GB574404A - Cupola installation and charging system therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

574,404. Cupola furnaces. FRASER & SONS, Ltd., D., and FRASER, H. Sept. 10; 1943, No. 14860. [Class 51 (i) and 51 (ii)] [Also in Group XXX] In a cupola furnace installation comprising one or more cupolas, the top of each cupola projects through the floor of a dust-collecting enclosure to which air is admitted for igniting or cooling the gases from the cupola, the floor being adapted to support a jib crane for lifting and lowering charging skips which are swung by the crane over the cupola between a jibcatch and a stop which engages a trigger on the skip to release the drop bottom and deposit a charge into the cupola. As shown in Fig. 2, the tops of cupolas 1 project through the floor 4 of a dust-collecting chamber 3 provided with a sliding door or doors 6 and spaced above the floor to provide an opening for the admission of air to burn any combustible gases. Baffles 7 ensure mixing of gases and air. The chamber is provided at the top with a chimney 5. Skips 11 containing the charges are moved along an elevated runway 12, Fig. 1, and deposited on a truck 14 in front of the cupolas. The skips are raised by a crane 8 mounted on the floor 4 and the post 9 of the crane is slightly inclined to the vertical. A winch 17 is associated with the crane and has a winding drum 32 for the cable 33 for raising and lowering the skips. When it is desired to raise a skip, the operator by means of a lever 10 at the base of the cupola actuates a counterweighted lever 19 on the winch to insert a driving clutch, the lever 19 then being held by a spring catch 18. When the skip reaches its uppermost position, the sheave 20 actuates a system of levers 21, 21a and a jib catch 24 connected by a rope 22 to the spring catch 18 so as to release the spring catch and allow the lever 19 to release the driving clutch of the winch and engage a braking element. The operator then pulls a rope 26 attached to the jib catch 24 and the crane swings the skip over the cupola where it engages a stop which releases the catch of the skip bottom and allows the charge to fall into the cupola. A counterweight 28 attached by a rope 28' to the crane brings the crane back to its initial position and the skip is lowered again by the operator.