US2335867A - Coke oven door latch-actuating apparatus - Google Patents

Description

I Dec. 7, 1943. P. H. LAVELY COKE OVEN DOOR LATCH-ACTUATING APPARATUS Filed June 25, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INV ENT OR. P401. flown/w Ln VEL 7 bis HTTOP/VEX Dec. 7, 1943. p, LAVELY 2,335,867

COKE OVEN DOOR LATCH-ACTUATING APPARATUS Filed June 25, 1942 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 JI IJI I I I I IYTEf- INV ENT OR. p/IUL l/ownea Z A v51. Y

65 his prroe/vsx Patented Dec. 7, 1943 COKE OVEN DOOR LATCH-ACTUATING APPARATUS Paul Howard Lovely, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Koppers Company, a corporation of Delaware Application June 25. 1942, Serial No. 448,346

Claims.

* 2,182,494, issued December 5, 1939, and in his copending application, Ser. No. 425,699, filed January 5, 1942, the door-operating machine of both said patent and application being characterized by a threaded column that is verticallydisposed and rotatably supported on trucks which are propellable along the battery-face, the threads of said column having supported therein the usual door-head mechanism assembly for directly operating the latch-bars and grasping the oven door for its removal from and restoration to the mouth of its coking chamber: by virtue of this threaded column it is possible to move an oven door before the mouth of a coking chamber simultaneously both horizontally and vertically.

The apparatus of my above-mentioned copending application, Serial No. 425,699, comprises resilient members that are mounted on the doorhead mechanism of the door-handling machine and are arranged, in the course of movement of said mechanism longitudinally of a coking chamher, to press against the face of the adjacent coke-oven door, and, depending upon the direction of movement of said mechanism, are disposed for either contraction or expansion under the influence of such pressure. These contractional and expansional movements of said resilient members are employed in said apparatus to actuate devices for operating the latch-bars and for moving and supporting them independently of their coke-oven doors during that interval the latter are removed from operating position in the mouths of the coking chambers. The door-head mechanism of said apparatus is also furnished with another feature whereby the coke-oven doors can be entirely relieved of any pressure of said resilient members during the operations of removing and restoring the oven doors to the coking chambers, so that the doors can depend freely from the door-hook during these operations, and more especially so, during those relatively short vertical motions through which the oven doors are moved, while their sealing edges are in contact with their adjacent doorframes, before their extraction from the ovens and which serve to break and crumble the carbonaceous materials deposited between said sealing edges and door frames during the cokin period of the ovens charges of coal. This said feature for relieving the pressure of said resilient members against the faces of the coke-oven doors has considerable purpose and merit if the flexible sealing edges of the doors are of a construction insufficiently rugged to withstand without deformation the pressure of the resilient members during that said small vertical movement normally applied to oven doors while they are still in the mouths of their coking chambers and the sealing edges are in contact with the door-frames.

It has now, however, been found in actual practice that if the doors flexible sealing edges are ruggedly made, as for example according to the design and mounting, of door and doorframe, described in the above-mentioned copending van Ackeren application Serial No. 406,653, they have sufficient resistance to withstand this resilient-member pressure that holds them in pressure-contact against their door-frames when they are moved therealong. In fact, instead of being detrimental, the resultant effect is a beneficial one because it automatically provides a scouring and cleaning action that removes deposited carbonaceous material from both the sealing edge and door-frame, thereby cleaning them both and preparing them for a clean seating contact when the removed oven door is returned to operating position.

An object of the present improvement is therefore the provision of importantly simplified means for automatically operating coke-ovendoor latch-bars of the cammed type that are non-integral with the oven door.

A further object of the present invention is the provision, for the stated purpose, of means that are adapted for embodiment in the usual door-head mechanism for handling coke-oven doors and that are responsive to the customary operational movements of said mechanism automatically to loosen and tighten and to unlatch and latch the stated type of coke-oven latch-bars.

The invention has for further objects such other improvements and such other operative advantages or results as may be found to obtain in the processes or apparatus hereinafter described or claimed.

