US Patent 6875942 Methods and systems for fabricating spiral welded cylinders

A method for forming a cylindrical body utilizing a continuous weld is provided. The method includes feeding a source material including a first edge and a second edge from a coil and offsetting at least one of the first edge and the second edge. The method further includes spiraling the material to form a cylinder, welding the first edge and the second edge together forming a continuous weld, and cutting the cylinder to a selected length. To fabricate a jacket, a longitudinal cut is made in the cylindrical body, at least one cutout is cut, and the continuous weld is an outer fillet weld.