Forged sideways extrusion

1. A method of forming a workpiece comprising transferring a metal blank to a workstation in a multi station forging machine with a stationary die breast part and a reciprocating ram part, mounting a set of opposed tools on the die breast part and the ram part at the workstation that when closed relative to one another cooperate to define both a working cavity and a lateral extrusion aperture, one of the tools being provided with a mechanism capable of holding the one tool towards the other opposed tool with a force adequate to maintain the tools in fixed relation to one another in opposition to pressure forces in the blank as the blank is worked during a final period of ram motion towards the die breast with the configuration of the aperture fixed, and extruding material of the blank laterally through the aperture as the one tool retracts relative to the part of the machine on which the one tool is mounted.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the aperture has a shape corresponding to at least a portion of the desired shape of a finished part.

3. A method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the aperture produces a lateral extension on the blank that is greatly reduced in cross sectional area from that of a major cross sectional area of the blank as it is delivered to the workstation having the lateral aperture.

4. A method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the tools forming the aperture are arranged to form a receiving space having the general shape of the aperture and are adapted to confine the laterally extruded portion of the blank to a desired shape.

5. A method as set forth in claim 4 , wherein the receiving space is arranged to provide a cross section slightly larger than the cross section of the aperture.

6. A method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the blank is transferred to a subsequent workstation in the progressive forging machine and is further worked by trimming, perforating or otherwise permanently deforming the lateral extension.

7. Apparatus in a progressive forming machine comprising a tool set for a workstation and a spring, the tool set having tooling adapted for mounting on a die breast member and tooling for mounting on a ram member that reciprocates towards and away from the die breast member, the die breast and ram tooling cooperating to form a cavity for receiving the blank, the die breast and ram tooling each forming a part of a lateral aperture for extruding blank material pressed in said cavity laterally through the aperture, the spring being arranged to bias one of said tooling towards the other of said tooling, said one of said tooling being slidably mounted on the associated member, the spring being arranged to hold the one tooling fixed stationary in relation to the other tooling wherein said tooling establish a working fixed configuration of the lateral aperture before the ram reaches forward dead center, the spring being capable of resisting forces tending to separate the tooling during lateral extrusion of blank material through said aperture.