Tile hanger assembly

An anchor tile hanger for anchoring refractory brick to the roof of a furnace structure is comprised of a pair of vertically spaced apart plates having aligned cutouts in the upper edges which cutouts are adapted to engage the lower horizontal portion of a suspended I-beam. Attached to each of the ends of the vertically aligned plates are a pair of U-shaped rods each having a bight portion turned inwardly and facing one other which are adapted to engage and anchor the refractory tile or brick. The cutouts in the vertical disposed plates include overhang portions for positioning the tile hanger about the lower horizontal portions of the I-beam and clearance areas which facilitate assembly and insection of the tile hanger about the lower horizontal portion of the I-beam.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to furnace arch or ceiling structures and 
particularly to tile hangers for suspending refractory brick or tiles to 
the roof of furnace structures. 
The refractory tile material or brick used in the construction of the roof 
of a furnace is generally a castable refractory tile material which is 
suspended by attachment to the overhead steel structure. The spaces 
between the refractory tile or brick is then filled in with a plastic 
refractory material having the consistency of a thick putty which is 
installed by using a steel hammer or air rammer, or is filled in with a 
castable refractory material which is installed by prepared formwork. Once 
installed, the refractory material is baked to form a monolithic furnace 
roof lining. In constructing a ceiling or roof for a furnace structure 
with such refractory material, it is important that some means and method 
be provided for securing the refractory tile to the overhead steel 
structure in the furnace roof. One previously suggested tile hanger is 
disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,864 and relates to a clip having two arms 
which are pivotally joined together so that they may be rotated to snugly 
envelop a flange on the I-beam. 
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 2,657,651 describes a hanger construction comprised of 
a pair of stirrup members having hanger legs bent to form hook ends 
engageable over the I-beam flanges and opposite ends which are engageable 
with shoulders on the anchor tile. 
Use of such tile hanger devices necessarily involves excessive time and 
labor in manually engaging the tile hanger to the overhead steel structure 
within the furnace roof. Also, when such hangers are assembled together, 
they have only limited application to specific I-beam constructions, a 
factor which has restricted their widespread application because of the 
necessity to require a plurality of sizes to accommodate variances in 
I-beam cross-sections. Moreover, such hanger devices are designed to 
rigidly attach to the suspended I-beam and do not provide flexibility to 
prevent damage to the refractory tile material during installation of the 
monolithic refractory material and upon extended periods of furnace 
operation, such designs have been found to be unacceptable because they 
are not reusable for periodic maintenance and repair work. Additionally, 
such rigidly attached tile hangers are not readily adaptable to contoured 
furnace ceilings or arches to meet specific requirements of the various 
furnace constructions and do not provide the necessary resiliency to 
resist expansion and vibration within the furnace structure. Accordingly, 
such devices have found only limited application as tile hangers. 
THE INVENTION 
It is one object of the present invention to provide an improved tile 
hanger assembly for attaching refractory tile to the overhead steel 
structure of a furnace assembly. 
A further object of the present invention is to provide a tile hanger 
assembly having a minimum of parts which are inexpensive to produce, easy 
to assemble and install and which may be readily repaired with a minimum 
of labor and time in a furnace structure. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a tile hanger 
assembly which is adaptable to a plurality of sizes of I-beam 
cross-sections in furnace roof structures. 
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide clamp 
members engageable with overhead steel structure for suspending I-beams 
for securing a refractory monolithic material in the furnace roof 
structure. 
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the tile hanger 
assembly is comprised of a pair of vertically spaced apart plates having 
aligned cutouts in their upper edges thereof which are adapted to engage 
the lower horizontal portion of an overhead I-beam structure in the roof 
or ceiling of a furnace structure. Welded to the ends of the two 
vertically spaced plates are a pair of U-shaped rods having a bight 
portion bent inwardly and facing one other which is engagable with the 
notched portions in the refractory tile material. The cutout portions on 
the vertically spaced plates are shaped to include overhang portions which 
engage the ends of the lower horizontal portion of the I-beam and includes 
clearance areas therein which facilitate positioning the tile hanger 
assembly over the lower horizontal portion of the I-beam. 
