Tube working apparatus

Tube working apparatus comprising a mandrel fixedly mounted at one end to a bed of the apparatus and having a die thereon at the other end thereof, the mandrel being of a length to receive thereover the whole of that portion of a tube which is to be worked, at least one tool externally of the tube and adapted to cooperate with said die to work the tube by removing blanks from a wall thereof to form apertures therein, and feed means for moving the tube to be worked relative to said die and said at least one tool, said feed means comprising tube engaging means for nonreleasably engaging the tube throughout the working thereof and means for intermittently moving the tube engaging means and the tube received over said mandrel by predetermined amounts in a direction to progressively withdraw the tube from the mandrel as working proceeds, whereby blanks removed from the tube wall and collecting in the tube will be carried by the tube in a direction away from said mandrel and said die, said means for intermittently moving the tube engaging means by predetermined amounts comprising a toothed rack arranged parallel to the path of travel of the tube to be worked, a carriage on which said tube engaging means is mounted, pneumatic or hydraulic piston-and-cylinder means for moving the carriage along said toothed rack and a pawl carried by said piston-and-cylinder means and engageable with teeth of said rack for moving said carriage along said rack one tooth at a time.