US2576265A

US2576265A - Furnace charger

Info

Publication number: US2576265A
Application number: US74147A
Authority: US
Inventors: Thomas M Rose
Original assignee: Salem Brosius Inc
Current assignee: Salem Brosius Inc
Priority date: 1949-02-02
Filing date: 1949-02-02
Publication date: 1951-11-27
Anticipated expiration: 1968-11-27
Also published as: DE839093C

Description

.T. M. ROSE FURNACE CHARGER Nov. 27, 95]

2 SHEET-SHEET 2 Filed Feb. 2, 1949 mmm" WN %W INVENTOR THoMAs M. ROSE Patented Nov. 27, 1951 was FURNACE CHARGER Thomas M. Rose, Pttsburgh, Pa., assignoto Salem-Brosius, Inc a corporation of Pennsylvania Application February 2, 1949, Serial No. 74,147

This invention relates to furnace chargers and has to do particularly with a furnace charger 'having a novel peel Operating mechanism which has important advantages in use.

Furnace chargers move toward and away from floor or overhead, but may also operate without the use of tracks, simply running upon the floor like an automobile. Furnace chargers of this type are called auto floor chargers.

A furnace charger has a peel which is an elongated member adapted to carry the charge at its outer end and whose inner end is connected with the body of the chargcr. The charger has means for moving the peel relatively to the charger body to perform the necessary Operations.

Generally ;i

12 Claims. (CI. 214-26) the peel is moved to a relatively low position to receive the charge and is elevated to introduce the charge into the furnace.

Sometimes a furnace charger operates in a relatively narrow aisle between opposed rows of furnaces. peel to a Very consider-able height above the position at which the peel receives the charge to enable introduction of the charge through the furnace door into the furnace.

A problem arises incident to the narrow compass in which a charger must operate and the difference in height between the charge receiving position and the charging position of the peel. The charger must be of limited length to enable it to work in the confined space and it must be effective for moving the peel through a very considerable vertical distance. The problem is not a new one. Those skilled in the art have for many years been attempting to design furnace chargers having a ratio of length of the charger to amplitude of vertical movement of the peel as low as possible. Those attempts have resulted in the creation of complicated., expensive and impractical structures which have fallen far short of solving the problem.

I have devised a charger which by reason of its unique Operating mechanism has a very low ratio of length of the charger to amplitude of vertical peel movement yet which is not of ex- Some furnaces require elevation of the 'pivotal connections with the base.

pensive of complex Construction and is effective for handling an exceptionally heavy load for a charger having such a low ratio of length to amplitude of vertical peel movement. I provide a furnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to the base and crossing each other, a peel carried by the arms, the arms having elongated guideways extending respectively therealong, a control member guided by and movable along the guideways upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base, guide means fixedly mounted relatively to the base by which the control member is also guided and along which it moves upon relative turning 4 of the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base and means for relatively turning the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base. I also preferably prodesired.

Desirably the peel is pivoted to one of the arms of the charger and has a slidable connection withthe other thereof. The elongated guideways ,which extend along the arms may take the form of elongated Slots through the arms and the control member may pass through those Slots. The means for relatively turning the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base may include a movable connection between the base and one of the arms such connection may extend betweenthe base and the pivotal connection between the peel and an arm which is pivoted to the peel. Desirably a hydraulically actuable Operating. member connected with the base and acting against one of the arms is provided for relatively turning the arms about their respective A cylinder may be pivoted to the base, a piston adapted to be hydraulically actuated may be disposed in the cylinder and an Operating connection may be provided between the piston and one of the arms. The Operating connection may connect the piston and the pivotal connection between the peel and 'the base and opposed adjusting screws may be employed for adjusting the position of the guide means on thebase.

Other details, objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following description of a present preferred embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown a present preferred embodiment of the invention, in which Figure 1 is an elevational View of a furnace charger showing the charger in solid lines in position to deliver a charge within a urnace and showing the peel in chain lines in lowered position for picking up a charge;

Figure 2 is a plan View of the charger; and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary Vertical cross-sectional view to enlarged scale through a portion of the charger, including particularly the peel Operating mechanism.