According to the present improvement the doorhead mechanism of a coke-oven door-machine for operating oven-doors equipped with cammed latch-bars of the above-described type is provided adjacent its upper and lower parts with a horizontally-disposed elongate member that is mounted thereon, at right angles to the plane of an opposite oven-door face, for pivotal movement in a vertical plane by means of its median hub.

Projecting upwardly from each such elongate member is a median and a terminal arm or prong, the former being rigidly supported on the hub of said member whereas the latter is counterweighted and rotatably supported at that terminus of said member adjacent an opposite ovendoor face. At its opposite terminus the elongate member is pivotally mounted on the framework of the door-head mechanism in a normally horizontal position by means of a helical spring that is itself supported on the said frame-work by means of a co-axially-disposed bolt. Pressure applied to one side of said counterweighted prong during movement of the door-head mechanism in one direction merely causes said prong to rotate on its axis whereas a pressure applied to its opposite side causes the elongate member to rotate as a whole on its hub, thereby compressing said helical spring and allowing said'member to rotate in a vertical plane until such pressure is released, whereupon re-expansion of the helical spring returns the elongate member to its normally horizontal position in the door-head mechanism.

The present invention employs such twopronged elongate members automatically to rotatein opposite directions the handles of those cam-shaped portions of oven-door latch-bars which are arranged, when so rotated, to loosen and tighten said latch-bars in their latch-hooks and thus correspondingly to loosen and tighten the oven doors in their operating positions in the coking-chamber mouths. The construction,

operation, and utility of the above-described device will be better understood by reference to the following drawings and description of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings forming a partof this specification and showing for purposes of exemplification a preferred form of apparatus and mode of operation in which the invention may be embodied and practiced but without limiting the claimed invention specifically to such illustrative instance or instances: v

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a coke-oven door-machine having the instant improvement in latch-bar operating mechanisms embodied in its door-head mechanism;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal view taken along the line 11-11 of Fig. l, the cover-plate at'the top of the door-head mechanism being removed more clearly to show the interior arrangement thereof;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side view of the present improvement in latch-bar operating-device, as illustrated in Fig. l but showing the relative positions of a latch-bar and said device after the latch-bar has been loosened and'the door-head mechanism has been moved into hooking engagement with a coke-oven door; and

Figs. 4, 5, and 6, represent a sequence of views showing the relative positions of a cammed 1atchbar'and of the latch-bar operating-device of the present invention at divers points in a cycle of their operation.

The same characters of reference designate the same parts in each of the views of the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings: the coke-oven door-operating machine in shown in Fig. l is mounted on tracks Ii of a coke-oven operatingbench along which it can be propelled. by any preferred means arranged to drive wheels I! of its supporting truck I3, to a point opposite the face of any oven-door atthe same side of a battery of coke ovens. The carriage I4 is mounted by means of wheels l5 upon said truck l3 and is adapted for horizontal reciprocatory movement transversely of said-truck and longitudinally of the coking chambers of the adjacent coke-oven vbattery, so that it can be advanced toward, or

withdrawn from, the face of the opposite ovendoor.

Supported on the lower frame-work of carriage I4 is the vertically-disposed mast IE to which is affixed the lever system and connections, comprising links l1, l8, l8a, l9, and 20 and their actuating means, whereby, as shown and described in applicants aforesaid copending application Ser. No. 425,699, said carriage is reciprocated horizontally in the above-mentioned manner. Supported atop said mast I6 is electrical motor 2| which, operating through worm-gear 22 that is attached to the top of threaded column..23, is operative to rotate the latter in opposite directions. The said threaded column is also supported by the carriage M in upper and lower bearings 24, 25, therefor.

