US1641651A

US1641651A - Furnace-charging apparatus

Info

Publication number: US1641651A
Application number: US68826A
Authority: US
Inventors: Charles A Wulf
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1925-11-13
Filing date: 1925-11-13
Publication date: 1927-09-06
Anticipated expiration: 1944-09-06

Description

C. A. WULF FURNACE CHARGING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 15. 1925 2fihee1zs-Sheet l I N VEN TOR.

awe/ W146 ATTORNEY,

1,641,651 1927' c. A. WULF v I FURNACE CHARGING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 15, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

A TTORNEXF Patented Sept. 6, 1927.

UNH'E'ED STATES rarest orrics.

FURNACE-CHARGING APPARATUS.

Application filed November 13, 1925. Serial No. 68,826.

The object of my invention is to produce a simple and efficient hand operative device for charging and discharging electrically heated enamelin'g and other similar furnaces, the construction being such as to require a minimum of floor area, and such as to insure against the possibility of contacting the heating elements.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my in invention. Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my charging truck, with a receiving end of a furnace; Fig. 2 a plan of the parts shown in Fig. 1, together with adjacent loading and unloading trucks or platforms; Fig. 3 a section on line 33 of Fig. 1; 4

a fragmentary section on line 44 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 a vertical section on an enlarged scale on line 55 of Fig. 2; Fig. 6 a vertical section, on an enlarged scale on line 66 of Fig. 2; Fig. 7 a plan in partial horizontal section of the parts shown in Fig. 6; Fig. 8 a section on line 88'of Fig. 6; Fig. 9 a transverse vertical section of one of the loading or unloading trucks, with the charging fork shown in section.

In the drawings 10 indicates a portable frame conveniently supported upon castors 11 and provided at the end adjacent the furnace with a pivot-pin 12, the lower end of which is adapted to seat in a socket 13 arranged in the floor 14 adjacent the furnace 15 in such position that, when pin 12 is in socket 13, the length of frame 0 maybe medially aligned with the mouth of furnace 15.

said cross-bar is a frame 27. The parts 25,

26 and 27 form a structure which may be conveniently referred to as the charging fork.

In order to hold the charging fork with its fingers 26 in anchored alignment with the furnace, during projection of said fingers into the furnace, I provide a locking bolt 30 mounted in suitable brackets 31 on cross- The upper longitudinal members 20 of ing normally urged to locking position by spring 33. At the rear end of frame 10 I arrange a cam 35 capable of acting upon bolt 30 to retract it from notch 32 when cross-bar 22 has been moved to its farthest outward position away from the furnace. Cross-bar 22 carries a cam 36 adapted to engage rollers 37 at the upper end of a bolt 38 so as to extract its lower end from a socket 39 at the moment bolt 30 is retracted. Socket 39 'isso placed that, when bolt 38 drops therein, frame 10 will be accurately aligned with the mouth of the furnace.

1.1 order to raise and lower the fork I provide a shaft 40 journaled at 41 on bushing 23 and provided with a pinion 42 meshing with a rack 43 on plunger 24, said rack being formed in the spline.

Journaled at 45, on frame 27, is an operating shaft 46 connected to shaft 40 by universal joint 47 and provided at its outer end with a cross-bar 48. V 1

In order to sustain the plunger 24 and its fork in a raised position I provide a sliding strut 50 slidably mounted upon the upper end of bushing 23 by means of pin and slot connection 51 (Fig. 6) and connect said strut by a rod 52 with an operating lever 53 pivoted at 54 on frame 27 the arrangement being such that, when the cross-bar 25 is raised, strut 50 may 'be moved into or out of position beneath said cross-bar.

The articles which are to be projected into and withdrawn from the furnace may be placed upon the fork fingers 26 in any de sired manner but I find it most convenient to provide two or more loading trucks 60, sa1d trucks being conveniently supported upon casters 61 -and provided with'top rails 62 upon which may be supported a series of cross-bars 63 upon which'the articles 64 may be supported.

