Abstract:
A tower houses a forming mill which shapes and feeds forward a strip of metal having an upstanding male locking hook along one edge and an upstanding downwardly opening female locking strip along the other edge. A substantially semicylindrical mandrel lower part has an end secured to the tower and projects horizontally outward under the mill at an angle to the strip. The mandrel upper part has a flat plate pivotally connected to the lower part and bears a way in which a slide carrying a curved guide plate is adjustably positioned. The mandrel parts may be adjusted angularly in a horizontal plane and locked in position and the slide is linked to a turntable slide carrying a lower pinch roll which may be angularly and vertically adjusted in position. The tower carries an upper pinch roll and a bending roll for bending the strip downward. The bent strip is guided angularly and downwardly by the forward side of the mandrel lower part toward an exit conveyor for carrying away the formed pipe. As each turn of strip around the mandrel approaches the top it is angularly guided by the curved guide plate so that the male locking hook of the turn engages the female hook of the next turn and the pinch rolls clinch the hooks for continuously forming the spiral-seamed pipe.