The door-head mechanism 26, which carries both the door-hooks 21, 2B, for grasping an ovendoor and also those features of the present invention for operating the cammed oven-door latch bars, is carried in the threaded section of column 23 in such manner that rotation of said column by its motor 2| will raise or lower said member 26 in accordance with the direction of the columns rotation. As long as the upper vertical section of the web 29, that projects from the body of the door-head mechanism, is held in position between the staggered fixed pair of rollers 30, the door-head mechanism moves in a vertical plane only, but when said mechanism in its upward or downward movement, on the threaded column, presents the lower helicoidally-shaped portion of said web to the roller pair, the doorhead mechanism is caused by them to move both horizontally as well as vertically. Thus, depending upon the disposition of said web 29 in respect of the other features of the door-head mechanism, the threaded column serves to raise and to lower a thereon supported door and can also serve to slue it sidewise simultaneously. As above mentioned, reciprocation of an oven door lengthwise of its coking chamber is accomplished by moving carriage l4 backward and forward on its supporting wheels i 5.

Supported on the door-head mechanism 26, at both its upper and lower part, is a reciprocative device forloosely engaging and supporting the bodies of the cammedlatch-bars 3| during their latching and unlatching operations. Each such device comprises a pair of forked members 32 that are disposed on opposite sides of the vertical median of said door-head mechanism and are interconnected for co-operation as a unit by a. bridging member 33. Rotatably supported by a pin 34 at a po nt above its forked portion, each said member 32 carries a roller 35 that is disposed to press against and to move over the fixedly supported on the door-head mechanism.

On that side of the bridge member 33 opposite rollers 35, and rigidly supported by said member, is a pair of horizontally-extending rods 31, 31, each of which carries a helical spring 38 that is circumferentially disposed thereon and is confined in a housing having end- walls 39, 39, that are provided with aligned bores of sumcient diameter to permit rods 31, 31, to reciprocate freely therethrough. A collar 40 rigidly attached to each of the rods 31 presses on a spring 38 to compress it at such times as suilicient pressure is applied to a roller 35, thereby causing rods 31 to move outwardly through the housing end-walls and, upon release of such pressure, said springs expansion returns the rod to its normally extended position.

Located on the door-head mechanism 25 at a point below these forked reciprocative devices for loosely engaging the bodies of the latch-bars are the improved apparatus of the present invention for loosening and tightening latch-bars more especially of the type illustrated in the drawings. These apparatus comprise each a rugged hub 4| that is pivotally mounted to the body of doorhead mechanism 26 by means of a short shaft 42. Integrally formed with the body of said hub 4| is both a lever arm 43 and two radial arms 44, 45, the former having a pommel-like finial 45 whereas the latter is a composite of two aligned, spaced members of similar profile. At the outer terminus of said radial arm 45 and rotatably supported, intermediate its two said spaced members, by a shaft 41 that is itself held at either end in aligned bores in the latter, there is disposed a trigger-member 48 having a counterweight portion 49 of suflicient mass always to return it to a predetermined position upon release of a pressure adequate to cause its rotation. The counterweight portion is so formed, in its plane of contact 50 with the adjacent ends of said spacedmembers of radial arm 45, that the latter functions as a stop to support the cusped upper portion 5| of the trigger-member in a substantially vertical position. Thus, in consequence of this design, a pressure that is applied to the trigger-member at, for example, point X of Fig. 3 causes it to rotate counter-clockwise around pin 41 and, upon release of such pressure, it will, by reason of its counterweight portion, rotate clockwise and re-' turn to its usual position, as shown in said figure. In addition to the shaft 41, the latch-bar operating device provided by the invention is supported in the door-head mechanism by means also of the said lever-arm 43 which is resiliently held in horizontal position by the pressure of the helical spring 52. This spring rests at its upper end against the horizontal frame-work 53 of said door-head mechanism and, at its lower end, presses against that terminal washer and nut 54 of the rod 55 which extends co-axially inside said spring through an opening in said frame-work 53, and is pivotally attached at its upper end to the inner end of said lever-arm 43. Thus, the said horizontal frame-work 53 coacts, with an upper expanded portion of said rod 55, as stop means to limit downward movement of the lever 43.

