US3211442A

US3211442A - Handling mechanism for installing and removing blow pipes in blast furnaces

Info

Publication number: US3211442A
Application number: US259522A
Authority: US
Inventors: Harvey C Helmer
Original assignee: United States Steel Corp
Current assignee: United States Steel Corp
Priority date: 1963-02-19
Filing date: 1963-02-19
Publication date: 1965-10-12
Anticipated expiration: 1982-10-12

Description

H. C. HELMER Oct. 12, 1965 HANDLING MECHANISM FOR INSTALLING AND REMOVING BLOW PIPES IN BLAST FURNACES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 19, 1963 Q\ ///U/ .O MN mm m w l km v mam KN w x7 lNVE/VTOR. HARVEY C. HELMER By Mfifizfl Attorney Oct. 12, 1965 H. c. HELMER 3,211,442

HANDLING MECHANISM FOR INSTALLING AND REMOVING BLOW PIPES IN BLAST FURNACES Filed Feb. 19, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. HARVEY C. HELMER Attorney United States Patent 3,211,442 HANDLING MECHANISM FOR INSTALLING AND REMOVING BLOW PIPES IN BLAST FURNACES Harvey C. Helmer, Adolph, Minn., assignor to United States Steel Corporation, a corporation of New Jersey Filed Feb. 19, 1963, Ser. No. 259,522 7 Claims. (Cl. 266-34) This invention relates to blast furnace blow pipes and, more particularly, to mechanism for handling them during installation in and removal from a blast furnace.

The maintenance operation of removing and replacing blow pipes in a blast furnace is one that is required frequently since it is necessary whenever a furnace tuyere must be replaced. Customarily this operation has been performed manually by lifting the blow pipes into and out of their operating positions, in which they form hot blast connections respectively between a tuyere and the stock of a bustle pipe gooseneck. Since the blow pipes are hot and heavy, their removal from a blast furnace is difficult and the lifting operation for this purpose needs the services of several members of the blast furnace maintenance crew. In addition, the time required for this to be done reduces the furnace production since the draft must be cut back while it is being performed.

One of the principal objects of this invention accordingly is to eliminate the manual lifting required by conventional blast furnace maintenance procedures for removing and replacing blow pipes in a blast furnace. A related object is to reduce the time for this operation and thereby increase the furnace production. For these and other purposes, the invention contemplates a handling mechanism in the form of a trolley carriage on which the blow pipe is suspended as it is moved into and out of its operating position.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, which show a preferred embodiment of the invention. In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary vertical sectional and side elevational view showing the general arrangement of the blow pipe handling mechanism of this invention with respect to one of the blast furnace tuyeres and the blow pipe connected therewith;

FIGURE 2 is a horizontal and fragmentary sectional 7 view which illustrates somewhat diagrammatically the with a blow pipe suspended thereon for movement to and o from its operative connecting position in a blast furnace;

FIGURE 4 is an end view looking in a direction from the left of the apparatus shown in FIGURE 3; and

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken subsubstantially along the line V-V of FIGURE 4.

The drawings show a conventional arrangement of blast furnace blow pipes 1 and the manner in which they form hot blast connections between the furnace tuyeres 2 and a bustle pipe 3. Each of the furnace tuyeres 2 occupies a position at the inner end of a cooler casting 4 in the furnace wall 5. Each of the blow pipes 1 is a cylindrical iron casting and, as shown in FIGURE 1, has its inner end 6 engaged with a tuyere 2 and a curved flange 7 at its outer end that forms part of a socket connection with the lower end of a stock 8, which has a similar socket connection at its upper end to a gooseneck 9 that in turn is connected with the bustle pipe 3. A bridle 10 holds the lower end of the stock 8 engaged with the blow pipe flange 7 and the inner end 6 of the blow pipe 1 engaged with the tuyere 2.

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In order to remove a tuyere 2 from a cooler casting 4, the blow pipe 1 connected therewith must first be removed. This is done by releasing the bridle 10 to permit limited movement of the stock 8 to the right as viewed in FIGURE 1 and its disengagement from the blow pipe flange 7. This releases the blow pipe 1 for disengagement of its inner end 6 from the tuyere 2 and its movement out of the space 13 centrally of the cooler casting 4. As indicated above, this operation according to conventional blast furnace maintenance procedures is performed manually by lifting the blow pipe 1 out of its operating position. The weight and temperature of the blow pipe 1 make this a difficult and time consuming operation.

