Mechanism for gripping and rotating pipe, including plastic covered pipe

Plastic surface pipe rotary drive apparatus, comprising in combination

• a) a drive rotor rotatable about a central axis,
• b) a set of jaws spaced about said central axis, and operatively connected to said rotor to rotate about parallel jaw axes in response to rotation of the drive rotor,
• c) said jaws having work engaging surfaces extending eccentrically relative to their respective jaw axes,
• d) each of said surfaces extending circularly about a single locus offset from a jaw axis associated with said surface, there being one and only one said locus for each jaw,
• e) there being only a single link operatively connecting the drive rotor with each jaw,
• f) there being a stud on each said single link, and there being a slot in the drive rotor slidably receiving that stud for pivotally coupling each jaw to the drive rotor,
• g) there being a series of work engaging projections at said work engaging surfaces, said projections staggered in widthwise and lengthwise directions along said surface, said projections being tilted relative to radii extending to said projections from the jaw axes,
• h) there being four jaws in said set, first and second of said jaws diametrically opposed relative to said axis, in a first plane, and third and fourth of said jaws diametrically opposed relative to said axis, in a second plane, said planes axially spaced apart,
• i) and including a pipe plastic surface engaged by said jaw surfaces,
• j) said pipe plastic surface compressed by said projections which indent the pipe plastic surface, the projections having heights less than the thickness of a plastic layer defining said surface.