GB1498203A - Method of and apparatus for the continuous heat treatment of annular workpieces - Google Patents

Abstract

1498203 Discharging annular workpieces J AICHELIN 13 Nov 1975 [14 Nov 1974] 46845/75 Heading F4B A method of heat treating annular workpieces 6 comprises passing upright workpieces through a heating zone in an oven chamber 1 on pallets 5 and automatically removing the workpieces from one end of the chamber by picking the workpieces up either singly or in groups at the inner circumferences thereof by a longitudinally-displaceable extractor mandrel 16. The mandrel is introduced into the oven chamber via an opening 17 to engage the foremost workpiece by a hook 20. The mandrel 16 lifts a workpiece 6 out of the pallet 5 and conveys the workpiece out through the opening 17 to lie flat on a repository 19. As shown, the extractor mandrel 16 is eccentrically rotatable on its axis and carries on electrically conductive contact 23 which actuates a control device 22 for the operation of the mandrel. In another embodiment (Fig. 3, not shown), the rings are arranged on the pallets in groups extending at right angles to the direction of move - ment of the pallets through the oven. The transverse arm 13 is utilized to push the oven pallet situated at the end of the oven forward progressively by a fixed amount so that the foremost ring 6 is pushed onto the hook 20 of the mandrel.