50 Years of Nibbler Technology

Berthold Leibinger?s invention of advanced punching in hand tools is celebrating an anniversary. The hand-guided power nibbler is celebrating its 50th birthday. The first tool, based on technical principles developed by Leibinger, came to market in 1959. Its advantage: cut sheet metal flexibly, rapidly and without spraying sparks.

Designed for a variety of applications, these nibblers have become essential to industry and hand workers. The great success of electrical nibbling tools began when Trumpf (Ditzingen, Germany) introduced the THN100 in 1959. It was based on one of the first patents obtained by Leibinger, a development engineer for Trumpf, and was a tool with a punch that pushed through the fixed die plate with a stroke movement to stamp the material. Making a series of punching strokes to create a cut-line in the sheet metal was called nibbling.

Power tools for nibbling existed before that time, but had very low maneuverability around curves. This tool, on the other hand, could be turned in all directions within the kerf because the machine was connected to the die plate through the hollow cutting punch. The ability of the THN100 to travel around curves with unlimited mobility was its special ? patented ? distinguishing feature.

From this, Trumpf received the title of ?Nibble King,? as one trade journal called it in 1960, to reflect the company?s activities and successes in this area. At first, nibbling was a seldom-used method of sheet metal processing. But Trumpf was early to recognize the advantages of this sheet metal cutting procedure in sheet and used it in stationary machines as well as in electrical and compressed air tools.

Professor Leibinger, the president of Trumpf for many years and now its chairman of the supervisory board, remembers, ?In those days, the nibbling process made it possible to cut sheet metal thicknesses of up to 1 mm
with hand-guided tools. The basic technical principle has endured, just like the advantages it made possible. The tools are agile, with distortion-free cutting, controlled chip discharge, and no significant warming.?

In contrast to angle grinders, nibblers do not generate sparks that would damage clean surfaces. Spark-free work is also just as important in breaking down tanks that have been filled with oil or chemicals. Here too, nibblers are the tool of choice. This is possible because, over the past 50 years, enormous improvements have evolved in the performance capacity and handling of these tools.

For example, the largest nibbler ? a hydraulic TruTool N1500 ? can even cut stainless steel sheets up to 15 mm thick. It is used mainly to dismantle heavy installations that are an explosion or a contamination risk. Large areas of application are covered by numerous smaller tools, industry-specific in design and constantly being
improved.

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Trumpf GmbH + Co. KG , Johann-Maus-Straße 2, 71254 Ditzingen, Germany, +49 7156 303-30428, www.de.trumpf.com, anke.roser@de.trumpf.com .