US3069022A

US3069022A - Sequence interlock for coke oven door operating valves

Info

Publication number: US3069022A
Application number: US151528A
Authority: US
Inventors: Robert S Cotton
Original assignee: Koppers Co Inc
Current assignee: Beazer East Inc
Priority date: 1961-11-10
Filing date: 1961-11-10
Publication date: 1962-12-18
Anticipated expiration: 1979-12-18
Also published as: GB1005861A

Description

Dec. 18, 1962 R. s. COTTON 3,069,022

SEQUENCE INTERLOCK FOR coxs OVEN DOOR OPERATING VALVES Filed Nov. 10, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 I INVENTOR. Poazszrqicorro R. S. COTTON Dec. 18, 1962 SEQUENCE INTERLOCK FOR COKE OVEN DOOR OPERATING VALVES Filed Nov. 10, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 R. S. COTTON SEQUENCE INTERLOCK FOR COKE OVEN DOOR OPERATING VALVES Filed NOV. 10, 1961 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 1 NV TOR. fiaszr i ov-w a 99 a 33 a United States Patent 3,069,022 SEQUENCE INTERLOCK FOR COKE OVEN DOOR OPERATING VALVES Robert S. Cotton, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Koppers Company, Inc., a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 10, 1961, Ser. No. 151,528 Claims. (Cl. 212-4) The present invention relates to coke oven door manipulating mechanism, and more particularly to a simpler more economical and facile mechanical means for interlocking fluid pressure actuated operating mechanisms, such as, the conventional hydraulic mechanisms which actuate the operating means for grasping and unlocking coke oven doors in latched position at the end of a coke oven door frame, for withdrawing the door, for turning it to one side for cleaning, and for the reversal of these operations after the coke has been pushed and the oven chamber refilled with coal for a next coke charge. All of these operations are in general well known and shown and described in Paul H. Lavely, US. Patent 2,576,126 of November 27, 1951.

The hydraulic actuating mechanisms for effecting the actuation of the aforesaid coke oven door operating mechanisms entail the manipulation of three levers for operating three hydraulic valve mechanisms in a specific series or sequence of steps, and requires the conjoint use of a mechanical interlocking device for ensuring sequentially a mechanical interlock of the hydraulic actuating mechanisms during the respective hydraulic operations of the various hydraulically actuated operating mechanisms.

In the prior art, it has been necessary:

(1) To lock the levers which sequentially operate the hydraulic flow control valves in one position by two lock plates;

(2) To release a first lever for a first actuating valve, the operator has to lift a handle which lifts a latch that prevents a second lever for a second actuating valve from being shifted until after the first lever has been shifted to a position 3;

(3) When the first lever is shifted to position 3, a pin attached to this first lever allows the latch to be lowered by means of a cam;

(4) The lowering of the latch by means of the cam unlocks a pin attached to the second lever allowing the second lever to be moved from a position 1 to a position 3;

(5) The second actuating valve is lifted in position 3 and the first valve lever is moved from position 3 to a position 1. By doing this, the latch is lifted by means of the cam and locks the second lever for the second actuating valve in its position 3;

(6) The lock plates and handle will not fall back into locking position until both levers for both actuating valves are in position 1;

(7) In position 2, a lull condition prevails in which all the hydraulic valve openings are closed.

This prior art system has the disadvantage that: the handle can be tied back in an unlocked position manually by the operator of the machine; the pins and latch can be bent out of shape, thus making the interlocking device inoperative; and the interlocking device can only be used on two levers for two valves at a time.

Objects and advantages of the present invention of a simpler interlocking system for this same purpose are that: only one valve operating lever can be moved at a time manually by the operator of the machine; a single sliding locking plate is used in conjunction with the operating levers so that it slides automatically into lever locking position and cannot be tied or held back out of operation by the manual operator of the machine; no

locking recesses.

levers or pins are used which can be bent, which would make the mechanism inoperative; and two or more hydraulic valves can be operated in sequence.

Accordingly, the invention comprises a fixed guide plate immovable relative to a series of two or more of the operating levers projecting through a series of guide slots therefor in the fixed plate, and a relatively movable interlocking plate superimposed, preferably beneath, the fixed plate and likewise provided with a series of guide slots encompassing the operating levers.

