Patent attributes
An apparatus (1) for manufacturing tubes made from thin-walled material, especially made from sheet metal, with a welding machine for longitudinal-seam welding, as well as with a clamping device (2), which has clamping jaws, which are arranged on opposite sides of the tube blank (3) and which can be pressed against the tube blank (3) for holding a tubular, preformed blank in the welding position. The clamping jaws (4) each have a stack of pressure plates (5), which contact each other on the flat sides thereof, and which contact the tube blank (3) on the narrow sides thereof in a contact region (6), and which can be pressed against the tube blank (3). The plate stacks are adapted to the outer contours of the tube blank (3) in the contact region (6). Through the use of the apparatus according to the invention, a uniform and uniformly load-bearing weld seam can be achieved, even for contoured tubes, which have outer diameters that vary along the course of their longitudinal extent.