At such time as trigger-member 48 encounters, in the course of the outward reciprocative motion of the door-head mechanism away from the oven door, a resistance, for example, at point Y thereon (see Fig. No. 3 such resistance cannot be relieved by rotation of the member 48 on its shaft 41, but is instead relieved by translation of the resistance-pressure to helical spring 52 which is thereby compressed, thereby permitting the latch-operating device as a whole to rotate about shaft 42 on its hub 4| in a movement that permits lever-arm 43 to rise and the triggermember 48 to move downwardly and thus pass beneath the resisting object, lower extremity of handle 62. The subsequent expansion of spring 52 again returns the whole latch-operating device to its normal horizontal position as determined by the location of the frame-work 53 of the door-head mechanism. Obviously, the resistance of a given spring 52 to compression is determinative of the pressure that the triggermember impresses on the resisting object before it is freed of contact therewith, as described.

Referring again to Fig. 1: the. coke-oven door 56 shown in the figure is of the so-called "turtleback type which is constructed according to a design described in the van Ackeren copending application hereinabove mentioned. It is furnished with a flexible metallic sealing edge 51 that co-operates with that sealing surface 58 of the adjacent door-frame 59, which entirely surrounds the mouth of the coking chamber, to seal the space between said oven door and door-frame. The oven-door latch-bars 3| are of the cammed type: they are non-integral with the oven-door and comprise a rugged metallic rod of sufficient length to span the oven door and to engage latchbar hooks 50 that are attached in the well-known manner on opposite sides of door-frame 59. The

rod portion of each latch-bar is provided at its median with a cam BI and a dependent handle 62 for turning it about the longitudinal axis of the rod portion; the said cam 6| can be formed integrally with the rod portion or it can be loosely mounted thereon for independent rotation. Latch-bars of this cammed type are tightened to hold an ovendoor in sealed position by merely turning handle 62 of cam 5| in that direction which causes the latter to press against its bearing plate 63 that is attached to the door, for instance, clockwise as seen in Fig. 3, thereby moving the rod portion thereof outwardly away from the oven-door and into pressure-contact with the outer walls of their retaining recesses in their above-mentioned latch-bar hooks 60; they are loosened by turning the cam-handle in the reverse direction. In order to disengage the latchbars from the latch-hooks they must be lifted vertically therefrom independently of the door a distance at least substantially equal to the depth of their recesses in said latch-hooks 60. All these operations the door-head mechanism 23, equipped in Fig. 1, as above-described, is adapted to perform automatically.

The coke-oven door in Fig. 1 is shown in sealed and latched position in the coke oven. The dooroperating machine I0 is in operating position in front of the oven-door for unlatching the same and removing it from the coking-chamber mouth and its door-head mechanism 26 has been moved toward the oven-door face suflicient distance that the forked members 32 of the reciprocative device for loosely engaging and supporting the latchbars, has just moved into supporting engagement therewith and the rollers 35 are resiliently held in contact with their bosses 33, that are aiiixed to the oven-door face, by pressure of the now partially compressed pair of helical springs 33. At the same time that the said forked members and their attached rollers were being moved into the described position, the latch-operating device of the instant improvement was also being moved in the same direction at least an equal distance: during the traversing of such distance, the counterweighted trigger-member 48 of said device came first into contact with cam-handle 62, as shown in full lines in Fig. 4, and in consequence of the resistance of the tightened cam to rotation, the trigger-member was caused, during further travel of the door-head mechanism toward the oven-door face, to turn on its pivot-pin 41, as shown by the dotted lines of said figure, thereby allowing its cusped portion St to move beneath cam-handle 62 in sliding contact and thereafter, by virtue of its counterweight 49, to return to its original vertical position but at a point between the cam-handle and the door-face, in which relative positions these members are shown in Fig. 1.

Further movement of the door-head mechanism in the direction of the door-face causes additional compression of all the helical springs 38 which obviously increases their pressure against the door and in turn increases the pressure of the latters flexible sealing edge 51 against the door-frame 58. This additional compression of the helical springs also permits both the upper and lower latch-bar operating-devices of invention to enter openings 64, provided therefor in the metallic door-back and in which position they are shown in Figs. 3 and 5, a distance sufficient to allow the pommel-finial 46 of rigid radial arm 44 to press against and to turn the cam portion 6| of a latch-bar counter-clockwise out of contact with its bearing-plate 63, in the manner shown in the latter said figure. At the same time, doorhooks 21, 28 are caused to enter their respective openings 65, in the oven-door back a distance such that when the door-head mechanism is elevated said hooks will engage the said oven-door back and thereby raise the whole door. The associated bar-portion of latch-bar 3i being now free of pressure from the adjacent oven door, it rests loosely in th recesses therefor in latch-bar hooks 60 and in supporting engagement with the forked portions of the pair of members 32.

