GB401857A - Step by step conveyor mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

401,857. Metal-heating furnaces. BRITISH FURNACES, Ltd., and HOPKINSON, P., Derby Road, Chesterfield. Sept. 22, 1932, No. 26307. [Class 51 (ii).] Charges, conveying.- Work is conveyed step by step through a furnace chamber A by movable rails 49 arranged between the fixed rails 58 which form the bed of the chamber, the rails 49 being moved vertically to lift the work without sliding on the bed, then horizontally to carry the work a step forwards, then vertically downwards to deposit the work in the new position on the bed, and then back to their original position. For this purpose the rails 49 are supported by sets of parallel links 50 on rails 48 so that relative horizontal movement of the rails 48, 49 raises or lowers the rails 49. The rails 48 are movable horizontally through channelled members 47, Fig. 11, supported on a series of piers 45 in the furnace chamber. The rails 49 are connected through a cross-beam 78 and links 79 to a carriage 64 which is moved to and fro on rails 62 by the engagement of racks 71 on the carriage with pinions 72 driven through gearing by a motor on the shaft 75. The rails 48 are connected with a second carriage 81 which is movable along the carriage 64 by screw-and-nut gearing driven by a motor on the latter, the two motors being controlled so that the carriage 81 is moved to raise the rails 49, and the carriage 64 is then moved to shift the rails 48 and 49 without relative movement between them. Links 87 connecting the rails 49 to the carriage 81 are equal and parallel to the links 50. The rails 58, 49 have workengaging surfaces 61 of refractory material to prevent pitting. The links 50, Figs. 7 and 9, consist of two similar parts 51 having wedgeshaped ends 53 which extend through the webs of the rails and rest in grooves provided on the flanges of the rails at 57, and the ends 53 of the link members are formed with projecting pins 54 by which the two members 51 are secured together.