US3129829A - Transfer of hot bodies from furnaces - Google Patents

Description

April 21; 1954 H. c. FERGusoN 3,129,829

TRANSFER OF HOT BODIES FROM FURNACES Filed April 25, 1961 llllll HusH C. FERGUSON YLA Q- 27kt;

ATTORNEY United States Patent Office TRANSFER OF HOT BODES FROM FURNACES Hugh Crawford Ferguson, Glasgow, Scotland, assignor to Davy and United Engineering Company Limited, Sheffieid, England Filed Apr. 25, 1961, Ser. No. 105,354 Claims priority, application Great Britain Apr. 29, 196i) 2 Claims. (Cl. 214-18) This invention relates to a method and apparatus for transferring hot bodies from a furnace to a receiving surface.

According to one aspect of the invention a method of transferring a hot body from a furnace to a receiving surface comprises ejecting the body from the furnace into the space between two vertically spaced opposed supportsurfaces of a transfer member so as to rest upon one of said support surfaces, pivoting said transfer member so as to invert said body and cause it to rest upon the other of said support surfaces, and further moving said transfer member to bring the inverted body into engagement with said receiving surface.

According to another aspect of the invention a transfer device for transferring a hot body from a furnace to a receiving surface comprises an open-ended member having two spaced apart opposed support surfaces and mounted for pivotal movement about a pivotal axis spaced from the open end thereof through a vertical plane extending between the furnace and the receiving surface so as to be movable from a first position in which the open end of said member is aligned with an exit from the furnace to receive a hot body ejected from said furnace, to a second position in which a hot body received in said member engages with said receiving surface.

The various features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of an exemplary embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a transfer device embodying the invention disposed between a re-heating furnace and a roller table, and

FIGURE 2 shows a wrapper for a hot body to a larger scale.

in the embodiment shown the transfer device is employed to transfer stainless steel slabs 1 supported by wrappers 2 from a re-heating furnace 3 to the receiving surface 4 of a roller table 5 the drive mechanism of which is indicated schematically at 5a. It is to be understood that the furnace 3 may be of any conventional construction as also may be the roller table 5, neither of these items forming part of the invention, and as a consequence detailed description of these items is omitted for simplicity of description.

The table 5 serves to convey the reheated slabs ejected from the furnace to a processing station (not shown) which may for example be a rolling mill. It will be noted that the slabs 1 rest upon wrappers 2 in the furnace 3 and if they were to be ejected simply by pushing them down a skid on to the surface 4 of table 5 they would arrive on such surface still resting upon the wrappers 2 and would thus have to be removed from these wrappers and placed on the table surface before they were conveyed into the rolling mill. This additional manipulation step is avoided by means of the method and device of the invention in that the relative positions of the slabs and wrappers are reversed during transfer from the furnace to the table by inverting each slab and its wrapper so that when each slab reaches the surface 4 it rests directly upon such surface and its wrapper 2 is uppermost and can readily be removed without further manipulation of the slab.

This inverting and transfer step is effected by the trans- 3,129,829 Patented Apr. 21, 1964 fer member 6 of bifurcated form pivotally mounted by means of a shaft 7 for movement through the vertical plane indicated by a broken vertical line passing through the axis of shaft 7 from the position shown in full lines to the position shown in broken lines.

In the position shown the open end of member 6 is aligned with the exit of the furnace 3 so that upon ejection of a slab and Wrapper I, 2 from the furnace it slides down a short skid Ill into the space between the bifurcations 9 and 12 of member 6 to rest upon the support surface 8 of bifurcation 9' as shown. To assist in this the surface 8 is arranged to form a continuation of the upper surface of skid it} in this position of member 6. During this movement the feet 13 of the wrapper 2 lie on opposite sides of the skid ill and then on opposite sides of the bifurcation d thus acting as guides for the slab-wrap per combination in its movement into the member 6;

By means of a reversible drive mechanism of conventional design indicated schematically by the rectangle 14 and which by virtue of its well known nature requires no detailed description, the shaft 7 is now rotated and thus the member 6 with the slab 1 and wrapper 2 resting on its surface 8 is pivoted about the axis of shaft 7. In passing through the vertical plane the slab and wrapper are inverted and the slab 1 caused to rest upon the support surface ll of bifurcation 12 with the wrapper 2 resting on the slab 1. This pivotal movement is continued until the member 6 occupies the broken line position 6' shown in which the support surface 1?. lies below the level of the surface 4 and the slab 2 rests upon surface 4 and is conveyed away from member 6 by the conveying movement of the roller table 5.

