GB954680A - An apparatus and method for the continuous patenting of wire - Google Patents

Abstract

<PICT:0954680/C3/1> <PICT:0954680/C3/2> Steel wire is continuously patented and treated by rotating and advancing the wire W helically over a rotary take-up block 11, (see Fig.2), through a furnace 13 containing burners, electrical heating coils or other heating means for heating the wire in excess of its critical temperature, e.g. to 1750 DEG F., removing the wire from the furnace to cooling means such as a molten lead bath 19 and water cooling bath 22, (see Fig. 1), then passing the cooled wire back through the rotating coils on block 11, and winding the wire into a non-rotating helical coil on a stationary block 34, e.g. by means of a tubular drive shaft 30 secured thereto and fitted with a winding arm 31, the shaft 30 driving the block 11. The resulting coil may pass through coating means 38 where a protective material such as a solution of lime or borax is sprayed on to the wire surface, then through a dryer 40, e.g. in the form of an oven heated by hot air or electrical coils, prior to being discharged into a receptacle 41. The moving wire may be cleaned after cooling by directing abrasive particles against it in a cleaning chamber 24, (see Fig. 1), e.g. containing a centrifugal wheel 26 the centre of which is fed with particles through means 27, prior to its re-entry into the furnace. Using a molten lead bath 19 for cooling, e.g. down to 1000 DEG F., the wire may be helically advanced down along a block 18, which is capable of being raised out of the bath by a hydraulic cylinder 19b. The furnace 13 is preferably mounted vertically, as in Fig. 2, but may lie horizontally, as in Fig. 4 (not shown). The lead and water baths may also be replaced by an air cooling operation in which loops of the wire are festooned in ambient air as in Fig. 5 (not shown). The wire may be fed from a tilted rack 2 through a series of pinch-rollers 4 for tensioning on to a storage block 5 prior to heating as in Fig. 1. Scale present on the wire surface is preferably removed prior to tensioning by a scale-removing device. Specifications 906,785, 911,965, 918,748, 954,678 and 954,679 are referred to.