The guide slots in the movable interlocking plate are each provided with a cam portion to be sequentially engaged by their levers for successive incremental movements of the plate in one direction when the levers are sequentially moved in one direction, to a first position, and each slot is also provided with a cam portion to be engaged by their levers for successive increments of movements of the plate in an opposite direction when their levers are sequentially moved in another direction to a third position.

The guide slots in the movable interlocking plate are each also provided with a locking recess for their levers so arranged relative to the slots that the locking recess of a first slot locks its lever upon operation of the second lever, after the locking recess of a second slot has been unlocked from its lever by the operation of the lever in the first slot, upon successive sequential movements of the levers to their first valve operating position; and when the levers are moved in succession in a reverse sequence to their third valve operating position, the locking recess of the second slot again locks its lever as a result of the movement of the lever in the first slot to its third position, leaving the locking recess of the first slot unlocked as to is lever, as a result of the successive movements of the plate in the opposite direction.

Thus, the locking recess of the second slot unlocks its lever only after a first movement of the plate by the lever in the first slot and the locking recess for the first locks its lever on the second movement of the plate in one direction with movement of the levers sequentially to a first position, and when the plate is moved in the other direction, the locking recess for the first slot does not lock its lever, while the locking recess for the second slot locks its lever, with sequential movement of the levers to the third position.

The second slot for the ram lever has its locking recess in the second position of lull for this lever and this lever is spring-centered to return to the lull position whenever the manual operator of the machine releases his handheld on this lever.

The third slot in the plate for actuating the door hook for holding the door on the ram, is provided with two The first locking recess is to lock the third lever in the first position when the first turn lever is in its first position and the second ram lever is in its third position. The second locking recess is to lock the third lever in the third position while the first two levers are in their third position. The first locking recess is in a position to lock the door hook operating lever in the first position at which the door holding hook is detached from the door while the door is in place on an oven door frame and the door latches are released to latch the door in place in its door frame. The second locking recess is in a position to lock the door hook op erating lever in the third position at which the door hook holds the door on the ram and the door latches released from latching relation with the door frame.

The invention, as disclosed and claimed hereinafter, while primarily designed and adapted for manipulating the door handling mechanism for the coke side doors of coke ovens, is not limited in all its aspects to this use and best mode of embodying of the invention, since the novel features of invention are also equally applicable to other equipment such as, for instance, interlocking the operating levers for the driving mechanism for moving the door machine carriage from oven chamber to oven chamber, as well as, also for interlocking the levers for the operating mechanism for moving the coke guide into and out of guiding relation with the door frames of the coke oven chambers. The invention is also applicable, for instance, to interlocking of the pusher side control levers, including the levers for the operating mechanisms for advancing the pusher ram on the pusher side of the battery into the oven to discharge the coke, and also those for levers for operating the carriage for moving the pusher ram along the pusher side of the battery from oven chamber to oven chamber.

The invention will appear more clearly from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a valve interlocking block system embodying the invention with three operating levers for three sets of four-way hydraulic control valves therein;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the same;

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of the interlocking sliding plate shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a top plan view on a smaller scale of the fixed cover plate shown in full lines in FIGURE 1 superimposed over the interlocking plate;

FIGURES 5 to are top plan views of the fixed cover plate with the interlocking plate in phantom lines beneath the same to show the sequence of operating the levers from starting position of the three levers, in FIG. 5, to the finish of the complete cycle of operations, in FIG. 10, for replacing a coke oven door from its 90 turned position for cleaning to its latched condition on a coke oven door frame, then removing the door from the door frame and again restoring it to its starting position for cleaning of the self-sealing edges of the door;

FIGURE 11 is an elevational view with parts in section illustrating the preferred form of door handling or manipulating machine of the invention as applied in lifting and unlatching a coke over door from its door frame on one oven chamber of a battery of horizontal coking retort oven chambers; and

FIGURE 12 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the hydraulic fluid pressure flow lines typical for each operating lever and its set of four-way valves to and from a hydraulic fluid pressure piston cylinder for actuating one of the door operating means, the view being of the control system for the cam lever for operating the door lifting hook.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in each of the several view of the drawings.