Referrng now more particularly to the drawings, there is shown a furnace charger which comprises a base designated generally by reference numeral 2 which may be a fabricated structural metal'frame or chassis. The chassis has a front axle 3 carrying two front wheels l, one at each side of the charger, and has a rear axle 5 carried by a supporting member 6 which is turnable about a vertical axis l. The rear vaxle `5 carries rear wheels 8. i The charger is provided with a hydraulic fluid Operating system which broadly is conventional. Mounted on the chassis is an electric motor 9 whose shaft I& is connected through a coupling 'I l with a centrifugal pump I 2 which provides hydraulic fluid such as oil under pressure for operation of the charger. Current for Operating the motor 9 may 'reach the charger through an electric cable !3 wound upon a drum !4 and connected with conductors passing downwardly through a post [5 to the motor. A seat !6 is provided for the operator and a set of controls H are disposed in position to be operated by the operator when sitting upon the seat 16. Everything which has been described up to this point may be conventional and is well understand by all those skilled in the art.

Rigidly connected with the chassis 2 so as in eect to form parts thereof are opposed plates !8 in which is mounted a shaft IS slung below the charger. Two arms 20, one at each side of the charger, are pivoted to the shaft l9. Two other arms 2l, one at each side of the charger, are pivoted to the front axle 3. The arms 2!! and 2I cross each other in scissors fashion as shown. Pivoted to the upper ends of the arms 2! at 22 is the peel 23 of the charger. has opposed members 24, each having therein an elongated slot 25. The upper end of each of the arms 253 rotatively carries a roller 26 disposed within the slot 25 of the corresponding ?member 24.

Each of the arms 25 has an elongated guideway in the form of a slot 21 therethrough and each of the arms 2 has an elongated guideway in the form of a slot 28 therethrough. The slots 2'! and 28 are at the central portions of the arms 28 and 2l and are elongated in the direction of the lengths of those arms. A control member designated generally by reference numeral 29 passes 'through both slots 21 and both slots 28 "andprojects laterally at bothsides of the charger.

'The member 29 carries shoes 3@ and 3! which ride respectively in the slots 27 and 28. Each of the

shoes

39 and 3! is somewhat elongated in the direction of the length of the slot in which it rides.-

The member 29 has at its ends rollers 32, each The peel of which is disposed within a generally vertically arranged guide 33. Each guide 33 is bolted to the chassis by bolts 34 which clamp the guide to the chassis. There are four bolts 34 for each of the two guides 33 and when the bolts 34 are tightened the guides are fixedly mounted relatively to the chassis or base 2. Upper and lower sets of opposed adjusting screws 35 are provided in the chassis for shifting the guides 33 longitudnally of the chassis. The holes in the chassis through which the bolts 3 5 pass are elongated longitudinally of the chassis and have a vertical dimension somewhat greater than the diameter of the bolts so that the guides 33 may be adjusted longitudinally of the chassis and also angularly to a limited extent. By adjustng the guides 33 the amplitude of vertical movement and the inclination of the peel in its motions are controlled.

In most cases the positions of the guides 33 will be carefully adjusted at the factory before the charger is sent 'out to the Customer and the customer will not need to make `any further adjustznents. However, on occasions the Customer may need to adjust the positions of the guides; this may be required because of misalignmentof parts due to wear or because of some unusual conditions encountered in use of the' charger which require special adjustment of the peel as to angularity or limits of Vertical movement. Adjustment of the guides 33 is accomplished by locsening the bolts 34 and turning the adjusting screws 35 until the desired adjustment is obtained. The adjusting screws 35 are maintained in desired adjusted position by jam nuts 36. Afterthe desired adjustment of the guides 33 has been obtained the bolts 36 are tightened r in a cylinder i i, the piston being hydraulically operable to advance the pusher 43 to push a charge off of the fork M.

A cylinder %E is pivotally mounted between the plates 53 on trunnions 46. A piston operates within the cylinder 45, the piston having a piston rod 4? connected with a member 48 pivot-ed to the pivot 22 between the arms 2! and the peel suitable conduits `(not shown) are provided from the oil pump i? to the cylinders 4 1 and 45. A drive (not shown) is provided for the rear axle 5 Whereby the charger may be driven about on the floor. All portions of the charger are controlled by the controls i? operated by the operator seated on the seat !6. To avoid unnecessary description of conventional parts only those parts with which the invention is concerned have been described in detail.

I shall now desc'ibe the operation of the furnace charger shown in the drawings. This charger may be used, for example, in charging scrap, e. g., Copper scrap, into a melting furnace.

A melting furnace is shown diagrammatically at 69, the charging opening being shown at 53. A car %i is shown in front of the furnace. The charge may be brought up to the urnace front on the car 5! in bundles or bales.

