GB1223109A - Improvements in controlling the plane of bending in mandrel tube bending machines and compression tube bending machines - Google Patents

Abstract

1,223,109. Bending tubes; gauges. N. HOWELL. 31 Oct., 1968 [31 Oct., 1967], No. 49359/67. Heading B3E. A gauging device for controlling the plane of bending in a tube-bending machine comprise an angle bracket 1 attachable to a tube to be bent and presenting two reference surfaces in intersecting planes engageable with such a tube, and a gauging head 9 pivotally attached to the bracket consisting of a frame 10 supporting a wheel 11 so disposed that its axis is parallel with one of the reference surfaces. A spirit level 16 mounted clockwise in the wheel and means for rotating the wheel about its axis. The bracket is held to the tubes 2 or 3, by a chain 4 adjustably anchored to the bracket the free end of the chain being clamped to the bracket by means of a tongue 6 and a pin 7. Peripheral teeth on the calibrated wheel 11 engage a worm 12 on a shaft 13 one end 13A of which is pivotally journalled in the frame 10 and the other end is mounted in a leaf spring 10A. The worm is spring-loaded against the wheel 11 so that it can be easily disengaged. The shaft 13 carries a calibrated hand wheel 14 which can be aligned with a pointer 15 constituted by the tapered end of the spring 10A. The gauging head is locked in any position on the bracket by a screw 19 engaging a grooved pivot-pin 17. In use the device is clamped to the leading end of the tube and the gauging head set so that the wheel 11 axis is parallel with the tube. The hand wheel 14 is set with the zero mark at the pointer and the tube is rotated in the clamp of the bending machine until the bubble is centralized in the spirit level. The tube is then bent after which the gauging head is swung relative to the bracket by loosening the screw 19 until the axis of the wheel 11 is again parallel with the axis of the tube gripped in the clamp of the bending machine and the tube is fed through the clamp to a new bending position and the bubble is realigned in the spirit level. The second bend is then made. This procedure is repeated until all the bends in the tube are made the bends not necessarily being made in the same plane.