An apparatus for radially expanding and plastically deforming a tubular member. In some embodiments, the apparatus includes a support member and an adjustable expansion device coupled thereto. The adjustable expansion device includes a tubular support member with a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart inclined surfaces, a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart expansion segments movably coupled to the tubular support member, and an actuator for displacing the expansion segments relative to the tubular support member to thereby displace each of the expansion segments onto corresponding inclined surfaces.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-in-part of each of the following: a) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/488,574, filed Sep. 13, 2004 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,416,027, which was the National Stage filing of PCT patent application Ser. No. PCT/US02/25608, filed on Aug. 13, 2002, which claimed the benefit of the filing date of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/318,021, filed on Sep. 7, 2001; b) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/517,755, filed Oct. 12, 2006 now abandoned, which was the National Stage filing of PCT patent application Ser. No. PCT/US03/018530, filed on Jun. 12, 2003, which claimed the benefit of the filing date of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/387,961, filed on Jun. 12, 2002; c) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/553,566, filed Aug. 28, 2007, which was the National Stage filing of PCT patent application Ser. No. PCT/US04/011973, filed on Apr. 15, 2004, which claimed the benefit of the filing date of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/463,586, filed on Apr. 17, 2003, which was a continuation-in-part of U.S. utility patent application Ser. No. 10/552,790, filed on Oct. 11, 2005, now abandoned which was the National Stage application for PCT patent application Ser. No. PCT/US2004/010712, filed on Apr. 6, 2004, which claimed the benefit of the filing date of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/461,094, filed on Apr. 8, 2003, which was a continuation-in-part of U.S. utility patent application Ser. No. 10/552,253, filed on Oct. 4, 2005, now abandoned which was the National Stage application for PCT patent application Ser. No. PCT/2004/010762, filed on Apr. 6, 2004, which claimed the benefit of the filing date of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/461,038, filed on Apr. 7, 2003, which was a continuation-in-part of U.S. utility patent application Ser. No. 10/551,880, filed on Sep. 30, 2005, which was the National Stage application for PCT patent application Ser. No. PCT/US04/010317, filed on Apr. 2, 2004, which claimed the benefit of the filing date of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/4597,76, filed on Apr. 2, 2003, which was a continuation-in-part of U.S. utility patent application Ser. No. 10/550,906, filed on Sep. 27, 2005, which was the National Stage application for PCT patent application Ser. No. PCT/US2004/009434, filed on Mar. 26, 2004, which claimed the benefit of the filing date of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/457,960, filed on Mar. 27, 2003, which was a continuation in part of U.S. utility patent application Ser. No. 10/548,934, filed on Sep. 12, 2005, which was the National Stage application for PCT patent application Ser. No. PCT/US2004/007711, filed on Mar. 11, 2004, which claimed the benefit of the filing date of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/453,678, filed on Mar. 11, 2003, which was a continuation in part of U.S. utility patent application Ser. No. 10/528,497, filed on Oct. 28, 2005, which was the National Stage application for PCT patent application Ser. No. PCT/US03/29460, filed on Sep. 22, 2003, filed on Sep. 22, 2003, which claimed the benefit of the filing date of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/412,488, filed on Sep. 20, 2002, which was a continuation in part of U.S. utility patent application Ser. No. 10/513,614 now abandoned, filed on Nov. 05, 2004, which was the National Stage application for PCT application Ser. No. PCT/US2003/014153, filed on May 06, 2003, which claimed the benefit of the filing date of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/380,147, filed on May 06, 2002, which was a continuation-in-part of U.S. utility patent application Ser. No. 10/507,567, filed on Sep. 13, 2004, which was the National Stage application for PCT application Ser. No. PCT/US2003/004837, filed on Feb. 19, 2003, which claimed the benefit of the filing date of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/363,829, filed on Mar. 13, 2002, which was a continuation-in-part of both of: (1) U.S. utility patent application Ser. No. 10/495,347, filed on May 12, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,383,889, which was filed as the National Stage application for PCT application Ser. No. PCT/US2002/036157, filed on Nov. 12, 2002, which claimed the benefit of the filing date of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/338,996, filed on Nov. 12, 2001; and (2) U.S. utility patent application Ser. No. 10/495,344, filed on May 12, 2004, now U.S. Pat. Nol 7,383,889 which was filed as the National Stage application for PCT application Ser. No. PCT/US2002/036267, filed on Nov. 12, 2002, which claimed the benefit of the filing date of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/339,013, filed on Nov. 12, 2001, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference; and d) PCT patent application Ser. No. PCT/US06/0102171, filed on Mar. 21, 2006, which claimed the benefit of the filing date of the U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/663,913 the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
This application is related to the following co-pending applications: (1) U.S. Pat. No. 6,497,289, which was filed as U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/454,139, filed on Dec. 3, 1999, which claims priority from provisional application 60/111,293, filed on Dec. 7, 1998, (2) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/510,913, filed on Feb. 23, 2000, which claims priority from provisional application 60/121,702, filed on Feb. 25, 1999, (3) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/502,350, filed on Feb. 10, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,823,937 which issued Nov. 30, 2004, which claims priority from provisional application 60/119,611, filed on Feb. 11, 1999, (4) U.S. Pat. No. 6,328,113, which was filed as U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/440,338, filed on Nov. 15, 1999, which claims priority from provisional application 60/108,558, filed on Nov. 16, 1998, (5) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/169,434, filed on Jul. 1, 2002, which claims priority from provisional application 60/183,546, filed on Feb. 18, 2000, (6) U.S. Pat. No. 6,640,903 which was filed as U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/523,468, filed on Mar. 10, 2000, which claims priority from provisional application 60/124,042, filed on Mar. 11, 1999, (7) U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,471, which was filed as patent application Ser. No. 09/512,895, filed on Feb. 24, 2000, which claims priority from provisional application 60/121,841, filed on Feb. 26, 1999, (8) U.S. Pat. No. 6,575,240, which was filed as patent application Ser. No. 09/511,941, filed on Feb. 24, 2000, which claims priority from provisional application 60/121,907, filed on Feb. 26, 1999, (9) U.S. Pat. No. 6,557,640, which was filed as patent application Ser. No. 09/588,946, filed on Jun. 7, 2000, which claims priority from provisional application 60/137,998, filed on Jun. 7, 1999, (10) U.S. patent application Ser. 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