The interlocking mechanism is primarily designed for and adapted to the automatic operation of door handling machines for horizontal coking chambers as in the general manner exemplified in Lavely, US. Patents 2,335,866; 2,335,867 and 2,576,126.

In such environment as will be seen from FIGURE 11, the door handling machines for opening and closing the doorways of the coking chambers is carried on a truck 20 that is propelled alongside a battery 21 of the coking chambers, one of which 22 is shown in section with a door 23 in place on a door frame (not shown). The door is provided with upper and lower hooks 24 to be lifted by the door lifting hooks 25 on the door machine truck 20. The door handling machine comprises a ram or a carriage 26 movable on wheels 26 transversely of the truck into and out of door seating and door unseating relation with the doorways at the horizonal ends of the respective side by side coking chambers 22 of the battery.

The ram or carriage 26 is provided with operating means in the form of links 27 and bell crank levers 28 for advancing the carriage forwardly towards the battery to seat and unseat the doors in the doorway and backwards from the battery side to carry the door away to one side of the chamber 22, when opening the chamber for pushing out of coke cakes through the doorway, or for removal of the rain or machine from the door after replacing a door on the chamber 22 and then shifting of the ram or machine along the battery side to the next door to be removed.

This ram or carriage 26 is mounted on a post or holder mechanism 29 that is pivotally mounted at 30 on the truck 20 to be turned ninety degrees to one side of the doorway by operating means in the form of a lever mechanism 31 at the top of post 29 after the door is retracted from the oven, for the purpose of cleaning the door seals before restoring the door onto the oven chamber doorway.

The ram or carriage 26 also carries a raisable and lowerable door lifter mechanism 32 containing the upper and lower door lifting hooks 25 for grasping or holding the door while the ram or carriage 26 is advancing and retracting the door 23 and while the door is turned for cleaning, all as hereinafter described and as discussed in greater detail in said Lavely patents aforesaid. The door lifting mechanism 32 is raised and lowered by operating means in the form of a crank lever 33 and linkage 34.

By means (FIG. 12) of hydraulic fluid pressure from a pump line 35 and tank line 36 and three sets of four-way valve mechanical connections inside the block 40 and intervening between three

hydraulic cylinders

37, 38, 39, the aforesaid reverse movement of these three component parts of the door handling machinery is effected under the control of the three sets of four-way valves and three

valve operating levers

41, 42, 43, therefor. These are all contained in the valve block 40 with a table mounted on the truck 20 that carries the door handling mechanism from chamber to chamber along the battery. It is from this table that an operator operates all the operations of the truck 20 and door handling mechanisms. One set of valves and its operating lever 41 controls the hydraulic cylinder 37 for turning the door through an arc of 90 degrees. A second set of these valves and their operating lever 42 controls the hydraulic cylinder 38 for the forward and backward movements of the ram. The third set of valves and their operating lever 43 controls the hydraulic cylinder 39 for holding and release of the door holding or grasping hook elements 25 for lifting the coke oven doors 23 of the different coking chambers 22.

Each valve set is arranged to direct the hydraulic fluid pressure from the pump line 35, through a

line

37, 38 or 39, to one end of its

hydraulic piston cylinders

37, 38 or 39, and to exhaust the hydraulic fluid pressure therefrom through a line 37 38 or 39* from the other end of the piston cylinder to supply the tank line 36 for supply of hydraulic fluid back to the pump line 35, when the operating levers or

rods

41, 42, or 43 are moved to forward 1 position, and when its operating lever or

rod

41, 42, 43, is moved to the rearward 3 position, the valve set directs the fluid pressure from the pump line 35 to the other end of the hydraulic piston cylinder through the lines 37 38 or 39 and exhausts the fluid pressure from the opposite end of the piston cylinder through the lines 37*, 38 or 39 to the supply tank line 36 for the pump. In the middle 2 position of the rods or operating levers, the valve lines aforesaid are cut off from both the pump line 35 and from the exhaust line 36 to the supply tank.

