Machine for forming curved conduits
OwnerJohn H. Heimaninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A machine which forms pipe elbows and other curved conduits by spirally winding a thin strip of sheet metal. The machine includes spaced apart cutting rollers which are reciprocated toward and away from one another by cams in order to cut the strip into a series of interconnected gores having contoured edges. The contoured edges are progressively bent in a manner to interlock by sets of bending rollers that are reciprocated inwardly and outwardly by cams. The strip is spirally wound inside of a ring shaped winding shoe having dies which interlock the opposite edges of the strip. Crimping rollers act to firmly crimp together the interlocked edges to form an acme seam. Clutches permit the cams to be selectively stopped so that the conduit that is formed can be provided with both straight and curved portions.
Claims14
A machine for forming a curved conduit from a continuous strip of sheet material, said machine comprising:
- a frame;
- means for advancing said strip along said frame in a preselected path;
- a cutting mechanism mounted on said frame at a location along said path, said cutting mechanism including cutters movable toward and away from one another in directions transverse to said path and operable to cut said strip in a manner to form contoured opposite side edges thereof which are shaped to abut one another and provide a conduit having an arcuate axis when said strip is spirally wound;
- winding means located downstream of said cutting mechanism along said path for spirally winding said strip in a manner to position the opposite side edges thereof adjacent one another;
- and
- means for securing the adjacent side edges of said strip to one another, thereby securing said strip in the shape of a curved spirally wrapped conduit.
Apparatus for forming a curved conduit from a continuous strip of sheet material, said apparatus comprising:
- a frame;
- means for advancing said strip along said frame in a preselected path;
- a pair of spaced apart cutting rollers mounted on said frame for rotation and for movement toward and away from one another, said cutting rollers being disposed along said path and being adapted to cut said strip to form opposite side edges thereof;
- drive means for rotating said cutting rollers;
- means for reciprocating said cutting rollers toward and away from one another as said strip is advanced along said path, said cutting rollers thereby forming contoured side edges of said strip which are adapted to abut one another to provide a curved conduit when said strip is spirally wound;
- at least one pair of bending rollers mounted on said frame for rotation and for movement toward and away from one another, said bending rollers being disposed along said path downstream of said cutting rollers and being adapted to bend the opposite side edges of said strip in a manner to form a bent portion on each edge shaped to interlock with a cooperating bent portion of the opposite edge;
- means for reciprocating said bending rollers toward and away from one another at a speed to substantially follow the contours the opposite side edges of said strip;
- means for spirally winding said strip with the bent portions of said opposite edges interlocking;
- and
- means for securing the interlocked opposite edges together, thereby securing said strip in the shape of a curved conduit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.