MATERIAL FORMING APPARATUS

摘要

The present invention is a material forming apparatus that includes an array of gears including a plurality of drive gears and a plurality of driven gears, each driven gear in engagement with a drive gear to form a gear set, and at least one of the driven gear and corresponding drive gear being non-circular so as to alter the pitch as the drive gear adjusts its respective driven gear, includes a flexible bed having a plurality of bed arms, each bed arm being connected to a corresponding gear set, the flexible bed arms form a generally flat bed and a second position where the plurality of bed arms are positioned in desired positions in order to manipulate the flexible bed into a non-linear configuration at least at some point, and includes at least one clamp to hold a workpiece to the flexible bed so that the workpiece matches the non-linear configuration of the flexible bed when the flexible bed is moved from the first position to the second position.

主权项

1. A material forming apparatus, comprising:
a housing defining an inner cavity and at least one opening through an outer surface of the housing; an array of gears located within the inner cavity and driven by an actuator wherein the array of gears includes a plurality of drive gears and a plurality of driven gears with each driven gear associated with a corresponding drive gear to form a gear set and wherein at least one of the driven gear and/or corresponding drive gear are non-circular in order to have an ever changing pitch as the drive and driven gears engage and rotate with respect to one another; a flexible bed having a plurality of bed arms with each bed arm being connected to a corresponding gear set via an arm shaft that extends through the at least one housing opening, the flexible bed arms being movable by the corresponding gear set between a first position where the plurality of flexible bed arms form a generally flat bed and a second position where each of the plurality of bed arms is positioned in a different position with respect to the other plurality of bed arms in order to manipulate the flexible bed into a curved shape; and at least one clamp mechanism for clamping a workpiece to the flexible bed so that the workpiece is curved to match the curved shape of the flexible bed when the flexible bed is moved from the first position to the second position.