The turn lever 41 when moved to the first position 1 controls the hydraulic valves for flow of hydraulic pressure to line 37 to turn the coke oven door from a turn position for cleaning the door to an in to oven position for closing the coke oven chamber doorway, and when the first turn lever 41 is moved to its third position 3, it controls the hydraulic valves for flow of hydraulic pressure to line 37 to turn the door back again into its 90 turn out position for cleaning the door seals. The second ram lever 42 when moved to the first position 1 controls the hydraulic valves for flow of hydraulic pressure to line 38 to advance the door in to oven, and when the second ram lever 42 is moved to its third position 3 it controls the hydraulic valves for flow of hydraulic pressure to line 38 to retract the door seating ram out for withdrawing a coke oven door out of a coke oven doorway or to withdraw the ram without the door thereon, leaving the door in latched condition on a coke oven chamber. The third, a hook lever 43 when moved to the first position 1 controls the valves for flow of hydraulic pressure to line 39 to actuate the door liftinghooks 25 on'the door machine to lower them to a hooks down position for releasing or ungrasping the coke oven door, and when the third hook lever 43 is moved to its third position 3 it controls the hydraulic pressure for flow to line 39 to actuate the hooks 25 to up position for grasping and holding the door on the ram 26. The three

levers

41, 42, 43 are each movable to a middle lull position 2 in which all the four-way hydraulic valves are closed off from their fluid pressure lines. The turn lever 41 when moved forward to in to oven turns the door from a 90 turned aside position for cleaning to a forward position for seating the door in a coke oven chamber. The turn lever 41 when moved rearward to out turns the door aside 90 for cleaning. The ram lever 42 when moved forward to in to oven operates the ram 26 to move the door 23 in to its seating position on a coke oven door frame, or to move the ram in to grasp and take off a door, and when moved rearwardly to out position operates the ram to withdraw the ram 26 with or without the door 23 suspended on the hooks 25 thereon, depending on the 1 or 3 position of the hook lever 43. The hook lever 43 when moved forward operates the bell crank 33 which operates door hooks 25 to. release their grasp and lift on coke oven door suspended on the ram and operates the door latches 44 into the door frame hooks, not shown. This hook lever when moved rearward operates the bell crank 33 to cause the door hooks 25 to grasp and lift the door 23 and release the latches 44 from holding engagement from a coke oven door frame. Only the ram lever 42 is spring centered to return the ram lever 42 to the middle position 2 whenever the operator removes his hand from the ram lever, thus leaving this lever free to be moved forward to ram advancing position or rearward to ram retracting position whenever the need arises unless the ram lever is locked.

In accordance with the invention, an interlocking plate 45 is slidably mounted inside the block 40 with the

lever

41, 42, 43 projecting through three

slots

46, 47, 43. This plate is then covered with a fixed plate 49 having three parallel slots through which the levers project. The plate 45 is provided with the following parts as seen in FIG. 3.

(1) A part 50 in the formof a cam along the region of the turn lever guide slot 46, in the path of movement of the turn lever 41 from its middle lull position 2 to its forward position 1, for shifting the interlocking plate 45 to a position at which a locking part 54 for the turn lever 41 in its 1 position is moved an increment closer to the line of movement of the turn lever 41 but does not intercept the latter, and a locking part 55 for the ram lever 4'2 unlocks this lever 42, and two locking

parts

56 and 57 for the hook lever 43 have shifted one increment but still continue to lock the hook lever, either in its rearward door holding position 3 or in its forward door unhooking position 1. These locking parts are recesses in the locking plate offset from the guide slots.

(2) A part 52 in the form of a cam along the region of the ram lever guide slot 47 in the path of movement of the ram lever 42 from its middle position 2 to its forward position 1, for shifting the interlocking plate 45 another increment to a further position at which the locking part 54 for the turn lever 41 intercepts it and locks it in its 1 position, and the two locking

parts

56, 57 for thehook lever 43 are shifted another successive increment to unlock the hook lever. At this time, the

' 6 hook lever 43 can be moved either to its forward position 1 at which it causes the door lifting hooks 25 to release the door and the door latches 44 to move into latch hooks on the door frame, or to its rear position '3 to lift the door hooks 25 to grasp and hold the door 23 and to simultaneously unlatch the door latches 44 from their door frame hooks.

