Exxon Nuclear Company, Inc.

Sandvik Special Metals LLC

Jon L Osborne

Charles S Rutkowski

Barney S Flora

Anthony A Duerring

David J Szendre

Eugene R Astley

Bruce O Foster

A rocker mill includes a pair of roll dies rotatably mounted in a structure and having tapered circumferential grooves for receiving a workpiece. A support is provided for supporting the structure so that it is longitudinally movable relative to the support. The support is rotatably mounted on a frame. A reciprocating driving apparatus is provided for reciprocating the roll dies longitudinally relative to the support through a reduction stroke and a smoothing stroke. A rotating driving apparatus is provided for rotating the roll dies around a longitudinal axis of a workpiece. A method of forming reduced diameter tubing is also described.

Apparatus and method for reducing the diameter of a cylindrical workpiece

A rocker mill for reducing the diameter of metal tubes includes a rollstand mounted on a reciprocable sled. The rollstand includes upper and lower roll dies between which the tubes travel as the sled and rollstand are reciprocated. The roll dies are mounted on tapered segments of respective arbors to facilitate removal of the roll dies. The arbors are driven by respective spur gears which are in meshing relationship on one side of the rollstand. One of the spur gears is driven by a pinion gear coaxially attached thereto on the same side of the rollstand as the spur gears. The rollstand is arranged to be slid horizontally from the sled after a plurality of fasteners have been released. A stationary toothed rack which drives the drive gear is spring-biased vertically to raise the rack in order to facilitate the sliding of the rollstand off the sled.

Rollstand having easily replaceable roll dies

Vertical and axial movement of fuel rods relative to grid spacers in a fuel bundle of a BWR or PWR nuclear reactor is prevented by use of sleeves welded to various vertical positions upon a fuel rod, whereby the sleeves have horizontally and vertically oriented windows and slots for engaging protrusions and corner springs, respectively, located in the openings for receiving fuel rods of the grid spacers.

Spacer capture rod to space grid attachment device

A locking mechanism for securing an upper tie plate to the tie rods of a nuclear fuel bundle. The mechanism includes an upper tie plate assembly and locking sleeves fixed to the ends of the tie rods. The tie plate is part of the upper tie plate assembly and is secured to the fuel bundle by securing the entire upper tie plate assembly to the locking sleeves fixed to the tie rods. The assembly includes, in addition to the tie plate, locking nuts for engaging the locking sleeves, retaining sleeves to operably connect the locking nuts to the assembly, a spring biased reaction plate to restrain the locking nuts in the locked position and a means to facilitate the removal of the entire assembly as a unit from the fuel bundle.

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Richland, WA, United States of America

Jon L Osborne