Rotation, now, of threaded column 23 by its motor 2| in a direction to elevate the door-head mechanism 26, raises the door- hooks 21, 28, into lifting engagement with the oven door; this same movement causes rollers 35 to rotate upwardly over the smooth surfaces of bosses 36 on the face of the door', the forked members 32, to which said rollers are attached, at the same time carrying with them their engaged latch-bars and lifting which moves the flexible sealing edge 61 over the adjacent surface of door-frame 68. This slight raising movement being thus performed while the said sealing edge is still under practically the full pressure of the compressed helical springs 38, there results, between said sealing edge and doorframe, a moderate scouring action that not only breaks up accumulations of volatilized carbonaceous materials deposited at their contact during the carbonization period but also serves to scrape encrusted material from their surfaces and clean them so that a good clean contact can be established when the oven door is again returned to the coking chamber after its removal therefrom for pushing the coke-charge. Subsequent to this initial slight raising of the door, it is removed from the coking-chamber mouth by moving the door-head mechanism 26 and its carriage H horizontally transversely of its supporting truck I3 and away from the battery face by action of the lever system comprising the links l1, l8, [8a, In, and 26 of the door-operating machine. During this horizontal movement, the pressure of springs 38 forces the door-back into tight contact with the vertical sections of door- hooks 21, 28, and

thus rigidly supports the oven door thereagainst in an upright position. When the refractory plug 66 of the *oven door has been entirely withdrawn from the coke oven, the door can'be further elevated by further rotation of threaded column 23 and can be also slued sideways by means of helicoidal web 26 and rollers 30, as hereinabove described.

An extracted oven door can be re-seated and relatched in the mouth of its cokin chamber by repeating the above-described operation in reverse order. When, in the course of performing these operations, the oven door hasbeen reseated in operating position in the coking chamber and the door-head mechanism has been moved downwardly sumciently both to replace the latch-bars in the latch-bar hooks and to lower the door- hooks 21, 28 below the upper edges of openings 65 in the oven-door back, the door-head mechanism is moved outwardly from the face of them out of the recesses in the latch-bar hooks 60. Manifestly, the door- hooks 21, 28, must be so disposed on the door-head mechanism that, during the latters movement of elevation, the door-hooks do not reach lifting engagement with the 'back of the oven door substantially before the latch-bars have been lifted from engagement with their retaining hooks 60.

The above-described operation of raising the door-head mechanism having been completed and its attached features having performed their described functions, the oven door is supported on the door-operating machine and each latch-bar has been loosened and lifted out of its retaining hooks and is loosely supported and confined between the door-face and a spaced pair of the forked members 32 that are tightly pressed against the door-face by action of the now fully compressed helical springs 38.

The oven door is thus ready for removal from the mouth of its coking chamber. This is accomplished by an initial slight raising of the door the replaced oven door and, during such movement, the latch-bar operating-device of my present invention automatically re-tightens both the upper and the lower latch-bars into their door sealing position. Just prior to this withdrawing of the said mechanism from the oven-door face, the latch-bar, its handled cam portion, and the latch-bar operating-device still have substantialr ly the relative positions shown in Fig. 5. Soon after initiation of said withdrawal movement, the cusped upper portion 5| of trigger-member 48 is drawn into pressure-contact with the lower end .of handle 62 of cam 6| causing said handle to rotate clockwise and thereby to press the latter against its bearing-plate 63 on the door-face and the latch-bars to be tightened against the outer vertical walls of the latch-bar hooks 60. The

pressure of the trigger-member against the cambeen sufficiently compressed that the triggermember is :rotated downwardly out of contact with the cam-handle, said trigger-member will slip beneath the latter and be restored by exaaaaeov' pension of spring 52 to its initial operating position as shown in Fig. 4, and the whole latchoperating device is again in position for operating the. latch-bars of the next oven door, of the battery, that is to be removed from its coking chamber. The actual pressure employed for tightening the cammed latch-bars is manifestly both determined and can be varied by the pressure required to compress the employed spring 52.

