US2652242A - Device for cleaning grate bars of sintering machines - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 15, 1953 A. L. SAPP 2,652,242

DEVICE FOR CLEANING GRATE BARS OF SINTERING MACHINES Filed March a, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 E&

INVENTOR. A N CEL. L.5A PP.

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A. L. SAPP 2,652,242

SINTERING MACHINES Sept. 15, 1953 DEVICE FOR CLEANING GRATE BARS OF 2 Sheets-Shet 2 Filed March 6, 1948 INVENTOR.

BY. ANGEL. L.5AP|=:

V A? A ATTOR/VEVS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DEVICE FOR CLEANING GRATE BARS OF SINTERING MACHINES Ancel L. Sapp, Blackwell, kla., assignor to The American Metal Company, Limited, New York,

. Y., a corporation of New York Application March 6, 1948, Serial No. 13,367

10 Claims. (01. 26621) 1 This invention relates to an apparatus for I. The pallets are secured together in the usual cleaning grate bars of sintering machines and manner in the form of a rotatable belt running particularly those having a rotatable belt of movover wheels 6 and 1 in the usual manner. Ore or able grates held in pallets. other material to be sintered is fed from a hop- Cleaning devices have been proposed for per 8 onto the grates and, as the wheels are recleansing adhering sinter in which the grate bars tated by a mechanism not shown in a countersupporting the sinter were struck with considerclockwise direction, the belt assembly of pallets able force by a pivotally mounted striking memand grates passes toward the left in Fig. .1 and,

ber operating to move simultaneously a number when it reaches the burners 9, is ignited in the of the bars across the pallet. Present-day prac- 10 usual manner. The mass on the grates burns tice employs preferably grate bars which are able from the top, air being forced through the mass to withstand oxygen and sulfur dioxide at temand out through air boxes l0 and II under the peratures of about 1000 C., which is the usual grates. The mass is sintered at the time that sintering temperature. These bars ordinarily it reaches the wheel 6 and the sintered mass is emp y alloy steels which are res sta t t0 th discharged as each pallet passes around the lasthi h temperature gases mention d, b t thes mentioned wheel and the discharged material steels are frequently brittle and apt to b ea W e passes through a chute 12 to storage or further struck repeatedly. Regardless of breakage, this t e tm t,

type of device has proved unsatisfactory for re- Th rate bars as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 moval of sinter, with the result t a a t r the are mounted about a pivot rod l3 extending from pallets are recharged with ore and brought to one side to the other of the pallet 3. These bars sintering position, the flow of air has been imare arranged to lie parallel to one another and peded by the unremoved sinter and the sintering parallel to the direction of motion of the pallets. Process using uncl a d grates has accordingly The bars in the pallets tilt about the pivot point been interfered with. I 3 and are vibrated by a continuous vibrating The principal object of the present invention, me ib d b l accordingly, is to overcome these disadvantages, The tilting of the grate bars and vibration at least in pa t, d to provide a device givi thereof is arranged in order to thoroughly clean better cleaning of the bars and less r k the bars. It has been found that the discharge Other objects will be in part obvious and in part of the sinter as the pallets move over the wheels pointed out hereinafter. 6 is frequently incomplete and that sinter still The invention accordingly comprises the novel remains on and between the bars and may indevice and combinations thereof, specific emterfere with proper sintering of the successive bodiments of which are described herein by way charges of ore placed on such grates ss r of example only and in accordance with the manmoved. I prefer to employ a successive continuner in which I now prefer to practice the invenous vibration of the grate bars 2 in order to eftion. fect a thorough cleaning thereof. I accordingly In the acc y drawings forming p provide beneath the pallet grate structures while of this specification, Figure l is a side elevation m are in an n t position a rotatable partly in section of my improved appar 4 cylinder 14 and lugs l5 mounted thereon. The

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional elevation along the lugs ashere shown each s a 1 s rf ce lines 2-2 of Fig. 1; conforming to the curve of the cylinder which Fig. 3 is a side enlarged elevation showing the may have, for example, a radius of 7 inches. lugs mounted on a rotatable cylinder and ar- Each lug rests on and is attached to the cylinranged to contact and move the grate bars of 19 and s an upper curved surface which is the pallets, and Fig. 4 is a plan view of the showing in Fig. 3 with the pallets and bars removed, on a smaller scale. Referring now to the drawings, numeral I designates a support for the apparatus as a whole; 2 designates movable grate bars pivotally mounted on pallets 3,,each of which is supported by pairs ,of wheels 4 mounted at either end thereof and running on tracks 5 mounted on the frame the lug is about 1 inch. The breadth of the lug designated by Y in Fig. 4 is about 3 inches. The dimensions given are preferred for a cylinder having approximately a 15-inch diameter and a length of about 37 /4 inches. These dimensions will, of course, vary with the size of the installation. The cylinder is mounted near the discharge end of the sintering apparatus being supported by a shaft l6 driven by a V-belt [1 passing over a grooved pulley 18, the belt being driven preferably by a motor 19. The cylinder I4 is arranged to rotate in the same direction as the travel of the inverted grate bars and the lugs contact the bars and displace the sinter. As shown more particularly in Figs. 2 and 4, the lugs have curved or cam-like surfaces and are arranged to move the grate bars 2 successively and according to a pattern of movement, preferably as shown in the figures mentioned. As there shown, the lugs are set to for instance, at about the center of the pallet, and then successively bars away from the center towards the outermost bars at each longitudinal edge of the pallet. For this purpose the lugs (Fig.

