Patent ID: 7293687
Filing Date: 2007-11-13
Classification: B21C

Abstract:
1. Apparatus ( 1 ) for manufacturing tubes having an outer diameter that varies along a length thereof made from thin-walled material, comprising a welding machine for longitudinal-seam welding, a clamping device ( 2 ), which has clamping jaws ( 4 ) that are arranged on opposite sides of a tube blank ( 3 ) and that can be pressed against the tube blank ( 3 ) for holding a tubular, preformed blank ( 3 ) in a welding position, the clamping jaws ( 4 ) each include a stack of pressure plates ( 5 ), which abut each other on flat sides thereof, and which contact the tube blank ( 3 ) on narrow sides thereof in a contact region ( 6 ), and which can be individually and variably pressed against the tube blank ( 3 ) perpendicular to a longitudinal axis (L) of the tube blank; depending on outer contours of the tube blank ( 3 ) in the contact region ( 6 ).