Lateral extrusion process

Claim 1

A process for producing an integral metal member having a cross construction made up of a plurality of projecting arms comprising preparing a cylinder of the metal, locating said cylinder in a die assembly made up of die portions corresponding in number to the arms of said cross construction, each of said die portions having internal cavities corresponding to the desired shape of an arm of said cross construction, locating members that project into each die portion cavity parallel to and substantially on the axis of the cavity, said members having a relatively blunt inner surface, exerting a compressive force on the metal cylinder to laterally extrude the metal into each of said cavities and around said projecting members substantially simultaneously, and removing at least part of the compressive force and moving the die portions outward in a direction substantially parallel to the axes of the die portion cavities and projecting members while maintaining the cross construction stationary, said projecting members forming holes in the ends of the arms of the cross construction.