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september 2016 Tube ProducTs InTernaTIonal 59
Mother of all jack stands
Sumner Manufacturing Co, Inc, USA
Sumner’s Heavy Duty jack was the first commercially built
pipe jack that offered weight rating, independent load tested,
interchangeable parts, safe operation and three legs for
stability. It is from this pipe jack that an industry standard has
been established, and today most commercially built stands
duplicate this design.
As the Heavy Duty jack gained popularity, a new need grew
among the independent welders who worked on rigs. They
required a stand that had a 900kg capacity, and the same
features as the Heavy Duty stand, but legs that folded up to
store easily in their vehicles. Sumner developed the folding
jack stand, which has turned out to be the most widely used
three-legged stand in the world.
For larger pipe, there was a need for greater stability, and for
the ability to level the pipe and rotate it for rollout welding.
Sumner’s Adjust-A-Roll, also introduced in the 1960s, featured
900kg capacity and the ability to adjust the pipe level from
either side of the stand. Later, the ProRoll was introduced and
offered stand height adjustment that improved welder comfort
when working a variety of different sizes of pipe.
I n the early 1960s, Sumner Manufacturing recognised
that all pipe jack stands were hand made by welders,
and what one person made would vary in size and
capacity to what someone else made. Parts were
not interchangeable, features were questionable, and
there was no standard. Compared to our highly safety-
regulated society today, home pipe stands could be
found on job sites which had no load rating and the
construction of the stand was dubious.
Perhaps the greatest innovation was a stand that not only
allowed the welder to level and rollout weld, but could also be
used as a transport cart. Sumner’s Max Jax was developed in
the 1990s, and became widely used because it reduced the
number of times a pipe was lifted by a crane to be moved from
station to station in a fab shop.
The patent-protected Max Jax2 is the latest version, and
offers a new roller head design for better roller-wheel-to-pipe
contact and an invertible stand (a base that offers both high
and low operating positions). Pipe rotators are commonly used
in fab shops, and the combination of pipe sizes and rotator
operating height can be a nightmare for a shop foreman. The
4 to 36" Max Jax2 can accommodate this situation as well as
transporting the pipe around the shop.
Pipe clamps come in all flavours
Pipe and tubing clamps are like flavours of ice cream – there is
a wide variety to choose from. Like vanilla and chocolate, four
or five styles of clamp are the most preferred.
Patent records are loaded with old designs of clamps, from
a vee frame that holds two mating pipe lengths together
with a chain, to wooden wedges that are used under pipe for
alignment on a welder’s table.
Today, the most popular style of clamp attaches to the end
of a pipe and has three 4-, 8- and 12-o’clock adjustment
positions to level a mating pipe, fitting or flange. An example
of such a clamp is the patented Sumner Ultra Qwik Clamp.
Available in three sizes from 1 to 12", the Ultra Qwik has
stainless steel contact points, so it can be used on stainless
or carbon pipe. The adjustment handle slides so that the
clamp can be used on short pipe lengths against a wall. A final
feature is a push-button release to allow the arms to open and
close rapidly.
Heavy Duty jack
Adjust-A-Roll
ProRoll
Max Jax2 Max Jax