Valiant Corporation

Ray Cote

Louis Raffin

Lee Harrison

Kenneth Saint Denis

A hemming machine having a stationary base and defining a work station. A lifting beam is vertically movably mounted to the base at the work station while a motor assembly moves the lifting beam between a raised and a lowered position. Two die cartridges, each having hemming tooling and a nest vertically movably mounted to the die cartridge, are horizontally movable relative to the base by a conveyor assembly. A conveyor motor selectively moves the die cartridges between a position laterally spaced from the work station and the work station. With the die cartridge positioned at the work station, a first clamp releasably secures the nest to the lifting beam while a second clamp assembly releasably secures the die cartridge to the base. With the nest secured to the lifting beam and the die cartridge secured to the base, hemming operations are performed at the work station in the conventional fashion.

Hemming machine with movable die cartridges

A hemming machine for sheet metal is disclosed having a base adapted to be supported on a ground support surface. A cradle is vertically slidably mounted to the base while a nest is mounted to the cradle and adapted to support the part to be hemmed. Hemming tooling is mounted to the base and movable between an extended position in which the hemming tooling overlies the nest, and a retracted position in which the hemming tooling is spaced laterally outwardly from the nest. A pair of spaced ball screws are rotatably mounted to the base and threadably connected to the cradle on opposite sides of the nest so that rotation of the ball screws vertically displaces the cradle relative to the base. A single drive motor is drivingly connected through a two speed gear box to both ball screws to rotatably drive the ball screws in synchronism with each other.

Growing community of inventors

Windsor, CA, United States of America

Ray Cote