At one end each truck 60 is provided with a pivot pin 65, the lower end of which normally projects into a socket 66 in the floor, several of sand sockets being provided so that two or more of the charging trucks may be grouped around the frame 10, as shown in Fig. 2, the arrangement being such that, when the cross-head 22 has been drawn rearwardly to a position where bolt'30 has been retracted so as to free bushing 23 for rotation and pin 38 has been retracted, the op. erator may, by grasping handle 48, swing i into alignment with the space between the bolts and 38.

frame 10 about, its pivot bolt 12 as a vertical axis, and swing the fork about the of bushing 23, and thus bring the fingers 26 frame 10 as far as possible, thus'retracting Frame 10 is then swung about pin 12 and the fork is swung about in cross-bar 22 until. forward ends of fingers 26 are directed towards the space between bars 62 of the loading; truck. Frame 10 is then swung back towards its normal position, fingers 26 (Jo-acting with the loading truck in such manner that the fork swings aboutits vertical axis and the load- .ing truck swings about its vertical axis.

Thereupon the fork 25 may be raised so as to lift the articles clear fror the loading truck and the forkswings back to aligned position relative to frame 10, whereupon the fork be swung forwardly into the fur nace. Vhenever the cross bar 22 is pulled to a position to the right beyond that shown in F ig. 7 the roller at the outer end of the bolt 30 enters the cam slot 35 and when the straight part of the cam is reached the bolt 30 is retracted from notch 32 and the fork head 33 whereby the fork may be rotated.

onits pivot 24-. If effort is made to move the cross head from this position at any time except when the fork is in proper alinement with the frame, such movement is blockedbecause, as soon as the roller on bolt 30 reaches the incline of cam 35, it may not lee-projected inwardly by such inclined portion'because the inner end would engage the periphery of head 28. Consequently no movement of the cross head,,can take place, at this point, until the fork has beenbrought into alinementwith the frame so that notch 32 lies opposite the inner end of bolt 30. It will be noted that there can be no forward movement of the fork on frame 10 except when frame 10 is in position to permit bolt 38 to enter socket 39 and when bushing 23 is in position to pe unit bolt 30 to enter notch 32. There is, therefore, no possibilityof a careless workman projecting the fingers 26 into the furnace in such manner as to contact with and injure the heating elements 70.

When the articles have been properly treated within the furnace, the operation of the fork may be reversed and the hot articles extractedand deposited onone' of the loadsaid fork in for normally locking the fork. against pivotal movement on. the cross-head when ing trucks, at least two of such trucks being preferably provided so that an operator may be loading one while articles are cooling on the other. These. trucks may, if desired, be loaded and unloaded at a distant point and brought to a position where their pins 65 may be dropped into an appropriate socket 66. i

I claim as my invention:

1. A furnace charging apparatus comprising a track frame, means for pivetaily anchoring said frame adjacent the mouth of afurnace, means for locking said frame in alignment with the furnace, a cross-head mounted on said frame and movable lengthwise thereof, a charging fork pivotally mounted on said cross-head, means by which said forkniay be raised and lowered, and means for normally locking the fork against pivotal movement on the cross-head when said fork is in proper alignment with the frame.

2. A furnace chargin apparatus comprising a track frame, means for pivotally anchoring said frame adjacent the mouth of a furnace, means for locking said frame in alignment with. the furnace, a cross-head mounted on said frame and movable lengthwise thereof, a charging fork pivotally mounted on said cross-head, means by which said fork may be raised and lowered, means by which said fork may be sustained in its raised position, and means for normally locking the fork against pivotal movement on the cross-head when said fork is in proper a furnace, means for locking said frame in alignment with the furnace, a. cross-head mounted omsaid frame and movable lengthwise thereof, a charging fork pivotally Q is mounted on said cross-head, means by which be raised and lowered, means said fork isv in proper alignment with the frame, and means carried by the frame for said fork may be raised and lowered, means by which said fork may be sustained in its raised position, means for normally locking the fork against pivotal movement on the cross-head when said fork is in properalignment with the frame, and means carried by the frame for retracting said lock when the fork is in retracted position upon the frame.

on the cross-head, means for raising and lowering the charging fork, and a loading truck pivotally anchored alongside the charging frame and having upper load-re ceiving portions between which the charging fork may be projected.

6. A furnace charging apparatus comprising a charging frame, means for pivotally anchoring said charging frame adjacent. a furnace, means for locking said charging frame in alignment with the furnace, a crosshead movably mounted on the charging frame, a charging fork pivotally mounted on the cross-head, means for raising and lowering the charging fork, means for looking the charging fork against rotation when aligned with the charging frame, and a loading truck pivotally anchored alongside the charging frame and having upper load-receiving portions between which the charging fork may be projected.