In accordance with the principles of this invention, a blow pipe handling mechanism in the form of a trolley support is provided at each of the tuyeres 2 for the blow pipe 1 with which it is connected. Each of such handling mechanisms comprises a trolley carriage 15 that is supported for movement on a horizontal trackway 16. The trackway 16 is a curved I-beam that is supported at its ends by hangar brackets 17. The carriage 15 has trolley wheels 18 on opposite sides thereof that have rolling engagement with the bottom flange 19 of the I-beam trackway 16 which thus guides the movement of the carriage 15. The hanger brackets 17 and bolts 20, which secure the I-beam to the brackets 17, act as stops for limiting movement of the carriage 15 at the ends of the trackway 16. The curvature of each trackway beam 16 is such that its outer end 21 extends radially with respect to the blast furnace and under the bustle pipe 3, and its inner end 22 is spaced above the blow pipe 1 and extends in a direction generally transversely thereof for a purpose to be described.

A support for suspending a blow pipe 1 on the trolley carriage 15 is furnished by a clamping collar 23 and a telescopic vertical shaft 24. The shaft 24 comprises an upper part 25 that is supported by a thrust bearing 26 on the carriage 15 for rotation about a vertical axis and a lower part 27 that is telescopically received in the upper part 25. The bearing 26 provides for rotation or swinging movement of a blow pipe carried by the clamping collar 23 about a vertical axis between its ends. Vertical adjustment of the length of the shaft 24 to vary the vertical position of a blow pipe 1 suspended thereby is effected by adjusting the telescopic position of the shaft part 27 in the part 25. This is accomplished by a wedge 28 and a slide plate 29 that extend through aligned

vertical slots

30 and 31 respectively in opposite sides of the

shaft parts

25 and 27. The plate 29 is stationary and is supported on the lower ends of the vertical slots 30 in the shaft part 25. The upper edge of the plate 29 furnishes a slide support for the wedge 28. The upper edge 32 of the wedge 28 is inclined and has camming engagement with the upper ends of the slots 31 in the lower shaft part 27. Upon endwise movement of wedge 28 over the slide plate 29 the camming action of its upper edge operates to adjust the vertical position of the lower shaft part 27 with respect to the upper shaft part 25. A pin 33 may be inserted in openings 34 in the wedge 28 to hold it against movement out of any given position of adjustment. The plate 29 and wedge 28 further operate to prevent relative rotation of the

shaft parts

25 and 27 The clamping collar 23 is formed in two

parts

35 and 36 that are secured together in clamping engagement about the external surface of a blow pipe 1 by wedges 37. The upper collar part '36 has a pin and clevis connection 38 with the lower end of the shaft part 27 that provides for adjustment of the angular position of the blow pipe 1 with respect to the shaft 24. A leveling screw 39 enables adjustment of this angular position. The pin of the con nection 38 is removable to provide for assembly of the clamping collar 23 on a blow pipe prior to its connection with the vertical shaft 24.

Movement of the carriage 15 over the trackway rail 16 is effected manually by hooks (not shown) that engage in pulling eyes 40 at opposite sides of the carriage 15.

When removal of a blow pipe 1 is required, for example, to remove a blast furnace tuyere 2 with which it is connected, the clamping collar 23 is first applied to the blow pipe. After this has been done the trolley carriage 15 is moved to a position at the inner end 22 of the trackway rail 16 on which it is supported. In this position, the carriage 15 is over the blow pipe 1 so that the clamping collar 23 may then be connected to the vertical shaft 24 by assembly of the clevis connection 38. Next the bridle is operated to release the engagement of the stock 8 with the blow pipe flange 7 to permit removal of the blow pipe 1. The carriage is then pulled over the rail 16 in a direction toward its outer end 21 and, as this movement takes place, the blow pipe 1 and supporting shaft 24 are rotated about the axis of the bearing 26 so that the blow pipe 1 is swung about an axis intermediate its ends to permit withdrawal of its inner end 6 from the opening 13 in the tuyere cooler casting 4. The combined swinging and withdrawal movements of the blow pipe 1 are manually controlled by members of the maintenance crew, but while these movements are taking place the weight of the blow pipe 1 is supported entirely by the trolley carriage 15. Installation or replacement of a blow pipe 1 is effected by performing the above operations in reverse order. It will of course be apparent that the blow pipe handling mechanism of this invention eliminates the physical effort previously required for supporting blow pipes during their removal and replacement and thus enables these operations to be performed with less difficulty and in a shorter period of time. The period of time in which the furnace must be operated on reduced draft is accordingly decreased with a corresponding increase in the production of the furnace.