(3) A part 53 in the form of a cam along the region of the ram lever guide slot 47 in the path of movement of the ram lever 42 from its middle position 2 to its backward position 3, for shifting the interlocking plate one increment in the opposite direction to a position at which the hook lever 43 is locked either in its forward position 1 by the forward hook lock part 56, or is locked in the rearward position 3 by the rearward lock part 57, and the turn lever is unlocked by its forward lock part ready for the next turn operation.

(4) A part 51 in the form of a cam along the region of the turn lever guide slot 46 in the path of movement of the turn lever 41 from its middle position 2 to its backward position 1, for shifting the interlocking plate 45 another successive increment still further in said opposite direction to a position at which the ram lever 42 is locked in its middleward position 2 by its lock part 55, the hook lever 43 is continued to be locked by either its forward lock part 56 or its rearward lock part 57, and the lock part 54 for the turn lever 41 is shifted a further increment away from the line of movement of the turn lever 41 in the turn slot 46.

The operation of the mechanical hydraulic interlock appears from the following description of FIGURES 5 to 10:

FIG. 5-Starting position shows turn lever 41 in center position and is free for the first operation. This lever is not spring-centered. The ram 42 and hook 43 levers are locked in the 2 and 1 positions as shown.

FIG. 6Step No. 1 shows turn lever 41 moved forward to 1 and at the same time unlocks ram lever 42. Hook lever 43 is still locked at 56.

FIG. 7-Step No. 2 shows ram lever 42 moved forward to 1 and at the same time 42

unlocks hook lever

43 and 54 locks turn lever 41. The ram lever is springcentered and will come back to center position 2 when operator removes his hand from the lever.

FIG. 8Step No. 3 shows hook lever 43 moved backwards to 3, ram lever 42 ready for next operation and turn lever locked. Hook lever is not spring-centered.

FIG. 9-Step No. 4 shows ram lever 42 moved backwards, hook lever 43 locked at 57 and turn lever 41 unlocked at 54, ready for the next operation.

FIG. lO-Step No. 5 shows turn lever 41 moved backwards to 3, ram 42 and hook 43 lever locked at 55 and 57.

In the above operation, the operator moves one valve lever at a time. The locking plate 45 slides automatically into position and cannot be tied or held back out of operation. No levers or pins are used and hence cannot be bent, which would make mechanism inoperative. Two or more valve levers can be operated in sequence.

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

I claim:

1. In a coke oven apparatus for sequentially manipulating a self-sealing coke oven door in removing it from and replacing it in a door frame for the door on'a coke oven chamber, said apparatus having turn operating means to turn the door to an out position for cleaning and to an in position facing the door for sealing in the door frame, ram operating means to move the door to an out position away from the door frame and to an in position for closing the doorway of the door frame, and lifter operating means to move door lifting and latching means to gripping and unlatching relation with the door on the door frame and to grip release and latching relation with the door, the combination of a series of individual actuating means for actuating each of said turn, and ram and litter operating means, each of said actuating means including a manually manipulative member movable to a middle position for lull of the respective actuating means, and movable to an in position and to an out position for operating the actuating means to actuate the respective operating means to their respective positions, and an interlocking plate mounted for movement relative to said three manually manipulative members and provided with a series of guide slots encompassing said members, at least two of the guide slots for the manipulative members for the turn and ram operating means being each provided with a cam portion to be sequentially engaged by their members for successive incremental movements of the plate in one direction, to said in position, and each slot also being provided with a cam portion to be engaged by their members for successive increments of movement of the plate in an opposite direction when their members are sequentially moved in another direction to said out position, each of said two slots also being provided with a locking recess for their members so arranged relative to the slots that the locking recess of the turn member slot locks its member upon operation of the ram member in its slot after the locking recess of the ram member slot has been unlocked from the ram member by the operation of the turn member in the turn member slot upon successive sequential movements of the members to their in positions, the locking recesses also being so arranged relative to said two slots that when the manipulation members in the slots are moved in succession in reverse sequence to their out position the locking recess of the ram member slot again locks its member as a result of the movement of the turn member in the turn member slot to its out position, leaving the locking recess of the turn member slot unlocked as to its member, as a result of the successive movements of the interlocking plate in the opposite direction, the third slot of said three slots being provided with two locking recesses, one at the in position and the other at the out position for the manipulative member for the lifter operating means, said locking recess locking the lifter member during the successive out movements of the turn and ram members and unlocking the lifter member only after completion of the successive movements of the turn and ram members to their in position.

