Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Oct., 1898-Accepted, 2nd June, 1899
Figure 2 is a plan of the machine.
Figure 3 is a side view of the machine illustrating the driving gear.
Figures 4, 5 and 6 illustrate the form of rollers employed when three separate
sections of metal are being bent.
Figure 7 is a cross section through a rail capable of being bent in the improved
machine.
Figure 8 illustrates in plan one form of copying bar or bars employed to give the
pipe shown a particular configuration or bend.
Fig. 9 is an enlarged sectional view of the tool-box shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 10 is a sectional plan of the bending rolls, on the line X X of Fig. 9.
The construction of the mechanism with reference to the accompanying sheet
of drawings is as follows:-The machine consists of a frame A of circular shape
upon which is mounted a circular chuck or plate B turning round and upon an
axis C which passes through the frame A and is attached to a suitable bed plate
as shown. The chuck or plate B is provided with a number of rollers D mounted
in suitable brackets attached to the said plate and these rollers run on a circular
rail or path D¹ formed upon the frame A as clearly shown in Figure 1.
The chuck B has formed upon its outer circumference a toothed gear wheel B
which engages with a pinion E receiving its motion from a horizontal worm
wheel F. This worm wheel and the pinion are keyed upon the same short vertical
shaft F and the shaft F1 is actuated by a worm screw E¹ which in turn is actuated
in either one or other direction by belt gearing. The belt gearing is preferably
arranged in the usual manner with a crossed and open belt so that when either
the pulley G or G₁ is driven by operating the belt shifting device (shown clearly
in Figure 3) then the chuck B is rotated either to right or left through the train
of gearing just described.
The frame A carries at its opposing ends vertical sides H and these sides serve
as supports for stout horizontal lever bars I. The two vertical sides H respectively
carry arched brackets H¹ H" and under these arched brackets and between the
vertical sides are mounted the extremities of the lever bars I. These lever bars I

page_text: are attached at their extremities to the vertical sides and arched brackets in the
following manner. At the side H' vertical bolts i pass through the sides H and
arches Hand form pivots about which the beams can swing but at the other
side of the machine it is only the central lever bar I which is fixed to the vertical
sides H and arched bracket H", the other two extremities of the two outside
lever bars passing through the arched space without being attached thereto. These
latter extremities carry screwed nuts I' capable of rotating about a vertical axis
and through these screwed nuts screws J pass provided with hand wheels J' so
that they may be rotated. The inner ends of the screws J turn freely in a
socket I attached to the central lever bar I.
The arched bracket H is provided with slots for displacing as required
the pivot centres of the lever bars I and allowing the widening out of these bars
at the opposite end by the screws J herein before described.
Each of the lever bars I carry a bending tool K. These bending tools or stocks
are exactly alike and it will therefore be sufficient to describe one of them. The
tool or stock K consists of a sliding block K¹ capable of longitudinal displacement
on the lever bar I and its position is regulated by means of a cover plate K"
which may be gripped by screws k. The screws & may be loosened so as to allow
free longitudinal movement of the tool box attached to the sliding block K¹ upon
the lever bar I at the parts of the curve which are not concentric with the
circumference of the chuck B.
Immediately underneath the sliding block K is a stout tool box L and this tool
box rotates on a vertical axis about a washer L keyed on it and suitably attached
to a plate bolted to the sliding block. This construction permits of the tool
box L being suspended from a sliding block K¹ while leaving it at liberty to
rotate about a central vertical axis and the sliding block construction also permits
of longitudinal displacement in both directions.
The tool box L is formed with forked sides and carries between those sides two
bending rollers 17 of a suitable shape according to the profile of the tube or the
bar being operated upon. In the drawing an ordinary circular tube or pipe is
shown and it is always arranged that the rollers bed upon the surface of the
tube or like material. The rollers run in bearings 7 formed in the forks of
the tool box and the centres of these bearings are capable of regulation by means
of screws or the like. The spindles of the rollers pass through the bottom
portion of the tool box and carry upon their exterior ends small pinions m m.
Attached to the bottom of the tool box L and centrally between the small pinious
just described are placed two small rollers n n and it is to be understood that the
axis of the object to be bent passes exactly through the plan of the axis of
oscillation of the tool box L.
The small pinions m and the rollers n are used in combination with a copying
bar M which provides the desired shape or configuration of the bar in a manner
hereinafter more fully described.
These copying bars M are constructed from a plate in which a groove n¹ has
been prepared and of a breadth equal to the rollers hereinbefore described so
that a path or guide way is formed for these rollers. Parallel with and on each
side of this groove n¹ two toothed racks m¹ m' are constructed and these toothed
racks gear with the pinions m and form the means for the rotation of the bending
rollers and the displacement of the tool boxes on the tube or bar as it is bent
to the desired shape. The initial bend is produced by simply inserting the end
of the tube between the rollers which, by revolving on their axes, feed the tube
through as it is bent to the shape of the guide or copying bar, M.
