Apparatus for cleaning a coke oven door

Apparatus for cleaning a coke oven door, which has upper and lower closing surfaces and two side closing surfaces which are to be cleaned, the cleaning apparatus being relatively positionable in a position for cleaning when the door is open, comprising a mobile frame having positioning surfaces engageable with guide surfaces at the said upper, lower and two side surfaces of the door in order to locate the door and apparatus in the cleaning position, the frame including horizontally extending upper and lower guide elements and at least one vertically extending guide element, carriages movable along the guide elements, fluid jets carried by said carriages directed (in the cleaning position) at the closing surfaces, at least one jet on the carriage which moves along the vertically extending guide element being connected by at least one resilient element to that carriage and there being at least one follower member connected to the jet which in use engages and is pressed by the resilient element against a guide strip on the door so as to maintain the jet in a cleaning position relative to the vertical closing surfaces being cleaned by that jet.

The invention relates to apparatus for cleaning a coke over door in the 
open position of the door. 
German Patent Specification No. 2 143 595 discloses apparatus for cleaning 
a coke oven door in which the door in its non-operative position is placed 
inside a hood which is connected to a ventilation system. Inside the hood 
are positioned a large number of stationary high-pressure fluid jets which 
are directed towards the closing rims of the coke oven door. The surfaces 
of these rims, by which the coke oven door closes against a frame in a 
coking chamber, are cleaned of deposits of tar, coal and other dirt by 
water directed against them at a pressure of about 200 atmospheres. 
U.S.A. Patent Specification No. 3,892,250, also describes an apparatus for 
cleaning a coke oven door in which the door in the open position is 
cleaned by means of high-pressure fluid jets, and which has improved 
performance compared with the apparatus of German Specification No. 2 143 
595. This improvement is obtained by a smaller number of fluid jets 
oriented in various directions towards the closing rims of the coke oven 
door. These jets are moved parallel to the rims. The aim is to obtain a 
more uniform and even cleaning of the doors. In this apparatus, the fluid 
jets are moved by means of a chain along a guide rail which encompasses 
the closing rims of the coke oven door when the latter is placed in the 
cleaning apparatus. 
In order to obtain adequate cleaning, it has now been found that it is 
necessary for the high-pressure jets to be positioned very carefully with 
respect to the closing rims of the door. Very exact positioning of 
cleaning apparatus relative to the door and an extremely stably 
constructed guiding system should be obtained. In practice coke oven doors 
may suffer slight deformations. In cleaning, the path of the fluid jets 
should be adaptable to these deformations and also to small variations due 
to tolerances in the dimensions of the doors. 
According to the invention there is provided apparatus for cleaning a coke 
oven door, in combination with at least one coke oven door which has upper 
and lower closing surfaces and two side closing surfaces which are to be 
cleaned, the cleaning apparatus and door being relatively positionable in 
a position for cleaning when the door is open. The cleaning apparatus 
comprises a mobile frame having positioning surfaces engageable with guide 
surfaces at the said upper, lower and two side surfaces of the door in 
order to locate the door and apparatus in the cleaning position, the frame 
providing horizontally extending upper and lower guide elements and at 
least one vertically extending guide element corresponding to the closing 
surfaces of the door. The apparatus includes respective carriages movable 
along said guide elements and carrying fluid jets directed (in the 
cleaning position) at said closing surfaces. A jet or jets on the carriage 
which moves along the vertically extending guide element is connected by 
at least one resilient element to that carriage and there is at least one 
follower member connected to the jet or jets which in use engages and is 
pressed by the said resilient element against a guide track on the door so 
as to maintain the jet or jets in a desired relation to the vertical 
closing surface or surfaces being cleaned by that jet or jets. 
As the mobile frame of the cleaning apparatus is directly located with 
respect to the guide surfaces on the coke oven door, the guide elements, 
e.g. rails, can be positioned with a high degree of accuracy with respect 
to the closing rims of the door. The guide surfaces on the door may be 
projections. Further adaptation of the position of the vertically movable 
jets relative to the vertical closing rims can be obtained because these 
jets are resiliently connected to the carriage which moves on a vertical 
guide element. The guiding of the vertically movable jets, e.g. by rollers 
along guide strips attached to the door, can cause the jets to remain very 
accurately directed towards the closing rims from one place to another. 
It has been found that the positioning of the horizontally movable jets in 
relation to the relatively short upper and lower closing rims of the door 
may cause a less serious problem than the correct positioning of the 
vertically movable jets. It may therefore not be necessary to have these 
horizontally movable jets supported resiliently against horizontal guide 
tracks. It was also found possible, because of the short stroke which 
these jets need to preform, to actuate the carriages which move along the 
horizontal guide tracks by means of piston and cylinder units. Because of 
the long stroke required of the vertically moving jets, it has been found 
preferable that the carriage which moves along the vertical guide track 
should be connected to a cable or other rope which is actuated by means of 
a variable speed motor, preferably via a drum. 
Although it is conceivable to provide carriages with jets moving along 
separate vertical guide tracks for both vertical closing rims of the door, 
for simplicity of construction it has been found preferable to have a 
single vertical guide track. Thus the vertically movable carriage is 
preferably fork-shaped as seen in plan, having two legs which respectively 
extend in use to the two vertical sides of the door, the jet or jets at 
each side being hingedly connected to the carriage and the said resilient 
element at each side urging the jet or jets inwardly towards the door 
about the hinge. 
To obtain an accurate positioning of the door with respect to the jets, it 
is preferred that the horizontally extending and vertically extending 
guide elements are independently resiliently mounted on the mobile frame, 
said positioning surfaces being rigid with the respective guide elements. 
This enables for small deformations or deviations in the dimensions of the 
door, as well as inaccurate positioning of the door, to be corrected.

