Patent ID: 8307685

Claim:
A roll form apparatus comprising: a roll former including rolls for forming a sheet of steel material into a structural beam defining a longitudinal line; and a sweep station in-line with the roll former and including a sweep-forming device for selectively sweeping the structural beam, the sweep-forming device including a first slide member formed by at least one first elongated plate elongated in an upstream direction generally parallel to the longitudinal line and movable between an upstream home position and at least one first downstream position for deforming the structural beam in a first direction away from the longitudinal line and including a second slide member formed by at least one second elongated plate elongated in the upstream direction generally parallel to the longitudinal line and movable between the upstream home position and at least one second downstream position for deforming the structural beam in a second direction opposite the first direction away from the longitudinal line while continuously operating the roll former, each of the first and second slide members being independently movable and being configured to bend the structural beam only when the other of the first and second slide members are in the home position.