The invention as hereinabove set forth is embodied in particular form and manner but may be variously embodied within the scope of the claims hereinafter made.

I claim: Y Y

1. Coke-oven apparatus for manipulating a self-sealing coke-oven door and a latch-bar therefor, said apparatus comprising: a door-head mechanism that is horizontally and vertically reciprocative in front of said coke-oven door and comprises, a hub member supporting a thereto fixed radial arm and another arm that is rotative by pressure in one direction only independently of said hub, said arms being respectively disposed for loosening and tightening a latch-bar of the oven door during horizontal movement of said door-head mechanism respectively toward and away from said door, and resilient means arranged to press the metallic sealing edge of the oven door against its adjacent door-frame during vertical movement of the door-head mechanism to raise said oven door in its coking-chamber mouth, thereby to crumble and to scour from the sealing edge and door-frame carbonaceous accumulation deposited therebetween during the carbonization period.

2. Coke-oven apparatus for manipulating a self-sealing coke-oven door and a latch-bar therefor, said apparatus comprising: a door-head mechanismthat is horizontally and vertically reciprocative in front of said coke-oven door and comprises, means operative for loosening and tightening a latch-bar of the oven door during horizontal reciprocation of said door-head mechanism, and resilient means arranged to press the metallic sealing edge of the oven door against its adjacent door-frame during vertical move-i ment of the door-head mechanism to raise said oven door in its coking-chamber mouth, thereby to crumble and to scour from the sealing edge and door-frame carbonaceous accumulation deposited therebetween during the carbonization period.

3. Coke-oven apparatus for operating a latchbar for a coke-oven door, comprising: a doorhead mechanism reciprocative toward and away from a coke-oven door; a hub mounted on said door-head mechanism; and a plurality of radial arms angularly and fixedly projecting from said hub; one of said fixed radial arms being arranged to utilize the force of the head-mechanism on its movement toward the door to press ona latching element of a latch-bar for the door to loosen it, and another of said fixed radial arms having angularly mounted thereon another arm to utilize the force of the head-mechanism on its movement away from the door to pull the, latchingelement into latch tightening position, said latchtightening arm being so positioned relative to the latch-loosening arm as to engage the latching-element ahead of the latch-loosening arm on the latch-loosening movement of the head-mechanism toward the door, and said latch-tightening arm being so mounted on its said another,

fixed radial arm that it will be moved relative hereto by the latching-element to clear the latching-element and then position itself into its pulling position, without rotation of the hub and .its fixed radial arms, as the latch-loosening arm is being moved into its latch-loosening pressing 5 engagement with the latching-element, but on movement of the head-mechanism away from the door in latching the same the hub and its fixed radial arms are rotated by the pressure of latched latching-element against the pull of the latch-tightening arm so as to clear the pulling arm from engagement with the latching-element after the pulling arm has pulled the latchingelement into its latch-bar tightening position.

