Patent ID: 7807946
Filing Date: 2010-10-05
Classification: B21D,B26D,Y10T

Abstract:
1. An assembly adapted for securing a hollow workpiece having inner and outer members that define an interior space therebetween that is accessible through an access opening in the inner member; cutting a hole in the outer member to thereby produce a free body scrap having a maximum lateral diameter, and for collecting and conveying the scrap to a predetermined destination, said assembly comprising: a base; at least one clamp configured to directly engage and secure the workpiece in a fixed position on the base in which the outer member is spaced above the inner member; an ejector tube fixed on the base away from the workpiece and conveying the scrap to the predetermined destination; a laser cutting device for cutting the hole in outer member and thereby making a piece of falling scrap that falls into the interior space between the outer member and the inner member of the hollow workpiece; and an inlet tube defining an interior tube space having a minimum lateral diameter greater than the maximum lateral diameter of the scrap, said inlet tube being telescopically mounted on the ejector tube for movement of the inlet tube from a retracted position in which the inlet tube is spaced away from the workpiece to a first inlet position in which the inlet tube has moved through the access opening in the inner member and into the interior space between the outer and inner members and directly underlies the outer member in readiness to receive the falling scrap into the inlet tube and prevent the scrap from remaining in the interior space between the outer and inner members of the hollow workpiece.