Pipe bender and swager

Claim 1

In a tubing-bending machine having a vertical column, two spaced parallel shafts pivotally supported from said column, two plates rigidly affixed to said shafts, a vertically movable member supported from said column and at least partially positioned above said plates, first fluid-actuated power means for moving said member upwardly and downwardly, second power means which tend to restrain pivotal movement of said shafts as said member moves downwardly relative thereto, two elongate longitudinally aligned jaws supported from said plates, each of which jaws have at least one longitudinally extending first groove of semicircular cross section formed therein of substantially the same diameter as the external diameter of the tubing to be bent, a downwardly curved pressure-exerting member supported from the lower end of said vertically movable member, in the lower surface of which at least one groove of semicircular cross section is formed that is in vertical alignment with said first grooves in said jaws and is of the same diameter as said first grooves, the improvement for bending a length of tubing to form a plurality of bends therein of desired angulation which are longitudinally spaced predetermined distances apart, with at least a portion of said bends lying in different radial planes that are disposed at a desired circumferential angulation relative to one another by intermittently manually advancing and rotating the tubing to consecutively place each of a series of first and second insignia of the same configuration into predetermined positions relative to one another, to permit said machine to sequentially form a plurality of bends in said tubing of predetermined angulation that are in longitudinal and circumferential spaced relationship in the same pattern as the bends in said exhaust pipe, which improvement includes: a. a disc and ring assembly that are removably connectable to an end of said length of tubing, with the diameter of said ring being greater than that of said disc; b. an elongate horizontal support of concave transverse cross section extending outwardly from said column, with the longitudinally extending center of said support lying in the same vertical plane as that of the centerlines of said grooves in said jaws, and said support including lips that extend outwardly in opposite directions from the sides thereof; c. a plurality of first stop means circumferentially spaced on said ring; d. a plurality of second stop means longitudinally spaced on said support, each of which second stop means includes: 1. two hook-shaped members that removably engage said lips; 2. two oppositely threaded elongate members which extend inwardly towards one another from said hook-shaped members; and 3. a turnbuckle that engages said threaded members. e. a plurality of said first insignia that identify said first stop means and a plurality of said second insignia which identify said second stop means; f. circular rotatable means having a plurality of circumferentially spaced openings formed therein; g. means for rotating said circular means a portion of a revolution each time said vertically movable member moves to form a bend in said tubing; h. first manually operable control means for initiating flow of fluid to said first fluid-actuated power means; and i. second control means that are responsive to each of said openings, which second control means reverses the flow of fluid to said first fluid-actuated means upon movement of one of said openings in said circular means to a predetermined position, with said reversed fluid flow resulting in upward movement of said vertically movable pressure-exerting member to a predetermined position, which circumferential spacing between each pair of said openings determines the angulation of one of said bends formed in said length of tubing, and with the circumferential spacing between said first stop means and the longitudinal spacing between said second stop means determining the circumferential spacing between said bends and the longitudinal distance between the centers of said bends respectively, with eAch of said bends only being formed in said length of tubing after said disc and ring assembly have been rotated and moved longitudinally relative to said support to dispose one of said first stop means in a predetermined position relative to one of said second stop means, which first and second stop means when so disposed are identified by said first and second insignia of like configuration.