2. In coke oven apparatus for sequentially manipulating a self-sealing coke oven door in removing it from and replacing it in a door frame for the door on a coke oven chamber, said apparatus having turn operating means to turn the door to an out position for cleaning and to an in position facing the door for scaling in the door frame, ram operating means to move the door to an out position away from the door frame and to an in position for closing the doorway of the door frame, the combination of a series of individual actuating means for actuating each of said turn and ram operating means, each of said actuating means including a manually manipulative member movable to a middle position for lull of the respective actuating means, and movable to an in position and to an out position for operating the actuating means to actuate the respective operating means to their respective positions, and an interlocking plate mounted for movement relative to said manually manipulative members and provided with guide slots encompassing said members, the guide slots for the manipulative members for the turn and ram operating means being each provided with a cam portion to be sequentially engaged by their members for successive incremental movements of the plate in one direction, to said in position, and each slot also being provided with a cam portion to be engaged by their members for successive increments of movement of the plate in an opposite direction when their members are sequentially moved in another direction to said out position, each of said slots also being provided with a locking recess for their members so arranged relative to the slots that the locking recess of the turn member slot locks its member upon operation of the ram member in its slot after the locking recess of the ram member slot has been unlocked from the ram member by the operation of the turn member in the turn member slot upon successive sequential movements of the members to their in positions, the locking recesses also being so arranged relative to said slots that when the manipulative members in the slots are moved in succession in reverse sequence to their out position the locking recess of the ram member slot again locks its member as a result of the movement of the turn member in the turn member slot to its out position, leaving the locking recess of the turn member slot unlocked as to its member, as a result of the successive movements of the interlocking plate in the opposite direction.

3. Coke oven apparatus as claimed in claim 2 and which includes a housing for said actuating means including said interlocking plate, and which includes a fixed cover plate provided with a corresponding plurality of guide slots through which said turn and ram members project for access from outside the housing for manipulation of the actuating means, said fixed cover plate concealing the interlocking plate from unwarranted alteration by an attendant operating the members.

4. Coke oven apparatus as claimed in claim 2 and in which the ram member is spring-centered to always return to its middle position when the member is released from the hand of an attendant operating the same, and in which the locking recess for the ram member locks the same as aforesaid in said middle position.

5. Apparatus for sequentially interlocking the manipulation of a coke oven door adapted to be removed and replaced from the door frame of a coke oven chamber by means of ram means with door lifting and holding means for releasably holding the door on the ram, and turn means for turning the door to one side while held by the door holding means on the ram, comprising: a valve block system with three operating levers each movable to a forward position, a backward position and a middle position, and valve means operable thereby to effect the aforesaid operations of the aforesaid means with reversal of said operations, and means for insuring a predetermined sequence of said operation comprising, a sliding interlocking plate concealed in said block and having three guide slots through which said levers extend, for manipulation exteriorly of said valve block, the slot for the turn lever having a part operable by the turn lever in its movement from middle position to forward position for shifting the plate a single increment of movement in one direction, and a locking part at the forward position for locking the turn lever there upon two increments of movement of the plate in said one direction by the turn and ram levers, the slot for the ram lever having a part operable by the ram lever in its movement from middle position to forward position for shifting the plate a second successive increment of movement in addition to the one increment of movement by the turn lever, said ram slot having a locking part for locking the ram lever in middle position until the aforesaid single increment of movement by the turn lever, the slot for the door holding means lever having two locking parts, one at the forward position and one at the backward position of the lever in said door holding means lever slot, for locking the lever in the slot during the two incremental movements of the plate by the turn and ram levers, said turn and ram lever slots also having a part operable by the levers therein in their movements from middle position to backward position for shifting the interlocking plate two increments of movement in the opposite direction.

Lavely Nov. 27, 1951 Peregrine July 29, 1952