Patent ID: 7374624
Filing Date: 2008-05-20
Classification: C21D

Abstract:
1. A method for heat treating steel plate, comprising the steps of: heating a cold steel plate in a furnace adapted for heat treating steel plate to make a hot steel plate; discharging the hot steel plate from the furnace; capturing the hot steel plate in a plate-holding apparatus after the hot steel plate is discharged from the furnace; providing a water bath adapted for quenching the hot steel plate; hoisting and moving the plate-holding apparatus over the water bath, wherein the hot steel plate is held in an essentially vertical orientation while over the water bath; quenching the hot steel plate by lowering it completely into the water bath while in the essentially vertical orientation to make a heat-treated steel plate; and holding the hot steel plate in the water bath as it becomes the heat-treated steel plate in a manner to ensure that the heat-treated steel plate is essentially flat.