Station: [42] Roll Formers


These days, gutters and downpipes are factory-made. But in the past, the job was done manually from start to finish. Smooth sheets were clamped in a machine called a roll former and passed between three rollers in several operations. Once the sheet metal was sufficiently curved, it had to be soldered together along the seam. To extricate the now rolled-up sheet out of the machine, you opened one side, and one of the rollers was pivoted out of the way, allowing the almost finished pipe to be removed with a few simple movements.

 

All depictions: © Europäisches Klempner- und Kupferschmiedemuseum, Foto: Klaus Hofmann