The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 27, 1995
Filed:
May. 25, 1993
Werner G Hopf, San Marcos, CA (US);
Eaton Leonard, Inc., Carlsbad, CA (US);
Abstract
A boost system (53) traveling behind the carriage (12) of a tube bending machine includes an hydraulic boost cylinder (58) that slidably receives a boost shaft (52) that is connected to the carriage. The boost cylinder has a piston fixed to the boost shaft, and the cylinder is slidably mounted on the machine bed (10) that slidably carries the carriage so that the boost cylinder (58) is carried along with the carriage (12) as the carriage moves toward and away from the bend head (24) mounted at a forward end of the machine bed for positioning a tube (22) to be bent at the bend head. When a bending operation commences, the boost cylinder (58) is locked to the machine bed by a movable pawl (94) that is driven into engagement with a rack (80) fixed to the bed. While the boost cylinder (58) is thus locked to the bed it is pressurized during a bending operation so as to drive the boost shaft (52), and thereby the carriage (12 ) and the tube (22) carried by the carriage, forwardly to exert a large compressive force on the tube while it is being bent. Upon completion of the bend the pawl (94) and rack (80) are disengaged so that the boost cylinder (58) may travel freely together with the carriage (12).