Tube bender construction

In a manually operable tube bender having a mandrel defining a tube-receiving bending groove extending arcuately about a bend axis, and a forming member mounted to said mandrel to swing about said bend axis for urging a tube to be bent into said bending groove, improved means for holding the tube against longitudinal and rotational displacement during a tube bending operation, said tube holding means comprising:

• means for supporting a portion of the tube in a clamping space adjacent the mandrel;
• a clamp member;
• pivot means for mounting the clamp member for swinging movement about a pivot axis into and from engagement with any one of a plurality of tubes successively supported by said supporting means in said clamping space to clamp each tube to the supporting means;
• and
• means for providing a selective infinite adjustment of the disposition of said pivot means transversely to the pivot axis for correspondingly adjusting the positioning of the clamp member in the tube engagement disposition wherein the clamp member is in engagement with the tube toward and from the clamping space to infinitely adjust the clamping pressure.