Girdling article and method

A method of partially creating a sheet metal article having, at least in part, a continuously curving geometric shape, said method comprising:

• (a) providing an elongate piece of sheet metal having a left section, a right section, and an intermediate section,
• said piece of sheet metal having a longitudinal axis,
• said sheet metal being one that is readily bent past its elastic limit so that it will remain in bent condition after being bent,
• (b) causing said left and right sections to be stronger than said intermediate section, so that forces applied to said left and right sections will result in bending of said intermediate section, and
• (c) causing said intermediate section to have such a configuration that sufficient forces applied to said left and right sections will cause said intermediate section to assume a predetermined desired continuously curved geometric shape and to remain in such shape after discontinuance of such forces,
• said geometric shape being an arc of a cylinder having a predetermined diameter,
• said step (c) further including causing edge portions of said intermediate section, on opposite sides of said axis, to be convex, and
• said method further comprising causing said convex edge portions to have predetermined curved shapes calculated to make said geometric shape said arc of a cylinder when said forces are applied to said left and right sections.

A method of girdling with a piece of sheet metal an elongate object in the field, without regard to the length of said object or to obstruction thereon, said method comprising:

• (a) providing an elongate piece of sheet metal that is adapted to bend and remain bent,
• (b) causing a part of said piece to have such a shape that when said part is bent in the field, without need for mandrels or dies, said part will bend into a predetermined curved geometric configuration adapted to fit partially around said elongate object,
• (c) causing a second part of said piece to have, at the factory, a predetermined curved geometric configuration adapted to fit partially around said elongate object, and
• (d) applying, in the field, force to said second part to cause said first-mentioned part to assume said first-mentioned predetermined curved geometric configuration, and
• (e) mounting said piece around said elongate object.

A method of forming articles, which comprises:

• (a) blanking an elongate piece of sheet metal having a left section, a right section, and an intermediate section,
• (b) causing said left and right sections to be sufficiently strong that application of torque to the ends of said left and right sections will, in the absence of tools, cause said intermediate section, and not said left and right sections, to bend,
• (c) bending, at the factory, by use of tools, said left and right sections upwardly from said intermediate section to predetermined bent positions,
• whereby subsequent application of inwardly-directed forces to the ends of said left and right sections will cause bending of said intermediate section, and
• (d) so shaping the configuration of said intermediate section that said application of inwardly-directly forces to said ends will cause said intermediate section to bend, without need for a die or mandrel, into a predetermined curved geometric shape and not randomly.