Patent ID: 8763437

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a roll former with rolls constructed to form sheet material into a structural beam defining a longitudinal line level and having a first pair of opposing sides and a second pair of opposing sides; and a sweep unit in-line with the roll former and constructed to selectively sweep the beam away from the longitudinal line level in both vertical and horizontal directions during continuous operation of the roll former, the sweep unit including a sweep unit frame supporting a pair of first rolls with axes defining a fixed first dimension perpendicular to the line level and with first roller exterior surfaces engaging the first pair of opposing sides, the sweep unit frame further supporting including a pair of second rolls with axes defining a fixed second dimension perpendicular to the line level and with second roller exterior surfaces engaging the second pair of opposing sides; and at least one actuator operably connected to the sweep unit frame and configured to selectively angularly tilt the sweep unit frame in both horizontal and vertical angles while the first and second fixed dimensions stay constant, the sweep unit frame being movable between a home position where the first and second rolls all lie in the home plane perpendicular to the line level, and configured to move the sweep unit frame to a first angled plane where the first rolls lie in the home plane but where one of the second rolls lies upstream of the home plane while another of the second rolls lies downstream of the home plane, and configured to move the sweep unit frame to a second angled plane where the second rolls lie in the home plane but where one of the first rolls lies upstream of the home plane while another of the first rolls lies downstream of the home plane.