When the charge has been brought up to the furnace front by the car EH the furnace charger operator'moves the charger to a position relatains.

- reached the bottom of the cylinder.

est the body of the charger.

-Figure 1.

tively remote from the furnace but with the peel pointing toward the furnace. Fluid is released from below' the piston in the cylinder 45 and the peel settles by gravity to its lowermost position as shown in chain lines in Figure 1, or, if desired, the 'pisten may be fluid operated to its lowermost position. When the peel is inits lowermost position the piston is adjacent the bottom of the cylinder 45 and the shoes 30 and 3! are adjacent the bottoms of the

slots

21 and 28, respectively, or such condition approximately ob- Downward movement of the peel is limited either by the piston in the cylinder 45 reaching the bottom of the cylinder or by the shoes 38 reaching the bottoms of the slots 21 or by the shoes 3! reaching the bottoms of the slots 28. The lowermost position of the peel can be controlled by adjustment of the guides 33 longitudinally of the charger as such adjustment will cause either the shoes 30 to reach the bottoms of the slots 21 or the shoes 3! to reach the bottoms of the slots 28, depending upon the direction of adjustment of the guides 33, somewhat before the shoes of the other set have reached the bottoms of their slots and also somewhat before the piston in the cylinder 45 has Adjustment of the guides 33 also affects the angularity of the peel.

When the peel' is in its lowermost position ready to pick up a charge from the car 5! the upper surface of the fork 4! may be inclined slightly downwardly from left to right viewing Figure 1. This facilitates pushing the fork under the charge on the car 5! and insures that the charge will bear upon a portion of the fork near- The charger is moved to push the fork beneath the charge on the car 51, whereupon fluid is admitted below the piston in the cylinder 45 and the peel is raised to the uppermost or solid line position of Upward movement of the piston in the cylinder 45 raises the rear or left-hand ends of the arms 2! viewing Figure 1 and also raises the pivot 22 which connects those arms with the peel 23.` The control member 29 causes upward movement of the right-hand ends of the arms 20 which raises the right-hand portion of the peel, the rollers 26 rolling back in the slots 25.

The peel maintains a generally horizontal orientation in upward movement from the chain line position to the solid line position of Figure 1 although with the guides 33 in the precise adjustment shown the angularity of the peel changes slightly so that its right-hand end is tilted somewhat upwardly when the peel is in the solid line position instead of somewhat downwardly as when the peel is in the chain line position. Upward movement of the peel may be limited by the piston in the cylinder 45 reaching the upper end of the cylinder or by the shoes 30 reaching the upper ends of the Slots 21 or by the shoes 3! reaching the upper ends of the Slots With the peel in its raised position the charger is moved toward the urnace to introduce the peel into the furnace through the charging opening until the peel is disposed generally above the location in the furnace at which it is desired to deposit the charge. At that time fluid is admitted behind or to the leit of the pisten in the cylinder 44 to advance the pusher 43 to the right viewing Figures 1 and 2 to push the charge off of the fork 4! so that the charge is delivered onto 'the urnace hearth or upon other elements of charge which have previously been introduced.

The operator may, if he so desires, lower the peel with the charge on the fork within the furnace when there is not a deep layer of charge on the furnace hearth so as to avoid falling of 'the charge through a great distance within the furnace. In this way the operator may be able to get a somewhat more eflicient charge or tighter pack" of the scrap on the urnace hearth. After the charge has been pushed off of the fork by the pusher 43 the pusher is retracted by releasing fluid from the left-hand side of the piston in the cylinder 44 and admitting fluid to the right-hand side of that piston. The charger is wheeled back until the peel is entirely out of the furnace and clears the car 51. The peel is lowered by releasing fluid from below the piston in the cylinder 45 and when another charge is to be picked up the charger is advanced to push the fork 4I under the charge on the car 51 and the cycle of Operations above described is repeated.

The charger herein shown and described has been used very successfully in the charging of bales of copper scrap into a copper melting furnace. It, of course, may be used in introducing charges of various kinds into furnaces of various types. The charger is relatively simple in construction and is rugged and foolproof in operation. It is extremely eflicient in that it has a very low ratio of the lengthof the charger' to the amplitude of vertical movement of the peel.

While I have shown and described a present preferred embodiment of the invention it is to be distinctly understood that the invention is not limited thereto but may be otherwise variously embodied within the scope of the following claims.

