The presumably most widely used form of bending rollers consists of three rollers, viz. two lower rollers and an upper roller movable with respect to these. The roller is suitable for producing container shells and similar cy- lindrical objects. However, bending of cones or frusto- conical objects is not so easy on such a roller.

The object of the invention is to provide a bending roller which is suitable also for the bending of cones or frustoconical objects.

This object is achieved according to the invention with a bending roller of the type stated in the opening para- graph in that one of the rollers, preferably the lower roller, consists of a plurality of individual freely ro- tatable circular segments on a shaft, said segments being provided with a coating of rubber or similar resilient material. The bending roller is thus extremely simple, as -'-t just comprises two rollers, viz. a lower roller and an upper roller. When one of the rollers, preferably the lower roller, is formed by individual segments, this roller may run at different speeds of rotation on the in- dividual segments, which assists the production of cone objects. The segments rotate at a low speed at the top of -he cone, while they rotate at a correspondingly high speed at the base of the cone.

An embodiment of the roller comprises a common end gable in which the rollers are mounted with one end, and an- other end gable in which the lower roller is mounted with the other end, as well as an end gable which is movable between these two gables and in which the upper roller is mounted with the other end. By replacing the upper roller, the length of the roller may be adapted to the length of the objects concerned which are to be bent.

An expedient width of the segments is of the same order as the radius of these.

The length of the shaft is preferably greater than the overall length occupied by the segments thereon, while the segments are arranged individually movably on the shaft.

An embodiment of the invention will be described more fully below with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which: fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the bending roller.

The bending roller comprises a common end gable 4 and an- other end gable 5 between which a lower roller 1 is mounted. This consists of a plurality of circular seg- ments 6 which are arranged individually rotatably and movably on a shaft 3, which is mounted with the ends in the two end gables 4,5. The end gables are kept together by a rail 9. A movable gable 8 is mounted with a recess down over the rail 9. The gable is guided on the rail by guides 10 provided with rollers. The gable is formed with a recess 11 for the segments so that the gable may pass across these.

A replaceable upper roller 2 is provided between the first gable 4 and the movable gable 8, said upper roller being mounted with the ends in guideways 12 in the gables. The upper roller 2 may be raised and lowered with the guideways with respect to the lower roller 1.

When producing e. g. a cone, the end gable 8 is moved relatively to the fixed gable 4 so that the distance fits the length of the plane workpiece to be bent. At the same time, the number of segments between the two gables 4,8 is adapted, and the excess segments are pushed out into a parking position against the other gable 5. The plane workpiece is positioned with the edge on the lower roller 1, and the upper roller 2 is lowered to form a slight pre-bend, during which a rubber coating 7 on the segments yields. The roller is then caused to rotate to bend the plate workpiece into a truncated cone.

It will be appreciated that the roller may also be used for the bending of shells and other cylindrical objects of course.