[54] TOOL FOR FORMING PRECISELY CURVED SURFACES
[75] Inventor: Jon H. Myer, Woodland Hills, Calif.
[73] Assignee: Hughes Aircraft Company, El Segundo, Calif.
[21] Appl. No.: 417,756
[22] Filed: Sep. 13, 1982
Related U.S. Application Data
[62] Division of Ser. No. 106,985, Dec. 26, 1979.
[51] Int. CI.3 B21B 25/00
[52] U.S. CI 72/465; 72/378;
72/379
[58] Field of Search 72/58, 59, 60, 63, 54,
72/350, 351, 379, 378, 465; 29/421 R
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
15,278 7/1858 Booth ;72/351
1,881,517 10/1932 Groehn 72/350
2,285,903 8/1942 Clark 72/350
2,292,462 8/1942 Milford 72/60
2,344,743 3/1944 Smith 72/63
2,410,857 11/1946 Ahern 72/60 X
2,728,317 12/1955 Clevenger et al 72/60
2,961,028 11/1960 Bath 72/297
3,073,373 1/1963 Wheeler et al. 72/297
3,299,689 1/1967 Dolney 72/356 X
3,435,653 4/1969 Scalette et al 72/351 X
3,529,458 9/1970 Butler et al 72/60
3,751,956 8/1973 Blanche 72/351
4,045,986 9/1977 Haycock et al 29/421 R
4,211,027 7/1980 Huwity 72/378
Primary Examiner—Leon Gilden
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Lewis B. Sternfels; W. J.
Bethurum; A. W. Karambelas
[57] ABSTRACT
Precisely curved, lightweight and low-cost reflectors for electromagnetic radiation are fabricated by use of a tool and a process in which a blank is planar stretched by uniformly applied isotropic and radially extending forces followed by deformation of the stretched blank to a precisely curved surface.
5 Claims, 15 Drawing Figures
