US1729411A - Furnace - Google Patents

Description

Patented Sept. 24, 1929 UNITED STATI-:sA

PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM M. AKIN AND LAFAYETTE YOUNG, OF ALTON, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS TO LACLEDE STEEL COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OF MISSOURI FURNACE Application led October 24, 1927. Serial No. 228,223.

This invention relates to furnaces and is herein illustrated as embodled in a furnace capable for use in heating long objects, such,

for example, as railway rails.

5 Furnaces of the type mentioned above are provided With a sloping hearth formed of spaced bars across which are fed the rails to be heated. The rails are inserted through an opening formed in the front or side of the furnace and are fed widthwise, in file, across the hearth until they approach the rear wall of the furnace, at which point they are removed lengthwise through an opening formed in the side of the furnace. Owing to the fact that the hearth of the furnace must be wide in order to accommodate the lengthwise dimension ofthe rail and must be long to receive and to support a large number of rails during the heating operation, it becomes 3 extremely difficult to apply heat properly and eciently to this large area. Heretofore it has been customary, in oil consuming furnaces of the type described, to locate a plurality of burners in the rear of the furnace 3 and to rely upon these burners alone in imparting heat to the entire hearth area. It has been found, however, that in the use of furnaces so constructed the uppermost Hange of c each rail entering the furnace is immediately exposed to the heat of the rear burners, while the lower flange, which lies against the hearth, is sheltered to such an-extent that it heats gradually, and as a result of this unequal heating the upper flange expands rapidly, thereby warping the rail until it is supported only upon its ends. By reason of becoming so warped the rail often turns over when the ch arge is fed downwardly across the hearth in the direction of the rear wall of the Y furnace, which tendency may he accounted .for inasmuch as the adjoining rails may not be as greatly distorted as the overturned rail, or the ends ofthe adjoining rails as heavily engaged in the brickwork adjacent to the hearth. This overturning of the rails often causes the material to 'pile' in the 4furnace even tothe roof and results in unequal heating ofthe rails', prevents further charging, and* presents great difficulties in 'ejecting the rails as they are fed from the front of the furnace to the rear thereof. By virtue of such a provision the rails are heated equally throughout, thereby causing equal expansion of the rails and eliminatingi'warpage.

A feature of the invention which 'aims to-` ward the accomplishment. of the foregoing object consists in providing a furnace of the character'described with a plurality of burners located in the rear of the furnace for use in imparting heat to the top portions of rails located within the furnace, and a plurality of burners at the front of the furnace for use in heating the bottom portions of the rails.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the burners in the front of the furnace are located beneath the spaced skid pipes, or bars, that form the hearth of the furnace, and being so located the heat generated by the burners is projected directly upon the lower surfaces of rails positioned upon the skid bars.

Other features and objects of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the following specification in the light of the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation showing in section a furnace embodying the invention, and Fig. 2 is a plan view in section of the furnace illust-rated in Fig. 1.

As shown in the drawings, the reference numeral 10 indicates the front wall of a furnace having side walls 12 and 14, a rear wall 16, and a roof 18. The hearth of the furnace, indicated at 20, has formed at the rear thereof a bridge wall 22 and is provided on its underside with a plurality of air passages 24. The exposed uppersurface of the hearth slopes along the area indicated by the reference numeral 26 and is cut away at 28 to receive the spaced parallel skid bars, or skid pipes, 30 upon which the railway ralls 32 are adapted to be supported and fed.

A series of openings is formed within the rear wall of the furnacejand in each of these openings there is mounted a burner tile 34 composed of a heat resisting material and "having the opening which extends through the tile restricted near the outer end thereof. Located adjacent to the outer end of each of the tiles 34 is an oil burner 36 adapted to receive fuel from the supply conduit 38 and to be controlled by means of a valve 40.

In the operation of the furnace the rails 32 are fed across furnace chargers 42 width- Wise through an opening 44 in the front wall of the furnace, downwardly across the skid bars 30, and are finally. removed through a discharge opening 46 formed in the side wall 12 of the furnace. During the. time that the rails are fed in this manner, heat is imparted to them by means of the flame from the burners 36 impinging upon the bridge wall 22, striking upon the roof 18 and being ,deflected downwardly upon the upper portions of the rails. It is clear that heating the rails in this manner results in the top portions becoming heated more quickly than the lower portions,

resulting in unequal expansion and causing the rails to warp.

To the end of preventing warpage of the rails, the invention contemplates positioning burners within the forward wall of the furnace. As illustrated, a series of low pressure burners v48 is located vimmediately beneath the junction of the skid bars 30 with the forward wall 10 of the furnace, and a series of high pressure burners 50 is alternately .ar-

ranged in'staggered relation with the low pressure burners 48. Individual valves are provided for 'each of the burners, andfthis arrangement permits the use of the low pressure burners alone, the hi h pressure burners alone, or acombination o several of thehigh pressure burners with the low pressure burners, asmay be desired.

It will be, appreciated that' the furnace must 'be constructed in such a manner that the heat and smoke generated by the various burners will be conducted away from the furnace, and in the illustrated embodiment of the invention a. flue 60, through which the hot gases pass from the furnace, is located directly beneath the auxiliary burners 48 anders located in the rear of the furnace, means fordeecting heat from said burners to the top portion of material positioned within the furnace, and a plurality of alternately arranged low pressure and high pressure burners located within the front wall of the furnace for imparting heat to the lower portion of such material.

2. A furnace, of the character described having, in combination, a sloping hearth, a .brid e wall located at the lower extremity Yof the liearth, skid bars arranged above the hearth, burners arran ed to direct a flame' upon the bridge wall rom'which point the flame is dispersed over the upper surface of material supported upon the hearth and skid bars, and auxiliary burners located beneath the skid bars for use in heating the lower 1urf'ace of material supported upon the skid ars. 3. A furnace of the character described having, in combination, a sloping hearth, a bridge wall located at the lower extremity of the hearth, 'skid bars arranged above the hearth, burners arranged to direct a flame upon the bridge wall Vfrom which point the flame is dispersed over the upper surface of material supported upon the hearth andfskid bars, and auxiliary burners located beneath the skid bars for use in heating the lower surface of material supported thereon, the auxiliary burners comprising a plurality of low pressure burners and a plurality of high pressure burners arranged alternately in staggered relation.

4. A rail heating furnace comprising, in combination, a front wall having an elongated opening therein, chargers located exteriorly of the furnace for use in feeding rails through the elongated opening formed in the front wall, sloping supporting bars extending from theo ening 1n the front. wall to a hearth and bridge wall located within the furnace, a discharge opening formed in a side wall of the furnace adjacent to the junction of the hearth and bridge wall, burners located in the rear of thel bridge wall for use in heating the top portions of rails within the furnace, and a plurality of high and low pressure burners located beneath the supporting bars for use in heating the lower portions of the rails, and high and low pressure burners being each provided with an independent valve whereby low pressure burn-j ers'alone, high pressure burners alone, or'a combination of high pressure burners with low pressure burners may be used in heating the lower portions of the rails. l

In testimony thatwe claim the foregoing we hereunto aix our signatures. WILLIAM M. AKIN. v LAFAYETTE YOUNG.

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