As will be observed, the feet 13 of the wrapper 2 are engaged by the bifurcation 9, and the wrapper is held by the bifurcation 9 while the slab is conveyed away by the roller table 5. When the slab is clear of the member 6 the wrapper can be withdrawn from member 6 by any suitable means or the member 6 can be further rotated in the direction of the arrow until the open mouth between bifurcations 9 and 12 is pointing downwardly and the wrapper 2 slides out of member 6 under gravity.

Alternatively, the spacing between bifurcations 6, 9 may be arranged so that, when the slab and wrapper 2 are laid on the roller table 5, the upper edges of the feet 13 lie below, and are free of, the bifurcation 9. In this case, the wrapper 2 is conveyed away from the transfer member 6 with the slab 1 and, when clear of the member 6, may be readily removed from the slab by engagement of the feet 13 with any suitable removal device.

The proportioning and disposition of the items 5, 6

. and 3 is arranged to be such that in the full-line position shown in FIGURE 1 the open end of member 6 adjoins the skid W as shown and in the broken line position of member 6 one end of the slab 1 is deposited substantially on the center of the roller table 5 while the bifurcation 12 of member 6 passes behind the table 5 to a position below the level of surface 4-.

The wrapper shown in FIGURE 2 comprises an openended tray of a suitable material to withstand the heat of the furnace having secured to its underface two parallel angle members constituting the feet 13.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle and operation of my invention and have illustrated and described what I consider to represent the best embodiment thereof. However, I desire to have it understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced other wise than as specifically illustrated and described.

I claim:

1. In combination with a slab-heating oven having an exit opening; a plurality of open-topped slab-receiving Wrappers; a downwardly-inclined skid located at said exit opening over which said wrappers with their slabs slide, an open-ended member having two spaced apart opposed support surfaces for receiving between said surfaces a wrapper and slab, said wrappers including legs that engage with :said member and serve to position the slab when received 'by said member, means for pivotally mounting said member about a horizontal pivot axis spaced from the open end of said member, and a roller table extending parallel to said pivot axis spaced from and at an elevation diiferent from the elevation of said oven, said member being spaced between said oven and said roller table and movable about said axis between a first position in which said opposed surfaces are inclined to the horizontal and one of said support surfaces is aligned with the extremity of said skid and a second 4 position in which said opposed surfaces are substantially horizontal and the other of said support surfaces is adjacent said roller table.

2. In combination with a slab-heating oven according to claim 1, wherein said legs of said wrappers are constructed to hold the Wrappers against movement on the movement of said slab away from said member when supported by said roller table.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,061,358 Hunter et al Nov. 17, 1936 2,365,007 Rideout et al Dec. 12, 1944 2,715,973 Winfrce et al Aug. 23, 1955 2,761,507 Clarke et al Sept. 4, 1956 2,935,216 Patt May 3, 1960

Claims (1)

1. IN COMBINATION WITH A SLAB-HEATING OVEN HAVING AN EXIT OPENING; A DOWNWARDLY-INCLINED SKID LOCATED AT SAID EXIT WRAPPERS; A DOWNWARDLY-INCLINED SKID LOCATED AT SAID EXIT OPENING OVER WHICH SAID WRAPPERS WITH THEIR SLABS SLIDE, AN OPEN-ENDED MEMBER HAVING TWO SPACED APART OPPOSED SUPPORT SURFACES FOR RECEIVING BETWEEN SAID SURFACES A WRAPPER AND SLAB, SAID WRAPPERS INCLUDING LEGS THAT ENGAGE WITH SAID MEMBER AND SERVE TO POSITION THE SLAB WHEN RECEIVED BY SAID MEMBER, MEANS FOR PIVOTALLY MOUNTING SAID MEMBER ABOUT A HORIZONTAL PIVOT AXIS SPACED FROM THE OPEN END OF SAID MEMBER, AND A ROLLER TABLE EXTENDING PARALLEL TO SAID PIVOT AXIS SPACED FROM AND AT AN ELEVATION DIFFERENT FROM THE ELEVATION OF SAID OVEN, SAID MEMBER BEING SPACED BETWEEN SAID OVEN AND SAID ROLLER TABLE AND MOVABLE ABOUT SAID AXIS BETWEEN A FIRST POSITION IN WHICH SAID OPPOSED SURFACES ARE INCLINED TO THE HORIZONTAL AND ONE OF SAID SUPPORT SURFACES IS ALIGNED WITH THE EXTREMITY OF SAID SKID AND A SECOND POSITION IN WHICH SAID OPPOSED SURFACES ARE SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL AND THE OTHER OF SAID SUPPORT SURFACES IS ADJACENT SAID ROLLER TABLE.

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