7. A furnace charging apparatus comprising a charging frame, means for pivotally anchoring said charging frame adjacent a furnace, means for locking said charging frame in alignment with the furnace, a cross-head movably mounted on the charging frame, a charging fork pivotally mounted on the cross-head, means for raising and lowering the ch r 'ing fork, means carried by the cross-head for retracting the aligning lock of the charging frame, and a loading truck pivotally anchored alongside the charging frame and having upper load-receiving portions between which the charging fork may be projected.

8. A furnace charging apparatus comprising a charging frame, means for pivotally anchoring said charging frame adjacent a furnace, means for locking said charging frame in alignment with the furnace, a crosshead movably mounted on the charging frame, a charging fork pivotally mounted on the cross-head, means for raising and lowering the charging fork, means for looking the charging fork against rotation when aligned with the charging frame, means carried by the cross-head for retracting the aligning lock of the charging frame, and a loading truck pivotally anchored alongside the charging frame and having upper loadreceiving portions between which the charging fork may be projected.

9. A furnace charging apparatus comprising a charging frame, a pivotal anchorage for said frame adjacent a furnace, a crosshead movably mounted on said frame, a bushing pivotally mounted on a vertical axis on said cross-head, a locking bolt adapted to lock said bushing against pivotal move-' ment, a cam carried by the frame and arranged to retract said bolt when the crosshead is adjacent one end of its movement, a charging fork mounted'in said bushing and vertically movable relative to the same,

an operating member mounted on said fork,

.ieans operated by said operating member by which the fork may be raised and lowered in its bushing, a locking bolt carried by the frame and adapted to engage the floor to lock the frame in alignment with the furnace, and means carried by the cross-head for retracting said last-mentionedbolt when the cross-head is at the outer extreme of its movement;

1() A furnace charging apparatus comprising a chargingframe, a pivotal anchorage for said frame adjacent a furnace, a

cross-head movably mounted on said frame, a bushing pivotally mounted on a vertical axis on said cross-head, alocking bolt adapted to lock said bushing against pivotal movement, a cam carried by the frame and'arranged. to retract said bolt when the crosshead is adjacent one end of its movement, a charging fork mounted in said bushing and vertically movable relative to the same, a

shaft journaled on the bushing, connectionsbetween said shaft and fork whereby the fork may be raised and lowered by said shaft, an operating shaft journaled on the fork, a universal joint connecting said shafts, a locking bolt carried by the frame "and adapted to co-act with the floor to lock the frame in alignment with the furnace, and means carried by the cross-bar for retracting said last-mentioned bolt when the cross-bar is in itsouter-most position.

11. A furnace charging apparatus comprising a track frame, a vertical pivotal anchorage for one end of said frame, a crossbar mounted on said frame and movable longitudinally thereof, a charging fork pivotally mounted on said cross-bar, means by which said charging fork may be locked against rotation on the cross-bar, lock-retracting means arranged at the outer end of movement of the cross-bar, said locking means and lock-retracting means being of such character that the fork is locked against rotation except when the cross-bar is at the outer end of its stroke and the cross-bar is locked against movement except when the fork is in proper alignment so that it may be locked against rotation. i

12. A furnace charging apparatus comprising a track frame, a vertical pivotal anchorage for one end of said frame, a crossbar mounted on said frame and movable longitudinally thereof, a charging fork pivotally mounted on said cross-bar, means by 1 means and leek-retracting means being of such eharaicter'that the fork is locked against rotation except when the cross-bar is at the outer end of its stroke and the cross-bar 1s .loekedagainst movement except when the fork is in: proper alignment so that it may bolock-ed against rotation, means for locking the track frame against pivotal movement about its anchorage, and means controlled by the crossbar for retracting said last-mentioned locking means when the cross bar is at the outer extreme of its movement.

13, A fnrnace charging apparatus comprising a track frame, a vertical pivotal anchorage for one end of said frame, a crossbar mounted on said frame and movable longitudinally thereof, a charging fork ivotally mounted on said cross-bar, means Ey which said charging fork may be locked against rotation on the cross-bar, lock-retracting means arranged at the outer end of mama.

I it lbS anchorage", and means by the crossbar for retracting mentioned locking means when bara; the outer extreme of its movement, the co-action between the cross-bar con:- trolled means and the last-mentioned lock li of snch character: that the cross-bar may not be shifted on its track frame except \vh the track frame is in position to permit proj ction of said last-mentioned. locking means.

1hr witness whereof, I. have hereunto set my hand at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 10th said lastthe crossday of November, A; D. one. thousand nineh-undred and twenty-five.

CHARLES A. WVULF.

frame against pivotal movement controlled