Crawford Fitting Co.

Steven J Volcansek

Lonnie E Johnston

Edward A Pezak

Howard C Kuhns

Myron E Luikart

Apparatus intended for bending heavy through thin wall pipe and tubing includes a generally circular bending shoe mounted for rotation about a first axis and having a plurality of semi-circular concave grooves in its outer surface. The grooves are of differing sizes and located in side-by-side axial spaced planes perpendicular to the first axis. A separate pair of bending rollers is provided for cooperation with each separate concave groove. Each pair of rollers includes a first roller and a second roller having concave exterior grooves and mounted on a bracket for independent rotary movement about separate second and third axes. A support arm is joined to the bracket for permitting tilting movement of the bracket relative to the support arm about a fourth axis parallel to the second and third axes. Carrying the support arms to position the cooperating roller pairs adjacent the associated groove of the bending shoe is an adjustable frame assembly, the frame assembly including supports for permitting rapid telescopic insertion and removal of the support arms from the frame assembly for selective use of separate ones of the plurality of grooves in the outer surface of the bending shoe. Preferably, the roller sets having rolls with surfaces contoured to eliminate flattening of the tubes during bending.

Tube bender apparatus

A gauge for fittings of the type including a coupling nut having a threaded internal opening and adapted to encircle a cylindrical member and a ferrule positioned on the cylindrical member, the gauge being used for determining the pull up of the ferrule and the swaging of the cylindrical member, includes an indicating unit having a readout for showing whether the swaging of the cylindrical member is within tolerances. A piston is movably mounted on the indicating unit and is operatively connected to the readout. The piston includes a body having a bore and an external threaded area on the body circumferentially of the bore to threadedly engage the threaded internal opening of the coupling nut carried on the cylindrical member. The piston further includes a section within the bore for aligning the cylindrical member with the bore and for limiting the extent of movement of the cylindrical member into the bore. A master is provided for calibrating the gauge. The gauge is used in a method for determining the swaging that a cylindrical member has undergone.

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Garfield Heights, OH, United States of America

Steven J Volcansek