Patent ID: 8359896

Claim:
A support jaw arrangement for sliding lateral support of rod-shaped and tubular workpieces prior to their entrance into a forming groove of a bending disk of a bending head of a bending machine, comprising: a first support jaw and a second support jaw, the first support jaw disposed on a first side of a longitudinal axis of a workpiece to be processed and defining a first groove facing the workpiece, the second support jaw disposed on a second side of the longitudinal axis of the workpiece and defining a second groove facing the workpiece, the first and second grooves sized to receive and support the workpiece, while allowing the workpiece to slide through the grooves when the workpiece is in transport; a first guide block operably coupled to the first support jaw, and a second guide block operably coupled to the second support jaw, the first and the second support jaws longitudinally displaceable along the first and second guide blocks, respectively, in directions parallel to a direction of transport of the workpiece, and between positions of retraction and of extension; and wherein the first support jaw disposed at its position of extension provides lateral support to the workpiece being bent in a first direction, while the second jaw remains in its position of retraction, and the second support jaw disposed at its position of extension provides lateral support to the workpiece being bent in a second direction, while the first jaw remains at its position of retraction, both the first support jaw and the second support jaw always resting laterally against the workpiece irrespective of whether each the first and second support jaws remain in their respective position of retraction or disposed at their respective position of extension.