US2807454A - Stackable free sledding processing carrier - Google Patents

Description

Se t. 24, 1957 L- A. BEADLE STACKABLE'FREE- sumnmc PROCESSING CARRIER FiIed March 4, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY Sept. 24, 1957 L. A. BEADLE STACKABLE FREE SLEDDING PROCESSING CARRIER Filed March 4, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEN'II'OR ATTORNEY STACKABLE' FREE SLEDDING PROCESSING. I

CARRIER Leonard A. Beadle, Fairfield, Cnn., assignor to Rolock,

Incorporated, Fairlield; Conn., a corporation of Conneclicut Application March 4,,1955, Serial No. 492,117"

Claims (Cl; 263-47) This invention relates to containers and carriers of joined wire, open constructionfor holding and transporting. work pieces while accompanying them into a processing environment such-as a zone of veryhigh heat for galvanizing, annealing, soldering, brazing, etc. or such as immersion in a quenching bath, or a bath of salts, acid solutions, or electrolytes, or such as a carburizing atmosphere. Such processes often are very damaging to the structure of the carrier'because of heat caused distortion,

surface corrosion, and-other life shortening effects of the medium.

Work handlingttraysxformerly proposedfor these demanding. types of'service have beenfabricatedusually by welding. together in meeting or crossing relation suitable forms of more or. less heavy rounder: flat strips of wire. They have-not. been well suited to sliding easily along rough support surfaces while heavily loaded. The welds employed. as well as the'wire itself have'been subject to impairment by extremetheat, strong'acids, effects of carburization, etc.

One object of the present improvements is to achieve greater-strength and durability without, or with fewer, Welds inzthe floor:region of the tray.

A related object is to increase the smoothness of the basesurface. of the trayv by doing away with the sharp projections and general roughness of arc welded joints at nited States Patent 9 the base edges and:base corners of the tray. This reduces tendency of the tray to snag on its' support surfaces and the consequent resistanceto' pushing or pulling over such support surface while heavily loaded with. Work pieces. Examples of the rough support surfaces referred to are floors of heating ovens that are composed of fire brick or other refractory stone-like material.

A particular object is to provide a tray which when heavily loaded is proof against buckling or fracture in the base portion of'its structure when shoved along the floor bed of a heat-treating oven While heavily loaded.

Another object, is without sacrifice of strength, to reduce a gridwork tray to a minimum offweight by the use of a less number of wires and rods than heretofore considered essential.

A still further object is to provide the improved tray with means for stacking a like tray upon it inamanner to maintain the top tray in alignment with the bottom tray'while both trays are being moved about or transported from one treating zone to another without removing the work from the. trays.

The-foregoing and other objects and advantages of the improvements will be evident in greater detail from the following description of a successful embodiment of the invention having reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a skeleton tray embodying the present improvements accompanied by a wire mesh liner of conventional construction removed from its nested relation to the tray.

Fig. 2 shows two trays like that of Fig. l with their respective liners in place stackedstably one upon the other by means shown in Fig. 6 forming a part of the present improvements. Y

Figs. 3, 4 and'5 are respectively a plan view, a side-view and an-end view of the tray in Fig. 1 With'liner omitted, some'of the near wires-in each of saidviews being broken away on correspondingly numbered section planes appearing in another of the same views to reveal far wires of corresponding alignment.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view drawn onan' enlarged scale taken in section on the plane 6--6 in Fig. 2 looking in'the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 7 shows a modification of the construction in Fig. 5 wherein thrust plates are omitted at the ends of the tray and one of the bent-handle rods of Fig. 6 is extended to take their place, the near wires being broken away to show one of the tray stacking cross bars in place.