When the roof or ceiling of the furnace structure does not include an 
existing overhead I-beam construction, an I-beam structure may be secured 
to the overhead steel structure by utilizing a clamp assembly having a 
pair of adjustably spaced leg extensions with inturned end portions which 
are adapted to receive and engage the upper horizontal portions of a 
suspended I-beam. The adjustably spaced leg extensions are attached to the 
overhead steel supporting structure by fastener means and a spacer so that 
the inturned leg portions snugly engage and support the upper horizontal 
portion of the I-beam. 
The tile hanger assembly of the present invention provides for the 
positioning of refractory tile material lining into the contours of any 
furnace designed. The free standing engagement of the tile hanger assembly 
with the lower portion of the I-beam provides for a degree of flexibility 
which results in an improved monolithic lining which is heretofore been 
unknown in the art. Also, the simplicity of construction of the tile 
hanger provides for significant cost savings in material and labor in 
assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
Referring now to the drawings wherein like numerals have been used 
throughout the several views to designate the same or similar parts, FIG. 
1 illustrates the mounting of a refractory tile material 10 by an arch 
tile hanger assembly 12 to a suspended I-beam structure 14. As shown in 
FIGS. 1, 3 and 4, the tile hanger assembly 12 is comprised of a pair of 
vertically spaced apart plates 16 having a cutout portion 17 in the upper 
edges 18 in each of the vertical spaced apart plates 16. Welded or 
otherwise mounted adjacent the ends 19 of plates 16 are a pair of U-shaped 
rods 21. The bight portions 22 of the U-shaped rods 21 are turned inwardly 
toward one another to engage and hold the refractory tile material 10 
within the notched portions 11 of the tile material 10. 
The cutout portion 17 (FIG. 2) in each of the vertical spaced apart plates 
16 is shaped to include overhang portions 24 which engage the ends 15 of 
the lower horizontal portion 23 of the I-beam 14. The cutout portion 17 in 
each of the spaced apart plates 16 includes clearance areas 26 which 
permit and facilitate positioning the tile hanger 12 about the lower 
horizontal portion of the I-beam 14. As shown in phantom position 2 in 
FIG. 2, the tile hanger assembly 12 can be rotated such that the I-beam 
ends 15 will be extended into the clearance area 26 of the cutout portion 
17 to thereby permit positioning of the hanger assembly 12 about the lower 
horizontal portion 23 of the I-beam 14. Moreover, the size of the cutout 
17 permits a given tile hanger 12 size to be positioned about of plurality 
of cross-sectional sized I-beams. The clearance between the convex-like 
projection 27, extending inwardly into the cutout portion 17 from the side 
of plates 16, provides the proper reduced clearance between the tile 
hanger assembly 12 and the bottom surface 25 of the lower horizontal 
portion 23 of the suspended I-beam 14 to prevent disengagement or skewing 
of the assembly during both the installation of the monolithic refractory 
material and during operation of the furnace structure. After positioning 
the tile hanger to the I-beam, the refractory tile 10 is inserted into and 
engaged by bight portions 22, a position as shown in FIG. 1. Additionally, 
when the refractory tile 10 is positioned onto bight portions 22, a 
clearance 13 is provided between the top surface 13 of the tile 10 and the 
lower edge 20 of the vertically spaced apart plates 16. This clearance 
prevents damage to the tile 10 during installation and during operation of 
the furnace structure. 
