axis so as to transport the containers from one checking station to another, the said checking stations being arranged at fixed points.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.