4. Coke-oven apparatus for operation a latchbar for a coke-oven door, comprising: a doorhead mechanism reciprocative toward and away from a coke-oven door; a hub mounted on said door-head mechanism; and a plurality of radial arms angularly and fixedly projecting from said hub; one of said fixed radial arms being arranged to utilize the force of the-head-mechanism on its movement toward the door to press on a latching-cam of a cammed latch-bar for the door to loosen it, and another of said fixed radial arms having angularly mounted thereon another arm to utilize the force of the head-mechanism on its movement away from the door to pull the latching-cam into latch tightening position, said latch-tightening arm being so positioned relative to the latch-loosening arm as to engage the latching-cam ahead of the latch-loosening arm on the latch-loosening movement of the headmechanism toward the door, and said latchtightening arm being so mounted on its said another fixed radialarm that it will be moved relative thereto by the latching-cam to clear the latching-cam and then position itself into its pulling position, without rotation of the hub and its fixed radial arms, as the latch-loosening arm is being moved into its latch-loosening pressing engagement with the latching-cam, but on movement of the head-mechanism away from the door in latching the same the hub and its fixed radial arms are rotated by the pressure of latched latching-cam against the pull of the latch-tightening arm so as to clear the pulling arm from engagement with the latching-cam after the pulling arm has pulled the latching-cam into its latchbar tightening position. 5. Coke-oven apparatus for operating a latchbar for a coke-oven door, comprising: a doorhead mechanism reciprocative toward and away from a coke-oven door; and a plurality of latchactuating means projecting from said door-head mechanism; one of said latch-actuating means being arranged to utilize the force of the headmechanism on its movement toward the door to press on a latching-element of a latch-bar for the door to loosen it, and another of said latchactuating means having mounted thereon a latching-element engaging-means to utilize the force of the head-mechanism on its movement away from the door to pull the latching-element into latch tightening position, the latch-actuating means on which the engaging-means is mounted being movably mounted on the headmechanism for movement to carry its engagingmeans clear of the latching element, said latching-element engaging means being so positioned relative to the latch-loosening latch-actuating means as to engage the latching-element ahead ofthe latch-loosening latch-actuating means on the latch-loosening movement of the head-mechanism'toward the door, and said engaging-means being so mounted on its latch-actuating means that it will be moved relative thereto by the latching-element to clear the latching-element and then position itself into its pulling position without efiecting the clearing movement of its latch-actuating means, as the latch-loosening actuating means is being moved into its latchloosening pressing engagement with the latchingelement, but on movement of the head-mechanism away from the door in latching the same the latch-actuating means on which the engaging means is mounted is moved by the pressure of latched latching-element against the pull of the latch-tightening engaging-means so as to clear the pulling engaging-means from engagement with the latching-element after the pulling engaging-means has pulled the latchingelement into its latch-bar tightening position.

6. Coke-oven apparatus for operating a latchbar for a coke-oven door, comprising: a doorhead mechanism reciprocative toward and away from a coke-oven door; a hub mounted on said door-head mechanism; and a plurality of radial arms angularly and fixedly projecting from said hub; means disposed for restricting said hub to rotation resiliently and solely in one direction by pressure of a latching-cam for a latch-bar of a coke-oven door, one of said fixed radial arms being arranged to utilize the force of the headmechanism on its movement toward the door to press on a latching-cam of a cammed latch-bar for the door to loosen it, and another of said fixed radial arms having angularly mounted thereon another arm to utilize the force of the head-mechanism on its movement away from the door to pull the latching-cam into latch tightening position, said latch-tightening arm being so positioned relative to the latch-loosening arm as to engage the latching-cam ahead of the latchloosening arm on the latch-loosening movement of the head-mechanism toward the door, and

said latch-tightening arm being so mounted on its said another fixed radial arm that it will be moved relative thereto by the latching-cam to clear the latching-cam and then position itself into its pulling position, without rotation of the hub and its fixed radial arms in the aforesaid one direction, as the latch-loosening arm is being moved into its latch-loosening pressing engagement with the latching-cam, but on movement of the head-mechanism away from the door in latching the same the hub and its fixed radial arms are rotated in the aforesaid one direction by the pressure of latched latching-cam against the pull of the latch-tightening arm so as to clear the pulling arm from engagement with the latching-cam after the pulling arm has pulled the latching-cam into its latch-bar tightening position.

'7. Coke-oven apparatus for operating a latchbar for a coke-oven door, comprising: a doorhead mechanism reciprocative toward and away from a coke-oven door; a plurality of arms projecting from said door-head mechanism; one of said arms being arranged to utilize the force of the head-mechanism on its movement toward the door to press on a latching-element of a latchbar for the door to loosen it, and another of said arms being rotatably mounted on the head-mechanism, and provided with means for restricting it to rotation by pressure of the latching-element, solely in one direction, and having mounted thereon another arm to utilize the force of the headmechanism on its movement away from the door to pull the latching-element into latch-tightening position, said latch-tightening arm being so positioned relative to the latch-loosening arm as to engage the latching-element ahead of the latch-loosening arm on the latch-loosening movement of the head-mechanism toward the door, and said latch-tightening arm being so mounted on its rotatably mounted arm that it will be moved relative thereto by the latching-element to clear the latching-element and then position itself into its pulling position, without rotation of the arm on which it is mounted, as the latch-loosening arm is being moved into its latch-loosening pressing engagement with the latching-element, but on movement of the head-mechanism away from the door in latching the same, the rotatably mounted arm is rotated by the pressure of latched latching-element against the pull of the latchtightening arm so as to clear the pulling latchtightening arm from engagement with the latching-element after the pulling latch-tightening arm has pulled the latching-element into its latch-bar tightening position.

