Patent ID: 8459085

Claim:
An apparatus for making pipe from a tubular workpiece having a throughgoing bore, the apparatus comprising: a handler for holding the tubular workpiece and having a passage alignable with the bore and of a predetermined inside passage diameter; a rod of an outside rod diameter; a mandrel carried by the rod; a guide on the rod formed by an inner part carried on the rod and having a part-spherical outer surface centered on a point and by an outer part fitting over the inner part, having an outside guide diameter equal to or slightly smaller than the inside passage diameter but greater than the outside rod diameter, fitting around the inner part, and having a part-spherical inner surface complementary to and concentric with the outer surface of the inner part for movement of the inner part relative to the outer part about the point; means for, when the passage is aligned by the handler with the workpiece bore, inserting the mandrel through the handler passage into the workpiece bore while sliding the guide along the passage and centering the rod in the passage by means of the guide; and a forger for externally engaging the workpiece around the mandrel with forging tools and thereby forging the workpiece around the mandrel.