. Unite States Patent [19]
`Baker
`
`[11]
`[45]
`
`4,308,744
`Jan. 5, 1982
`
`I
`
`3,417,598 12/1968 Valente
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`A tube pointer for compressing metal tubes prior to
`drawing the tubes through a die that employs a plurality
`of pairs of jaws oriented about a central axis. The jaws
`are provided with recesses and one side wall thereof
`receives portions of a juxtaposed jaw that allows the
`jaws to close fully.
`
`5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures
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`U'S‘ PATENT DOCUMENTS
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`/////
`91142
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`1 1
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`Page 1 of 5
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`EDWARDS LIFESCIENCES EX. 1211
`Edwards Lifesciences v. Boston Scientific Scimed
`U.S. Patent No. 6,915,560
`
`

`

`Jan. 5, 1982
`Jan. 5, 1982
`
`Sheet1 of 2
`Sheet 1 0f 2
`
`US. Patent
`U.S. Patent
`
`4,308,744
`
`4,308,744
`
`Page 2 of 5
`
`Page 2 of 5
`
`

`

`US. Patent Jan. 5, 1982
`
`Sheet 2 of2
`
`4,308,744
`
`%
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`5/46
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`FIGS;
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`Page 3 of 5
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`

`

`1
`
`TUBE POINTER
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`4,308,744
`
`2
`and thus the tube is always maintained concentric at all
`stages of the pointing operation,
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION,
`The present invention relates to an apparatus which
`presses the end of a tube to reduce dimension thereof to
`form what is called a point or more speci?cally the
`invention relates to a novel apparatus for reducing a
`diameter or pointing a tubular workpiece so that the
`same may be easily inserted into a die for drawing the
`tube and reduce its diameter.
`In the prior art there is known a number of appara
`tuses which will reduce the diameter of tubing. Basi
`cally, the devices employ jaws which reciprocate radi
`ally inward, for example, as seen in my prior US. Pat.
`No. 3,154,978. Other approaches which utilize modi?ed
`jaws but which operate on a similar principle are seen in
`the Valente patents US. Pat. Nos. 3,245,247 and
`3,417,598. Still other forms of jaws are seen in the Schu
`etz US. Pat. No. 3,370,451. In each of these disclosures,
`a tube is positioned into an opening and jaws collapse
`the tube to the desired shape. With these and other
`similar tube pointers, while they are capable of produc
`ing usable points, they are subject to jamming. For
`example, in my prior United States Patent referenced
`above, the ?n surface of the jaw grips the tube and
`prevents the tube from elongating which causes the
`pointer to jam. In addition, utilizing a jaw such as I have
`previously disclosed, there is the possibility of metal
`chips being generated due to the openings in the jaw
`surfaces. Also with certain types of jaws it is almost
`impossible to work on stiffer metals such as brass, for
`the parts of the jaws will break. Further in many types
`of prior art devices particularly in devices as seen in the
`Schuetz patent US. Pat. No. 3,370,451, the metal of
`tube while it is being compressed would tend to extrude
`into any opening that it can ?nd, and this is well illus
`trated in FIG. 11 of this particular patent. The result is.
`various point sizes that may not be easily predicted, it
`being necessary to provide a point with a predictable
`size so that it can be grasped by the drawing gripper
`jaws.
`
`35
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`FIG. 1 is a front elevational view showing the jaw
`assembly with‘ the jaws open and with the cover plate
`removed;
`i‘
`I
`'
`FIG. 2 is a similar view showing the jaws in their
`fully closed position;
`'
`FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the tube pointer assem
`bly made in accordance with this invention taken on
`lines 3——-3 of FIG. 1;
`'
`'
`FIG. 4 is an exploded view showing one of the jaws;
`
`and
`
`'
`
`’
`
`i
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`‘
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`FIGS. 5 and 6 are end views of tubes that have been
`compressed utilizing the invention, showing the manner
`in which the tube may be deformed. '
`-
`‘
`
`DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED
`EMBODIMENT
`With reference to the drawings 10 designates a cylin
`drical housing having flanges 11, which housing serves
`as a guidance member for a ram plate 12 that is con
`nected to a hydraulic piston (not shown) through a
`piston rod 14. Reference is made, however, to my prior
`patent US. Pat. No. 3,154,978 for a suitable method of
`actuating the ram plate. The housing 10 is continued
`through a cylindrical chuck plate 16 which is bolted to
`outwardly extending flanges 11 by bolts 17. Ears 18, 19
`are projected radially outward from the plate 16 and a
`pin 20, that extends between the ears, mounts for pivotal
`relationship a cover plate 22. The cover plate/22 is
`normally secured to the chuck, plate 16 by a plurality of
`bolts such as 24 but may be readily ‘swung away on the
`boss 21 of the cover plate 22 to provideaccess to the
`interior of the assembly. Also bolted to the cover plate
`is a wear plate 23, the purpose of which will ‘be pres
`
`ently apparent. '
`
`'
`
`‘
`
`'
`
`In the present illustration of the device there are six
`jaw members arranged in opposite pairs, one opposed
`pair comprising jaws 30, 31, a second opposed pair of
`jaws 32, 33 and a third pair 34, 35. The cylindrical
`chuck plate 16 is provided with chordal slots 24, 25, 26,
`27, 28 and 29 into which jaws and operating segments
`are disposed. These pairs of jaws are disposed in the
`slots 24 to 29 and the slots serve as guideways for the
`jaw members 30 to 35 which will assist in directing their
`path of sliding movement in a chordal direction axially
`inward and outward.
`-
`As seen in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, each of the jaw mem
`bers is provided with an inclined surface 40 and are
`mounted in sliding engagement with a wedge-shaped
`segment, such as the segment 42 or 44. The segments
`are connected to the jaws by means of a suitable key and
`slot arrangement made up of a T-bar 45 that is bolted as
`with bolts 46 into a recess 47 in the jaw, the T-bar 45
`being received in a mating slot in the segment such as 48
`or 49 as seen in FIG. 3. The segments such as 42, 44 are
`fastened to the ram 12 by bolts such as 50, 50', 51, 51'
`and may be moved to and fro within the housing 10. As
`will be apparent when the wedge-shaped segments are
`moved to the left as seen in FIG. 1 the jaws will slide on
`the key and slot structure and can simultaneously move
`radially inward to compress a tube.
`One of the jaws 30, ‘for example, is shown in FIG. 4
`and is provided with a work-engaging surface 52, a pair
`of side faces 54, 56 and a chamfered end face 57. The
`
`45
`
`50
`
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`The present invention discloses an improved tube
`pointer which produces uniform points by preventing
`any flaring of the tube material, there being no openings
`in the jaws in which the ?aring can occur. Moreover,
`the jaws used in the instant invention have a solid work
`engaging surface that eliminates breakage that was pre
`viously encountered with ?nned jaws.
`The tube pointer of the instant invention includes a
`generally circular housing that has at least four but
`preferably six jaws that are arranged about an end with
`an opening. These jaws are inter?tted to permit them to
`move radially inward and outward and have work
`engaging surfaces which form the tube into a polygonal
`cross sectional shape. To prevent any openings between
`the jaws, the jaws have recesses on one side face thereof
`so that a juxtaposed jaw will slide into the recess. In the
`illustrative form the jaws which are formed in this fash
`ion will, in effect, reduce the open end of the apparatus
`to no hole whatsoever, and it will readily become ap
`parent that this will permit, through suitable adjustment
`of the operating mechanism, the pointing of a variety of
`65
`sized tubes. Each jaw is coupled to a ram so that it
`moves through a wedged segment uniformly towards
`the axis of the tube at the same rate as each other jaw,
`
`60
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`Page 4 of 5
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`

