Patent ID: 8430659

Claim:
A corrugator device for shaping thermoplastic corrugated pipes out of a molten plastic tube issuing from an extrusion device comprising moving molding jaws which circulate in a linear molding section and arranged in paired successive relationship in the molding section form a molding passage, wherein the pairs of molding jaws are formed from left-hand and right-hand molding jaws and between them enclose a cylindrical mold cavity to form the molding passage, and a gripper device for guiding the molding jaws from the end of the molding section back to the start of the molding section, wherein the gripper device has a gripper for the left-hand molding jaws with a separate guide and drive device and a gripper for the right-hand molding jaws with a separate guide and drive device, wherein the guide and drive device of each gripper has an X-guide device and an X-drive device to guide and drive an X-entrainment member in an X-direction along or parallel to a central axis of the linear molding section, and a Y-guide device and a Y-drive device for guiding and driving a Y-entrainment member in a Y-directiontransverse to the X-direction, wherein the X-entrainment member is coupled to the Y-guide device to entrain the Y-guide device in the X-direction and the Y-entrainment member is coupled to the gripper to entrain the gripper in the Y-direction, or the Y-entrainment member is coupled to the X-guide device to entrain the X-guide device in the Y-direction and the X-entrainment member is coupled to the gripper to entrain the gripper in the X-direction, and wherein the X-guide device and the Y-guide device respectively have first and second belts driven in circulating relationship along the X- and Y-directions respectively and the X-entrainment member and the Y-entrainment member respectively are coupled to the first and second belts which are driven in circulating relationship in the X- and Y-directions respectively.