The copying bar M is bolted to the plate or chuck B and in this plate or
chuck slotted bolt holes of the form usual in machine tools are provided so as to
facilitate the bolting of the said copying bar.
It is evident that copying bars may be arranged with a series of increasing ares
formed thereon so that one segment alone viz. o (as shown at Figure 2) is
sufficient to provide for a varied amount of bending, the combination of the

page_text: different curves in succession being employed as required, any straight portions
being also used according to the shape desired.
In like manner it is possible to form separate copying bars in short lengths
having any desired radii irom zero upwards so that they may be bolted or attached
to the chuck or plate and form the shape desired, this construction being clearly
shown in plan at Figure 8.
The two rollers are placed under the tool box in a vertical plane centrally
disposed between the bending rollers so that a displacement of the tool box
follows exactly the bend or curve laid down by the copying bar at the particular
moment it passes that point.
The operation of the machine constructed as hereinbefore described is as
follows: After having bolted to the chuck or plate B the copying bars M, the
juxtaposition of which gives the required bend or curve say to a pipe as shown
in the drawings, the bending rollers are adjusted to embrace the pipe closely
as shown. The lever bars I are placed at a suitable distance from each other in
order to leave the tool boxes L free play in their movements. The operating gear
is made to drive one or other of the two fixed pulleys G G and thus by means
of the worm screw El worm wheel F and pinion E the chuck or plate Bis revolved
and draws or drags along with it the copying bars M which are attached thereto.
The tool boxes L enter into and follow, through the agency of the rollers n and
their pinions m, the way formed by the copying bars and thus force the tube
being acted upon to follow the same path and copy the configuration of the said
copying bars.
Every displacement of the tool boxes towards the centre of the machine is
facilitated as has already been said by the arrangement of the mounting of the
said tool boxes on the lever bars. It is evident that as the rollers are upon the
same radius as the tangents passing through the points of contact of the tube
beng bent and are perpendicular to these tangents the tool boxes in reference to
the slide blocks K' will follow the groove determined by the pattern bar or bars
this of course being allowed for by the vertical pivotting of these tool boxes upon
their washers as herein before described.
On the machine as shown in the drawings there are only three tool boxes which
is usually a sufficient number to produce proper bending of the bars or tubes
operated on but it is evident that any number of tool boxes with additional bars
may be employed without departing from the subject of the present invention.
As has already been stated the bending rollers can be arranged to operate upon
any cross section of material which it is desired to bend or curve and as an
example of this Figures 4, 5 and 6 represent respectively the rollers employed
for bending angle iron, channel iron and H iron.
In order to establish a perfect contact with a piece to be bent in the case of
profiled iron bars each of the bending rolls is built up of discs of suitable thick-
nesses and diameters determined by the profile of the bar to be bent and the
distance of these rolls one from the other are regulated by a screw adjustment
or in any other suitable manner.
It is clearly to be understood that the applicant does not limit himself to the
profiles represented in the drawings but that bars or tubes having profiles with
moulded surfaces may be operated upon the rolls in that case following the
profile of the bar in relief where the bar is hollow and vice versa where the bar
is solid.
The machine herein before described is constructed for the bending of pieces
with plain surfaces, but it is evident that pieces having spirally corrugated
surfaces may also be bent by employing rollers provided with correspondingly
pitched corrugations to mesh with the surface of the piece as it is bent to the
curve of the guide bar. It is also evident that the bending may be carried on
in a vertical direction instead of in a horizontal direction as shown by arranging
the plate B in a vertical plane and modifying the other arrangements accordingly,
and all without departing from the subject of the present invention.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:
1. An improved machine for bending pipes, rolls, beams or bars of any section
when cold, provided with copying bars of any required curve or shape which
control the bending rolls so that similar curve or shape is imparted to the material
operated upon and having tool boxes with bending rolls carried upon spindles
whose lower ends have pinions fixed thereon while between these pinions and on
the tool boxes roller guides are placed so that the pinions gear with a rack on
either side of the copying bars and the guide rollers with a groove in the centre
thereof and further mounting each tool box on a vertical pivot attached to slide
blocks longitudinally displaceable on lever bars crossing the entire width of the
machine so that in conjunction with pinions roller guides and copying bars the
tool boxes follow the curve or shape of the copying bars and all operating sub-
stantially as hereinbefore described.
2. In an improved machine for bending pipes rolls, beams or bars of any
section when cold constructing the tool boxes and bending rollers so that they
may readily be taken apart and replaced for any required section of material to
be operated upon all substantially as hereinbefore described.
3. The improved machine for bending pipes rolls, beams or bars of any section
substantially as herein before described with reference to Figures 1 to 8 of the
accompanying drawings.
1
101
.
MARKS & CLERK,
18, Southampion Buildings, London, W.C., and
13, Temple Street, Birmingham,
Agents.
MARKS & CLERK,
18, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., and
13, Temple Street, Birmingham,
Agents.