Patent ID: 7223933

Claim:
A weld cylinder comprising: a cylinder supporting a rod providing home, intermediate, work and advanced work positions; a retract piston assembly arranged in the cylinder and axially movable there within between retract-return and retract-forward positions; a piston assembly having a piston arranged in the retract piston assembly and axially movable there within between weld-return and weld forward positions, the piston supporting the rod, the retract piston assembly having a restricting orifice regulating fluid flow through the retract piston assembly as the piston moves from the weld-return to the weld-forward position; a cushion valve movable between closed and open positions in response to an input, the cushion valve supplementing the fluid flow through the restricting orifice in the open position; and wherein the home position corresponds to the retract-return and weld-return positions, the intermediate position corresponds to the retract-forward and weld-return positions, the work position corresponds to the retract-forward and weld-forward positions, and the advanced work position corresponds to the retract-forward and weld-forward positions with the cushion valve in the open position.