Patent ID: 8247749

Claim:
A method of forging a non-unitarily forged article of manufacture from a blank, the method comprising the steps of: (1) inserting a section of the blank in an induction coil assembly; (2) electric induction heating the section of the blank in the induction coil assembly by supplying electric power to the induction coil assembly to generate a magnetic flux field that couples with the section of the blank in the induction coil assembly to form a pre-forge heated section of the blank; (3) withdrawing the blank from the induction coil assembly; (4) transporting the blank to a forge apparatus; (5) forging a feature in the pre-forge heated section of the blank; (6) transporting the blank to the induction coil assembly; and sequentially repeating steps (1) through (6) until the entire article of manufacture is forged, the improvement comprising the steps: sensing the temperature along the axial length of the section of the blank in the induction coil assembly; and controlling the coupling of the magnetic flux field along the axial length of the section of the blank in the induction coil assembly to heat the section of the blank in the induction coil assembly to a pre-forge axial length temperature profile.