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US 4,741,081 AGranted
Method and apparatus for making t-tube fittings
AssigneeTube Fab of Afton Corporation
InventorRobert J. Redman
Life of this patent
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AssigneeTube Fab of Afton Corporation
InventorRobert J. Redman
Estimating the term…
A T-fitting is formed from two precut lengths of tubing of the same, relatively small, inner and outer diameter. One length of tubing is formed with a reduced diameter neck section at one end whose outer diameter is approximately equal to its normal undeformed inner diameter. The second length of tubing is placed in a clamp which is advanced to successive work stations where a sidewall is punched and then drilled through to form a radial hole in one side of a diameter substantially equal to the inner diameter of the tubing. At a subsequent work station, the neck section of the first length of tubing is driven into a force fit into the drilled hole in second length of tubing. The assembled tubing is then removed from the clamp, brazed into a permanent T-tube assembly. The portion of the neck section which projects into the passage of the second length of tubing is then trimmed off by a drilling or reaming operation.
The method of making a T fitting from first and second lengths of tubing of like inside and outside diameters comprising the steps of
Apparatus for assembling a T tube fitting comprising a turret mounted for rotation about a vertical axis, a plurality of like tubing clamping means mounted on said turret at uniformly spaced locations about said axis, said tube clamping means being operable to releasably clamp a first length of tubing with the longitudinal axis of the first length of tubing perpendicularly intersecting a radius from said vertical axis, means for driving said turret in step-by-step rotation about said axis to advance said clamping means sequentially to each of a plurality of work stations disposed about the periphery of said turret, means at a first of said work stations for forming a drill guiding indentation in the sidewall of a first length of tubing clamped in one of said tube clamping means, drill means at a second of said work stations for advancing a drill into a drill guiding indentation in a first length of tubing clamped in one of said tube clamping means and drilling a radial bore through the sidewall of the last mentioned first length of tubing, and means at a third of said work stations for longitudinally advancing a second length of tubing axially along a path coaxial with the radial bore in a first length of tubing clamped in one of said clamping means until one end of said second length of tubing is seated in a force fitted engagement in said radial bore.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.