While one embodiment of my invention has been shown and described it will be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a blast furnace, an apparatus for moving a blow pipe to and from a connecting position extending between a tuyere and the stock of a gooseneck connection to a bustle pipe comprising, a horizontal trackway arranged above and extending transversely with respect to the said connecting position of said blow pipe, a carriage movable over said trackway, and means suspending said blow pipe from said carriage in a substantially horizontal position and providing for its swinging movement about a vertical axis between opposite ends of said blow pipe, said blow pipe swinging movement and movement of said carriage over said trackway providing for movement of said blow pipe between said connecting position and a withdrawn position at one side of and clear of the space between said stock and said tuyere.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 characterized by said trackway being curved with its inner end extending over the said connecting position of said blow pipe and its outer end extending radially with respect to and under the bustle pipe of said furnace.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 characterized by said carriage comprising a trolley mounted for guided movement over said trackway, and by said suspending means comprising a vertically extending shaft rotatably supported on said trolley.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 3 characterized further by said suspending means including means for adjusting the length of said shaft and thereby the vertical position of the blow pipe suspended thereby.

5. Apparatus as defined in claim 3 characterized further by said suspending means including a clamping collar for clamping engagement with a blow pipe, and means mounting said collar and thereby a blow pipe with which it is engaged on the lower end of said shaft.

6. Apparatus as defined in claim 5 characterized by said collar mounting means comprising a pin and clevis connection between said collar and shaft, and means for adjusting the pivotal position of said collar about said connection with respect to said shaft.

7. Blow pipe handling mechanism for blast furnaces comprising a trolley carriage, means for suspending a blow pipe on said carriage in a horizontal position, said suspending means including means providing for swinging movement of a blow pipe supported thereby about a vertical axis between opposite ends of said blow pipe, and a trackway supporting said trolley carriage for movement between a position directly over the space normally occupied by a blow pipe in a blast furnace to a withdrawn position at one side thereof.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,111,701 11/63 Cantieri 15317 FOREIGN PATENTS 5,903 7/01 Austria.

365,036 12/22 Germany. WHITMORE A. WILTZ, Primary Examiner. JAMES H. TAYMAN, JR., MORRIS WOLK, Examiners.

Claims

1. IN A BLAST FURNACE, AN APPARATUS FOR MOVING A BLOW PIPE TO AND FROM A CONNECTING POSITION EXTENDING BETWEEN A TUYERE AND THE STOCK OF A GOOSENECK CONNECTION TO A BUSTLE PIPE COMPRISING, A HORIZONTAL TRACK ARRANGED ABOVE AND EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY WITH RESPECT TO THE SAID CONNECTING POSITION OF SAID BLOW PIPE, A CARRIAGE MOVABLE OVER SAID TRACKWAY, AND MEANS SUSPENDING SAID BLOW PIPE FROM SAID CARRIAGE IN A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL POSITION AND PROVIDING FOR ITS SWINGING MOVEMENT ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS BETWEEN OPPOSITE ENDS OF SAID BLOW PIPE, SAID BLOW PIPE SWINGING MOVEMENT AND MOVEMENT OF SAID CARRIAGE OVER SAID TRACKWAY PROVIDING FOR MOVEMENT OF SAID BLOW PIPE BETWEEN SAID CONNECTION POSITION AND A WITHDRAWN POSITION AT ONE SIDE OF AND CLEAR OF THE SPACE BETWEEN AOD STOCK AND SAID TUYERE.