2) are mounted with one pair at the opposite ends or the cylinder 14. Each succeeding pair of lugs advance towards the transverse central plane of the cylinder [4 in steps with the front edge of each successive lug being in line with the'rear edge central plane mentioned. The same arrangement is provided on the rear of the cylinder of 2. In this way, the lugs contact a grate bar at a given position on the pallet and thus successively other of the pallet to loosen sinter thereon. The action of the moving lugs on the grate bars is to give a successive continuous vibration of the grate bars. r

The cylinder '14 is mounted on an adjustable semi-elliptical spring suspension including the semi-elliptical spring '20 having a stirrup suspension at one end 2| and an adjustable suspension provided by an upright bar 22 provided with a series of .holes 23,into which pins 24 fit at the end of the spring opposite the suspension 21. By raising or'lowering the left end of the spring in Fig. 3, the cylinder may be moved towards'and away from the inverted pallets and grates. The reason certain sinters may require a more vigorous bumping than others. By raising or lowering the cylinder and lugs, the gratebars may be moved up or down, respectively. to a freater or lesser extent. 7 a r The sinterloosened and removed-from the pallets and grate'bars will fall downwardly into a chute 25 for collection and further use.

I have found that the apparatus operates successfull-y in use substantially without damage to grate bars and especially those adapted to withstand oxygen from the air and S02 at high temperatures of the order of 1000 C. Furthermore, the action of the rotatablecylinder and lugs is effective in cleaning out any sinter remaining on the pallets and grate bars after discharge of the main body of the sinter occurs. Y

While the invention has been described with respect to a preferred apparatus which gives satisfactory results, it will be understood by those skilled in the art after understanding the inyention that variations, changes and modificaticns may be made in such apparatus without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and it is intended in the appended claims move the bars, a

of the next lug and so on to the bars at positions toward the rear for this adjustment is that i to cover all such changes and modifications. For instance, but without limitation, I have found that effective results are obtained by a linear speed of the grates and pallets of about two feet per minute with a depth of charge of about five inches, the speed of rotation of the cylinder ll being about 43 R. P. M. Obviously, these speeds and dimensions may be varied without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. In an apparatus for cleaning grate bars of sintering machines, in combination, movable pallets holding movable grate bars, said bars being mounted substantially parallel to the motion of said pallets, and means to gradually lift and lower at least one of said grate bars on one of said pallets and then successively other bars on the same pallet.

2. In an apparatus for cleaning grate bars of sintering machines, in combination, movable pallets holding movable grate bars, said bars being mounted substantially parallel to the motion of said pallets, and means to gradually lift and lower said bars in succession in each pallet to loosen sinter.

3. In an apparatus for cleaning grate bars of sintering machines, in combination, a driven belt of movable pallets holding movable grate bars, the grate bars being mounted substantially parallel to the motion of said pallets, and means to gradually lift and lower said bars in succession in each pallet when such pallet and bars are in an inverted position in order to loosen sinter therefrom.

4. In an apparatus for cleaning grate bars of sintering machines, in combination, a driven belt of movable pallets holding movable grate bars, the grate bars being mounted substantially parallel to the motion of said pallets, and a rotatable series of lugs beneath the belt arranged upon rotation to contact said grate bars in succession across each pallet to loosen sinter.

5. In an apparatus for cleaning grate bars of sintering machines, in combination, a driven belt of movable pallets holding movable grate bars, the grate bars being mounted substantially parallel to the motion of said pallets, a rotatable cylinder having lugs spaced on the face of the cylinder arr'anged'to contact and move one of said grate bars on one of said pallets and then suecessively other bars on the same pallet. 6. In an apparatus for cleaning grate bars of sintering machines, in combination, a driven belt of movable pallets holding movable grate bars, the grate bars being mounted substantially parallel to the motion of said pallets, and lugs set to gradually lift and lower the bars at about the center of the pallet and then successively bars away from the center towards the outermost bars at each longitudinal edge of the pallet.

7. In an apparatus for cleaning grate bars of sintering machines, in combination, a driven belt of movable pallets holding movable grate bars, the grate bars being mounted substantially parallel to the motion of said pallets, and a rotatable cylinder having lugs mounted thereon with assymetrically curved contact surfaces arranged to rotate in the same direction as the travel of the grate bars to contact the bars successively" on the same pallet and displace sinter.

'8. In an apparatus for cleaning grate bars of sintering machines, in combination, a driven belt of movable pallets holding movable grate bars, the grate bars being mounted substantially parallel to the motion of said pallets, a rotatable cylinder and lugs mounted thereon arranged to rotate in the same direction as the travel of the away from said grate bars.

9. In an apparatus for cleaning grate bars of same direction as the travel of the grate bars to contact the bars and displace sinter, said rotatable cylinder being mounted on a spring to permit motion of the cylinder towards and away from said grate bars.

10. In an apparatus for cleaning grate bars of sintering machines, in combination, a, driven belt of movable pallets holding movable grate bars, the grate bars being mounted substantially parallel to the motion of said pallets, a rotatable cylinder, lugs mounted thereon arranged to rotate a sprin ANGEL L. SAPP.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Number Name Date Davison et a1 Sept. 9, 1913 Hegeler et al Nov. 22, 1932 Weaton et a1 Nov. 29, 1932 Thornton Oct. 1, 1940 Shallock Jan. 9, 1945 MacDonald May 2, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Germany Dec. 5, 1931

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