In a tray of the typehere concerned component. parts of' the fabricationwhich are subjected to the greatestdi stortive forces in the customary'ways of handling the tray are crossing wires that-form the floor of the tray. Formerly'suclrfioor'wires have been of equal size and'round' and interwoven so that relatively short arches of'the wires at their crossing points constitute the base surfaceof'the tray. Where fiat wire has constituted the base surface of the tray thefrictional' resistance to sliding of the tray has been greatly increasedl These improvements avoid the heavy resistance to sliding of" broad faced fiat wire and utilize the friction'reducing eifect of continuous linear contact that is impossible to interwoven round Wires by using straight uncrimped round'rods serving as sledding runners by constituting the sole base surface of the tray on'which the tray rests and glides. Such floor rods' of the tray according'to these improvements arebent up right at their end portions to form risers 14 at the ends of the tray thus serving 'asskeleton end walls for the tray. Crosswise of'andsolely above the stratum of runner rods 12 there is a'layer or stratum ofspaced apart tie wires 16 which may be of appreciably smaller size than 1110111111161 rods 12; each of the runner rods and crossing tie wires being preferably spot-welded to each other whereby the: roughness and irregularity of arc welding projections is eliminated at'the base surface of'the tray.

Having thus formed a skeleton floor and skeleton end walls of' the tray'by uninterruptedcontinuousruns of the large'bent-up and rugged runnerrods 12', a top rim 18 for the'basket'is provided by'applying a circuitous stretch of rod, preferably'of' the same size and kind of heavy wire that comprises the runner rods 12. Rim 18 is four-sided being bent into a coplanar quadrilateral frame and then are Welded to the top ends of the risers 14 br, runner rods=12; The vertical space between rim 18 and the two outermost runner rods 12 is spanned by bracing rods in truss formation; One or more of the bracing rods 20 may be' vertical and straight'with turned-over ends strongly welded to a rim rod'and runner rod, while others may be angularly bent, diagonally extending, bracing rods such as'22. A more elaborate, angularly bent, bracing rod'24 presents an upstanding loop 26 projecting sufliciently abovethe tray rim 18 to be hookedlinto and serve as a lifting handle. Handle rod 24 is welded to the rim rod and to the risers 14 of the runner rods.

Four metalthrust pads 32 may be added tothe tray structure heretofore described by welding horizontally elongated plates to the outside of the risers at the ends of the basket near the corners.

In use of the tray, impelling dogs may be caused to thrust against plates 32' for pushing the basket in the direction that the runner rods 12 extend as a means of sliding the tray smoothly over an oven bed while heavily loaded with work pieces that are to be conveyed and processed while remaining in the basket. Both ends of the tray may be alike and both sides of the tray may be alike.

If the work pieces are smaller than the apertures between the aforedescribed wires and rods there will be nested within the skeleton framework ofthe basket of Figs. 3, 4 and 5 a dished liner of relatively fine-mesh woven wire which may be cut out of wire fabric in the fiat and folded up into the, shape of the tray liner shown in Fig. 1.

The superior strength, greater external smoothness and generally streamlined character of a tray constructed as hereinbefore described enables two such trays ,to be stacked in double-deck fashion as shown in Fig. 2 with the aid of dips 34 that are formed in the rim rod 13 near its sturdily supported points where angular bracing rods 22 are welded to it. For this purpose I have devised two cross bar members 36 shown seated loosely in the dips 34 at each of their twisted and bent-over ends so that the top edge of the bar is a little higher than the top of rim rod 18. Cross bars 36 are provided with welded-on, locating lugs 40 whose lengths laterally of the basket loosely fill the spaces between an outermost runner rod 12 and its adjacent runner rod 12 at each side of the basket. It will be understood that the four ends of the two bars seat in the four clips 34 respectively as shown in Fig. 6.

The distance of separation of bars 36 lengthwise of the basket fits the spacing of an even number of the floor wires 16 lengthwise of the basket which causes the four lugs 40 of the two cross bars 36 to lie practically in locating abutment with two of the floor wires 16. This prevents lengthwise tray displacement. Thus with the aid of the cross bars 36 it will be seen that one of my improved baskets, when stacked upon another, is dependably restrained against sidewise displacement and also against lengthwise displacement in relation to the underlying basket which supports it.

