AUTOMATED TUBE STRAIGHTENING APPARATUS

• Main Authors: HAMETNER, ALBERT L, HILL, STEVEN P, LERMO, RONALD ROBERT
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French
• Published: 06.03.2015
• Subjects: GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; MECHANICAL METAL-WORKING WITHOUT ESSENTIALLY REMOVINGMATERIAL; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PUNCHING METAL; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TRANSPORTING; WORKING OR PROCESSING OF SHEET METAL OR METAL TUBES, RODS ORPROFILES WITHOUT ESSENTIALLY REMOVING MATERIAL

A shaft straightening or tube straightening apparatus performs accurate measurements of the linear profile of a metal tube, and then corrects small and large deviations of the tube profile from the ideal centerline along the length of the tube. The tube straightening apparatus is operable to accurately measure a linear profile of the tube positioned in the apparatus. The tube is rotated in the apparatus to locate a pair of low points in the tube profile and a high point of the tube between the two low points. The tube is supported in the apparatus at the pair of low points and the high point of the tube is then deflected beyond the yield point of the metal of the tube to permanently distort the tube and correct the tube's profile.