Oxyacetylene pipe beveler - GIF

[Frank S]

That's an interesting – and intricate – piece of equipment. But why were they designed to travel around a stationary pipe? Rather than rotating the pipe? (Unless, of course, they were intended for servicing existing pipe assemblies.)

I'll let you think about this for a moment shop work is not like working in the field in a shop we can set up machines to rotate the pipe but they are dedicated floor space killers. Let's say for argument you and I both are pipeliner's and we have been called out to a construction site where there the requirement is to weld up several risers, turnbacks, flanges and transitions, requiring lots of beveled nipples and sections of pipe to be beveled.
We both have our compliment of pipe working tools on our rigs IE pipe stands with or without roller heads or vee heads to lay the pipe on for cutting at a comfortable height. I show up with a couple of these beveling machines and maybe even a machine that has a chain that fits pipes up to 48" that walks it way around the chain the machine is called a Bugomatic.
Everything I need to work pipe would be on my truck.
But you are going to roll these 20, 40 or even 60 foot long sticks of pipe to make your bevels so you haul a stationary machine that rotates the pipe mounted on a trailer because it is so large it will not fit on your rig. For each nipple cut or section length the pipe must be slid to the beveling machine on the rollers. For smaller shorter sticks of pipe this is no problem you do this by hand but even 4" sch 80 pipe weighs 14+ lbs per foot trying to drag a 40 ft. stick of it means you need a way to pull it to your beveling machine