In Fig. 7, the thrust plates 32 are omitted and the handle rod 24 is extended horizontally in opposite directions to take their place and receive the tray impelling thrust.

As a non-limiting guide to sizes of trays and component structure that may benefit greatly by the departures from conventional construction herein disclosed, the overall dimensions of the tray may roughly be 21"x33" with a depth of 5". In this size a suitable size of the heavy wire used for runner rods, handle rods and rim rods is /2" diameter, while the bracing rods may be of /8" diameter and tie rods of A diameter for a proportional spacing of the parts shown in the drawings. The metal of allparts of the tray may to advantage be Inconel, believed to.be a trade-mark of the International Nickel Company, which possesses toughness and great resistance to continual heating and quenching as well as corrosion.

The side bracing members 22 may each be so modified in shape as to have their looped tops project above the rim wire 18 to serve as handles as do the handle loops 26 shown herein. There may be employed more dips 34 in the rim wire 18 and more of the cross bars or slats 36 than are herein shown. Many other changes and variations may be made within the principles of the invention and the appended claims are directed to such principles rather than to all the precise details of the herein illustrated embodiments of the invention.

I claim:

1. A free sledding work conveying tray adapted to steer itself smoothly through a rough walled passageway in a heat treating oven without snagging against the walls of the passageway when shoved ahead therethrough, comprising a horizontal stratum of more than two rigid runner rods spaced apart laterally of the tray affording the sole and bottommost surfaces on which the tray bottom rests, the end portions of said rods being bent upward to form risers at leading and trailing ends of the tray and the two farthest apart of said rods forming side boundaries of the bottom of the tray, 21 stratum of rigid tie wirei spaced apart lengthwise of the tray confined to level above said stratum of runner rods and crossing and se-'' cured to the latter, said tie wires terminating and bein confided in horizontal directions within said side boundaries of the tray, and superstructure including a foursided rim having two of its sides traversing and fixed to the top ends of said risers and having the other two of its sides spaced substantially vertically above said two farthest apart runner rods respectively and extending substantially parallel therewith, whereby all of said superstructure is contained within said side boundaries of the tray bottom thereby to prevent snagging of said superstructure against upright guide walls of a rough oven passageway when the tray is shoved therethrough.

2. A free sledding tray as defined in claim 1, together with bracing members fixed to the said two farthest apart of the said runner rods spanning and confined to the vertical space between the same and the said rim structure within the said side boundaries of the tray.

3. A stackable free sledding tray constructed as described in claim 1, in which the said rim structure comprises a planar run of heavy round wire bent into shallow dips at spot locations aligned with each other transversely of the tray, together with slat members having downward hooked ends spaced apart to rest simultaneously in said dips of the rim-forming wire, thereby to span the width of the tray and serve as support for a superimposedlike tray.

4. A free sledding tray as defined in claim 1, together with an upwardly arched handle member projecting above the said rim structure and having anchorage legs diagonally crossing the said risers of the said runner rods and fixed thereto.

- 5. A free sledding tray as defined in claim 4, together with thrust plates traversing and fixed to the outward faces of the said risers of the said runner rods extending between the said handle member and the said side boundaries of the tray.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,050,823 Foreman Jan. 21, 1913 1,468,375 Canby Sept. 18, 1923 1,538,260 Street et al May 19, 1925 2,010,440 Ryan Aug. 6, 1935 2,047,905 Johannsen July 14, 1936 2,198,106 Chandonia Apr. 23, 1940 2,395,542 Fordon Feb. 26, 1946 2,401,063 Fordon May 28, 1946 2,565,782 Rhodes Aug. 28, 1951 2,581,613 Ellrich Ian. 8, 1952 2,646,186 Russell July 21, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 327.780 Great Britain Apr. 17, 1930

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