Patent ID: 7293445

Claim:
An apparatus for plastically deforming a work piece comprising a sheet, the apparatus comprising: a first and a second cylindrical guide roll rotatable in a first direction, each of said cyindrical guide rolls having an outer circumference and rotating in the same first direction, wherein each additional cylindrical guide roll rotates in the same first direction as that of the at least first and second cylindrical guide rolls; a bendable strip having a portion of at least one surface in communication with a portion of the outer circumference of each of the first and second cylindrical guide rolls, said bendable strip being capable of motion around the first and second cylindrical guide rolls in the first direction and exerting a force upon the work piece; a first cylindrical feeding roll rotatable in a second direction opposite to the first direction, said first cylindrical feeding roll having an outer circumference, wherein the second direction must be opposite to the first direction of rotation of the at least first and second cylindrical guide rolls; a plastic deformation passage having a first surface and a second surface, at least a portion of the first surface being defined by a portion of the bendable strip, and at least a portion of the second surface being defined by the outer circumference of the first cylindrical feeding roll, the plastic deformation passage extending from the first cylindrical guide roll to the second cylindrical guide roll, wherein one or both of the bendable strip and the cylindrical feeding roll, when in motion, propel the work piece through the plastic deformation passage wherein the work piece is plastically deformed.