I claimi u 1. A furnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to the base and crossing each other, a peel carried by the arms, the arms having elongated guideways extending respectively therealong, a control member guided by and movable along the guidevvays upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base, guide means fixedly mounted relatively to the base by which the control member -is also guided and along which it moves upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base and means for relatively turnin'g the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base.

`2. A furnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to the base and crossing each other, a peel carried by the arms, the arms having elongated guideways extending respectively therealong, a control member guided by and movable along the guideways upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base, guide means fixedly mounted relatively to the base by which the control member 'is also guided and along which it moves upon relthe other thereof, the arms having elongated guideways extending respectively therealong, a

control member guidecl by and movable 'along the guideways upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections With the base, guide means fixedly mounted relatively to the base by which the control member is also z along, a control member passing through said slots and movable therealong upon relative turnin of the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base, guide means fixedly mounted relatively to the base by which the control member is also guicled and along which it moves upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base and means for relatively turning the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base.

5. A urnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to the base and crossing each other, a peel carried by the arms, being pivoted to one thereof and having a slidable connection With the other thereof, the arms having elongated slots therein extending respectively therealong, a control member passin through said slots and movable therealong upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections With the base, guide means fixedly mounted relatively to the base by which the control member is. also guided and along which it moves upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base and means'for relatively turning the arms about their respective pivotal connections with 'the base.

6. A furnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to the base and crossing each other, a peel carried by the arms the arms having elongated guideways extendin respectively therealong, a control member guided by and movable along the guideways upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base, guide means fixedly mounted relatively to the base by which the control member is also guided and along which it moves upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base and means including a movable connection between the base and one of the arms for relatively turning the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base.

7. A furnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to the base and crossing each other, a peel carried by the arms, being pivoted to one thereof and having a sliclable connection with the other thereof, the arms having elongated guideways extending'respectively therealong, a

control member guidecl by and movable along the guideways upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base, guide means fixedly mounted relatively to the base by which the control member is also guided and along which it moves upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base and means including a movable connection between the base and the pivotal connection between the peel and. said arm for relatively turning the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base.

8. A urnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to the base and crossing each other, a peel carried by the arms, the arms having elongated guideways extencling respectively therealong, a control member guided by and movable along the guideways upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base, guide means fixedly mounted relatively to the base by which the control member is also guicled and along which it moves upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base and a hydraulically actuable Operating member connected with the base and acting against one of the arms for relatively turning the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base.

9. A furnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to the base and crossing each other, a peel carried by the arms, the arms having elongated guideways extencling respectively therealong, a control member guided by and movable along the guideways upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections With the base, guide means fixeclly mounted relatively to the base by which the control member is also guided and along which it moves upon relative turning or" the arm about their respective pivotal connections With the base and a cylincler pivoted to the base, a pisten in the cylinder adapted to be hydraulically actuated and a connection between the piston and one of the arms for relatively turning the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base.

10. A furnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to the base and crossing each other, a peel carried by the arms, being pivoted to one thereof and having a sliclable connection with the other thereof, the arms having elongated guideways eX- tending respectively therealong, a control member guided by and movable along the guideways upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections With the base, guide means fixedly mounted relatively to the base by which the control member is also guidecl and along which it moves upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections With the base and a cylinder pivoted to the base, a piston in the cylinder adapted to be hydraulically actuated and a connection between the piston and the pivotal connection between the peel and said arm for relatively turning the arms about their respective pivotal connections With the base.

11. A urnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to the base and crossing each other, a peel carried by the arms, the arms having elongated guideways extending respectively therealong, a control member guidecl by and movable along the guideways upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base, guide means by which the control member is also guided and along which it moves upon'relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base, means for fastening the guide means to the base in different adjusted positions thereon and means for relatively turning the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base.

12. A furnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to the base and crossing each other, a peel carried. by the arms, the arms having elongated guideways extending respectively therealong, a control member guided by and movable along the guideways upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base, guide means by which the control member is also guided and along which it moves upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base, means for mounting the guide means on the base, opposed adjusting screws for adjusting the position of the guide means on the base and means for relatively turning the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base.

THOMAS M. ROSE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

Number 10 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Barr Apr. 21, 1903 Brosius Oct. 27, 1931 Curok Dec. 4, 193 1 Faries July 12, 1938 Brosus Aug. 6, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date 10 Number France Oct. 14, 1930