`3
`side face 56 is provided with a recess generally indi~
`cated at 58 and this recess is de?ned by a bottom wall 59
`and a pair of entering end walls 60 and 61. Referring to
`FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, it will be seen that the arrangement
`is such that a work-engaging surface such as 52 of a
`juxtaposed jaw will effectively slide on the entering
`wall 60 of the recess and permit the jaws to completely
`close as seen in FIG. 2. It will of course be apparent that
`all of the jaws 30 to 35 are duplicates insofar as the
`recesses and faces are concerned and as the wedge seg
`ments move to and fro within the housing the work
`engaging faces of adjacent jaws will enter their recesses.
`Guidance of the wedge segments such as 42, 44 within
`the housing are enhanced by slide plates 64 which are
`preferably grooved and fed by a grease bore 66 that has
`a pressure grease ?tting such as 68 tapped therein. Addi
`tionally, as will appear in FIG. 2, in order to enhance
`sliding movement of the jaws and wedge segments in a
`radially inward and outward direction grease bores
`such as 70 are provided. Further the pressure plate 23
`which absorbs the axial load is provided with grease
`ports such as 72.
`It will of course be apparent that since the jaws are, in
`effect, in an interengaging relationship by entering re
`cesses provided in juxtaposed jaws, the jaw-engaging
`surfaces will substantially circumscribe a tube which is
`to be pointed, and as the jaw members are moved simul
`taneously radially inward by the wedge-shaped seg
`ments, a tube, such as the tube in FIG. 5 or in FIG. 6,
`will be deformed and may take a variety of shapes de
`pending upon whether or not the wall is uniform. If the
`wall is uniform, a shape similar to that seen in FIG. 5
`will be attained, while if the wall is not uniform as seen
`in FIG. 6 and has, for example, a thicker wall portion as
`at W, then this will restrain any deformation in that area
`and all of the deformation will take place as at X with a
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`10
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`3O
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`35
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`4,308,744
`4
`portion of the tube being deformed inwardly in order to
`maintain the proper outward dimensions.
`‘
`Although there has been shown six jaws to forma
`hexagonal point shape, other shapes such as octagonal
`or square can be used. It has been found that the stron
`gest jaws and the most productive shape for tube point
`ing is found in the preferred hexagonal form.
`‘
`I claim:
`1. A tube pointer comprising a housing having at least
`an opening in one end, a plurality of pairs ofjaw means
`with opposed work engaging faces, means to simulta4
`neously move the jaw means in said housing in a
`chordal path, said jaw means comprising a block with
`parallel side faces, a work-engaging face and a rear face,
`a longitudinal recess on one side face, said recess having
`a wall substantially the width and length of the work
`engaging face that receives for sliding engagement the
`work-engaging face of a juxtaposed jaw means whereby
`the jaw means may completely close the opening at said
`one end of said housing.
`2. A tube pointer as in claim 1 wherein the means to
`move the jaw means comprises a ram, a plurality of
`generally radially extending segments ?xed to said ram,
`said segments having oblique radially inward surfaces,
`said jaw means being slidably supported on said seg
`ments.
`3. A tube pointer as in claim 1 wherein said jaw means
`has a chamfered end face contiguous to the work
`engaging face.
`4. A tube pointer as in claim 2 wherein a chuck plate
`is provided and the jaw means and the segments are
`guided in slots in said plate.
`5. A tube pointer as in claim 4 wherein the housing
`has a cover plate over the end with said opening, a
`central aperture aligning with said opening to receive a
`tube, said cover plate retaining the jaws within the
`chuck plate.
`
`*
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`*
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`1F
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`*
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`*
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`45
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`50
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`55
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`60
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`65
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`Page 5 of 5
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