Patent ID: 6333482
Filing Date: 2001-12-25
Classification: B21D,B23K

Abstract:
A Method for producing can bodies made of sheet metal for the manufacture of cans by:bringing together and placing one on top of the other of two sheet metal strips which have been rolled to a finished thickness and a width that is a multiple of half of the circumference of a can body,simultaneously joining and cutting the two sheet metal strips by continuous moving of the sheet metal strips past a laser device having several spaced apart laser heads capable of simultaneously welding and cutting the strips, wherein spacing of the welds and cuts in the transverse direction of the strip corresponds to half of the can body circumference,whereby longitudinal cutting of the sheet metal strips to produce several adjacent flat tubes is performed simultaneously with the welding of the sheet metal strips by each of the several laser heads, a laser beam from each of the several laser heads having an inner beam path of high energy density for the longitudinal cutting and an outer beam path of lower energy density for welding the sheet metal strips on both sides of the cut.