FIG. 1 shows part of a battery 1 of coking chambers in which one chamber is 
closed by coke oven door 2. This door 2 is shown in position 3A being 
secured to a door extractor machine, and is shown in phantom lines in 
position 3B being swung away by the machine and positioned opposite the 
door cleaning apparatus. A pair of forks 4 (see FIG. 2) which are part of 
a mobile frame 60 of this cleaning apparatus, may be moved between an 
extended position 4 and a withdrawn position 4A by rolling of the frame 
along horizontal rails 6 by means of wheels 5A and 5B. Rails 6 are fixed 
to a carriage (not shown) which can move along in front of the doors of 
the coking battery. Inside the forks 4 is seen a second fork 7 which 
carries jets 35, 36 (FIG. 4) at the end of its legs and which is movable 
vertically with respect to the mobile support frame 60 of the apparatus as 
it is mounted on a carriage 8. The two forks 4 are mounted on the cleaning 
apparatus at different heights for reasons which will be explained later. 
The carriage 8 is movable vertically, so that its legs 7, having the jets 
at their ends, are moved along the rims of door 2. The carriage 8 is 
itself connected to a cable (not shown) which may be driven by means of a 
variable speed motor via the schematically shown cable drum 24 (FIG. 2). 
The cable is led around guide wheels (not shown) near the lower end of the 
apparatus. 
FIG. 4 shows that the carriage 8 is provided with wheels 41 to 44 and 47 
and 48 by which it may accurately move along guide rails 45 and 46, which 
are fixed to the forks 4. At the end of the legs of fork 4 there are cam 
or locating surfaces 25 and 26 which cooperate with projecting elements 27 
and 28 on the sides of the door 2 until these elements 27 and 28 contact 
projections 30 and 31 on the fork 4. In order to permit the lateral 
movement of the fork 4 during the locating process, these forks 4 are 
resiliently connected to the frame of the apparatus which is movable on 
wheels 5a and 5b. This resilient mounting is generally indicated by 
reference number 34 in FIG. 2, which also shows the cam surface 26. As the 
whole carriage 8 and the fork 7 connected thereto move transversely 
together with the forks 4, the jets 35, 36 on the fork 7 are correctly 
located when the forks 4 are positioned opposite the door 2. In order 
nevertheless to obtain further positioning of these jets 35 and 36, they 
are movably connected to the fork 7 by means of hinge pins 39. Coil 
springs 40 surrounding hinge pins 39 urge rollers 37 into contact with 
guide strips 32, 33. By means of guide wheels 37, which rest against guide 
strips 32 and 33 on the door and are mounted with the jets to pivot around 
the pins 39, highly accurate positioning of the jets 35, 36 with respect 
to the door 2 can be obtained. 
FIG. 5 shows that the jet assemblies 35, 36 each produce a plurality of 
streams, one of these streams being directed against the guide strips 32 
and 33 respectively so as to clean them before the rollers 37 run onto 
them. 
When the door 2 is removed from the cleaning apparatus, the carriage 8 is 
first moved into its extreme lower position, in which a cam surface 38 
(see FIG. 5) moves against a projection (not shown) which keeps the 
resilient ends of the fork 7 outwardly extended. When another door is 
located in the apparatus, the roller 37 again comes in contact with the 
guide strip 32 of the door in the desired way, upon upward movement of the 
carriage 8. 
At the lower side of the apparatus at detail III in FIG. 2 and in FIGS. 3 
and 6, a horizontally movable jet 12 is carried by a carrige 9 which is 
movable inside four guide rails 11 on wheels 10. The carriage 9 is moved 
by a hydraulic piston and cylinder unit 14 via a coupling arm 13. Guide 
rails 11 are constructed to have sufficient length to enable the carriage 
9 with the jet 12 to be driven along the entire length of door 2 in order 
that upon location and removal of the door 2 difficulties are not 
experienced. The guide rail 11 carries a running-on surface 19 which 
cooperates with an element 20 at the lower side of the door. Accurate 
positioning of the jet 12 is thus obtained because the guide rail 11 can 
swing around a hinge 16 against the force exerted by a resilient element 
17. 
At the upper side of the apparatus, a guide rail 21 together with carriage 
and jet are provided in symmetry with the guide rail 11 but otherwise in a 
similar manner. The hinge 22 and resilient element 23 seen in FIG. 2 have 
functions comparable to those of elements 16 and 17. 
In FIG. 7 it can be seen that the various jets 35, 36 and 12 are connected 
to a feed system for high-pressure water by means of high-pressure 
conduits 49, 50 and 51. Free hanging loops in these conduits enable the 
movement of the jets along their paths. The water is supplied to the 
various jets at a pressure of between 500 and 700 atmospheres.