GB1334589A - Method of and device for shaping sheet blanks to spherical form - Google Patents

Abstract

1334589 Bending VSESOJUZNY NAUCHNO-ISSLEDOVATELSKY I PROEKTNY INSTITUT TEKHNOLOGII KHIMICHESKOGO I NEFTYANOGO APPARATOSTROENIA 20 Aug 1971 39120/71 Heading B3E A sheet metal blank 1 is bent to part-spherical shape by feeding it between three rotary heads 6-8 which each have a set of circumferentially arranged freely rotatable rollers 9 and the heads have their axes in a common plane and intersecting at a point which is the centre of the part-spherical blank formed. The blank is fed by driven rollers 23, 24 through the machine and the heads are rotated by electric motors 10, (13), Fig. 3 (not shown). The lower heads 7, 8 are tiltably mounted on half-shafts (17) to change the required curvature of the blank, and are mounted on a vertically movable block (12) raised by drivable screws 21. In an alternative embodiment, Fig. 5 (not shown), the rollers (9) are arranged at an angle other than 90 degrees to the radii of the heads so as to feed the blank and the feed rollers are thus not required. The rollers (9) contact the blank normal to its surface and are spaced from the blank over part of their path by a distance ("a"), Fig. 5 (not shown), until the blank is fully formed. In a final embodiment, Fig. 7, the upper rotary head is made up of two parts 28, 29 each with its own roller set. These parts are relatively movable and have their axes of rotation slightly displaced from each other but in the same plane as the other rotary heads. The part-spherical blank may be used for the leaves of spherical vessels used in the chemical and oil industries. The blank may be carbon or stainless steel.