Unison Ltd marks anniversary of machinery invention

It’s an invention that has changed the way tube is bent by precision industries around the globe.

Convinced there was a more precise way of bending tube than by using the hydraulically operated machines of the day, in the late 1980s Unison’s founder, Terry Pickering, along with his son, Alan (who is now the company’s joint managing director), set about reinventing the process of tube manipulation.

“It was no great secret that the accuracy of hydraulic tube bending machines could be affected by changing oil temperature,” says Alan Pickering.

“In other words, a machine with cold hydraulic oil at the start of a shift might well perform differently later in the day when its oil was hot. The greater viscosity of the cold oil, compared to that of hot oil, would typically result in the machine operator having to make temperature-related adjustments during the day to ensure satisfactory levels of repeatability.

“With all those manual adjustments to make – particularly on the clamp and pressure die – each operator would keep a black book of how they managed to get a good part out of their tube bending machines.

“All-electric tube manipulation had been invented – with the assurance of accuracy and repeatability at the tightest of bending parameters for large and small production runs, and with no concern over hydraulic oil or even external temperatures.”

Called the Unison Breeze, due to the speed and ease it brought to achieving repeatable tube manipulation, the world’s first all-electric three-axis tube bending machine was launched by Unison in 1994.

UK and German patents were registered, and right-first-time tube bending was born.

Over the following years, Unison developed and launched the world’s first all-electric five-stack tube bending machine, followed by the world’s first 76 mm, 115 mm, 150 mm and 180 mm multi-stack machines, as well as robotised benders and twin-head tube benders for producing symmetrical, simultaneous bends.

Today, with facilities in the UK and USA, Unison offers the world’s largest range of ultra-precise, all-electric tube and pipe bending machines for diameters ranging from 4 mm to 275 mm, in single-stack, multi-stack and right/left versions.

“Today, of course, all-electric tube bending machines are commonplace offerings from manufacturers from around the world," added Pickering.

“But I am proud to say that we remain the preferred choice of countless organisations from all manner of industry sectors.

“You could say we’re the original and best.”