Xaver Lipp – Double folding technology

For almost 50 years, the double folding system has distinguished and proven itself all over the world through high quality and stability as well as sustainability.
Xaver Lipp was granted the patent for this technology in the early 1970s and licensed to partners worldwide. With his invention he has created a unique and at the same time ingeniously simple principle of tank production.

Steel strips from the coil are fed into the forming machine where they are endlessly spirally turned upwards and simultaneously formed at their edges. In the next step, the pre-formed sheets are joined together so tightly using the double seam technique invented by Xaver Lipp that they are also suitable for storing liquids.

Since the early seventies, Xaver Lipp has made it possible for containers of the requested size and diameter to be set up at any location required by the customer in a short time and with a small installation space requirement thanks to the portable assembly equipment designed and conceived for his technology.
Many thousands of silos and tanks have been built by the inventor’s partners and licensees worldwide.

Xaver Lipp – double folded tubes with small diameter

Parallel to the construction of large silos and tanks, Xaver Lipp has been intensively engaged in producing small diameter pipes with this technology since the invention of its double folding system.

In 1968, he developed and built the compact machine unit from which a tube with a small diameter was endlessly screwed out.

In the mid-seventies, customers from all over the world became interested in the special machines.

The inventor had the idea that pipes for the water supply or oil pipelines could be produced directly on site with the machines.

Growing in tasks
Experts became aware of him and in the early eighties he was commissioned to coat cables of bridges with his double-folded tube in order to protect them from environmental influences.

This is another challenge for Xaver Lipp, but he accepts it with passion. He develops an ingenious machine unit which – together with its work platform – moves up along the cable up the bridge and at the same time tightly wraps this cable with a steel band.

Implementing ideas
Xaver Lipp is currently taking up his idea of producing small endlessly folded tubes on site. After he developed the technology together with the Lipp & Mayer Technologie GmbH team, refined the designs in detail and built several models, a special machine is currently being built.

The beginnings of the Xaver Lipp double folding system

The construction technology invented and patented by Xaver Lipp in 1969 enables the rational and cost-effective construction of tanks ‘on site’. The double fold system is based on an ingeniously simple principle of container production.

Sheet metal processing and sheet metal connections are the strengths of the inventor and run like a red thread through his career. This is demonstrated by thousands of projects worldwide, more than 180 patents and numerous renowned innovation awards.

Xaver Lipp, who was asked in an interview about the origin of his groundbreaking inventions and countless patents, is quoted as follows: ‚I grew up in my father’s small plumber workshop and have been working with sheet metal since I was a child. I’ve watched closely and tried it out. When I had an idea, I never gave up but tried until it worked and until I found the solution.’

His special talent to observe things closely benefits the inventor in realizing his ideas. After the granting of several patents for forming and folding sheet metal, Xaver Lipp was given the patent for his Lipp double folding technique at the beginning of the seventies and turned his idea into a technology that achieved great success worldwide.

Realizing Ideas’
When he was asked how he got the idea for the double fold, he answered:
‘I have observed that in the production of conventional silos for the storage of animal feed, the sheet metal is first cut into small sheets, which are then preformed and reassembled on the construction site with screws, bolts or by welding.

I wanted to make it easier and process the sheet from the coil endlessly – without these many intermediate steps. So I made experiments and several years later I could realize my ideas.’ He developed several types of machines with which the silos and tanks could be constructed safely, in high quality and quickly at the customer’s site in any size.

The inventor licenses his patents and his know-how to interested partners worldwide, which he then allows to share in the success of his ideas.
Thousands of silos for the storage of bulk materials, as well as tanks for the storage of waste water or liquid manure and biogas fermenters are produced all over the world with the Xaver Lipp double folding system.