8. Coke-oven apparatus for operating a latchbar for a coke-oven door, comprising: a doorhead mechanism reciprocative toward and away from a coke-oven door; a plurality of arms projecting from said door-head mechanism; one of said arms being arranged to utilize the force of the head-mechanism on its movement toward the door to press on a latching-cam of a cammed latch-bar for the door to loosen it, and another of said arms being rotatably mounted on the headmechanism, and provided with means for restricting it to rotation by pressure solely in one direction, and having mounted thereon another arm to utilize the force of the head-mechanism on its movement away from the door to pull the latching-cam into latch-tightening position, said latchtightening arm being so positioned relative to the latch-loosening arm as to engage the latchingcam ahead of the latch-loosening arm on the latch-loosening movement of the head-mechanism toward thedoor, and said latch-tightening arm being so mounted on its rotatably mounted arm that it will be moved relative thereto by the latching-cam to clear the latching-cam and then position itself into its pulling position, without rotation of the arm on which it is mounted, as the latch-loosening arm is being moved into its latch-loosening pressing engagement with the latch-cam, but on movement of the head-mechanism away from the door in latching the same, the rotatably mounted arm is rotated by the pressure of latched latching-cam against thepull of the latch-tightening arm so as to clear the pulling latch-tightening arm from engagement with the latching-cam after the pulling latchtightening arm has pulled the latching-cam into its latch-bar tightening position.

9. Coke-oven apparatus for manipulating 'a self-sealing coke-oven door having a metallic selfsealing edge for sealing engagement with a doorframe for the door, said manipulating apparatus comprising: a door-head mechanism that is substantially horizontally and vertically reciprocative in front of an oven having said door, to remove and replace the oven-door; supportingmeans on said oven door-head mechanism operative to lift,and support said oven door during the aforesaid horizontal and vertical movement of the door-head mechanism, and resilient means arranged to press the metallic sealing edge of the oven door against its adjacent oven door-frame during aforesaid vertical movement of the doorhead mechanism to raise said oven door in its coking chamber mouth, thereby to crumble and to scour from the aforesaid sealing edge for the door and the oven door-frame carbonaceous accumulation deposited therebetween during the carbonizetion period.

10. Coke-oven apparatus for manipulating a self-sealing coke-oven door having a metallic self-sealing edge for sealing engagement with a door-frame forthe door, and latch-bar therefor, said manipulating apparatus comprising: a doorhead mechanism that is substantially horizontally and vertically reciprocative in front of an oven having said door, to remove and replace the ovendoor; supporting-means on said oven door-head mechanism operative to lift and support said oven door during'the aforesaid horizontal and vertical movement of the door-head mechanism, and resilient means positioned on said'door-head mechanism for moving the latch-bar for the oven door out of latching position on an upward movement of the door-head mechanism relative to the oven door prior to the raising of the oven door from the oven door-frame by the supporting means, and

for moving the latch-bar into latching position for the door on a downward movement of the door-head mechanism relative to the door, after the oven door has been lowered onto its oven door-frame by the supporting means, said resilient means also being arranged to press the metallic sealing edge or the, oven door against its adjacent oven door-frame during aforesaid vertical movement of the door-head mechanism to raise said oven door inits coking chamber mouth, thereby to crumble and to scour from the aforesaid sealing edge for the door and the oven doorframe carbonaceous accumulation deposited therebetween during the carbonization period.

PAUL HOWARD LAVELY.

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