FIG. 5 illustrates an alternate construction and assembly of the tile 
hanger assembly 12 which does not require welding or fixedly mounting the 
U-shaped rods 21 to the vertically spaced apart plates 16. As shown in 
FIG. 5, the tile hanger assembly 12 includes a U-shaped plate 28 having 
vertically spaced apart plates 16 extending upwardly from a base 29. The 
vertically spaced apart plates 16 include a cutout portion 17 in the upper 
edges 18 thereof and which are aligned with respect to one another and 
which are adapted to receive the lower horizontal portion of the I-beam 
14. The cutout portion 17 of the vertically spaced apart plates 16 is 
identical in construction with that described above with respect to the 
embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-4 and includes overhang portions 24 which 
engage the ends 15 of the I-beam 14 when the tile hanger assembly 12 is 
engageable with the lower portion of the I-beam 14. The cutout portion 17 
includes also clearance areas 26 which facilitate positioning of the tile 
hanger assembly 12 about the horizontal end portion 15 of the I-beam 14. 
Also, although not shown in assembled relation, the convex-like projection 
27, extending inwardly into the cutout portion 17 provides the proper 
reduced clearance between the tile hanger assembly and the bottom surface 
25 of the lower horizontal portion 23 of the suspended I-beam 14 to 
prevent disengagement or skewing of the assembly during both the 
installation of the monolithic refractory material and during operation of 
the furnace structure. 
The base 29 of the U-shaped plate 28 includes an end extension 30 thereon 
having recesses 32 along the outer edge thereof which are adapted to 
receive the U-shaped rods 21, as will hereinafter be described. The 
vertically spaced apart plates 16 of the U-shaped plate 28 includes a 
plurality of cutouts 34 having detent lip projections 35 extending 
inwardly from the vertical spaced apart plates 16. The ends 33 of the 
U-shaped rods 21, opposite the bight portions 22 thereon, are inserted 
past the recesses 32 on the end extensions 30 of the U-shaped plate 28 and 
are pivoted about the recess 32 such that the ends 33 engage the lip 
detent members to reset to a position in the corner of the U-shaped plate 
28. The U-shaped rods 21 include an intermediate bight portion which is 
shown turned inwardly and facing one another to engage the notched 
portions 11 of the refractory tile material 10, as has heretofore been 
described. The simple and unique construction of the tile hanger 12 as 
shown in FIG. 5 provides a tile hanger which is simple to assemble and 
does not require welding of parts together. All that is necessary is a 
punching operation to preform the plate 28 and the rods 21 to assemble the 
tile hanger 12. Additionally, such a hanger is of a rigid construction 
which is adapted to be positioned about a plurality of cross-sectional 
sized I-beams. 
When the overhead steel supporting structure of the roof of the furnace 
structure is comprised of existing I-beam structures, it is only necessary 
to utilize the unique tile hanger assembly 12 in suspending the refractory 
tile material 10, as has heretofore been described. However, in many 
furnace structures, the overhead steel supporting structure is not 
comprised of I-beam construction steel work, but rather is comprised of 
overhead steel plates. When the furnace structure is of such a 
construction, it is applicant's intention to describe and disclose in 
FIGS. 1 and 6 a clamping member or means 40 which is attached to or rests 
upon the overhead steel supporting structure 42 (FIG. 6), as will 
hereinafter be described. The clamping member or element 40 is comprised 
of a pair of adjustably spaced leg portions 44 having lower inturned end 
portions 45 which receive and support the upper horizontal portions 50 of 
an I-beam 14. Each of the adjustably spaced leg portions 44 have an 
opening 49 therein which is adapted to receive a bolt stem 46 and spacer 
47. The member 40 may either be mounted directly to an overhead steel 
supporting structure (not shown) or include a projection portion 45 
thereon which is adapted to rest upon an extension 43 of the overhead 
steel supporting structure 42, as shown in FIG. 6. Preferably, the length 
of the spacer 47 is of a predetermined length such that the inturned leg 
portions snugly receive and support the horizontal portions of the I-beam 
14 to suspend the same to permit the hanging of the refractory tile 
material 10 to the roof or ceiling of the furnace structure, as has 
heretofore been described. 
Importantly, in the tile hanger assembly 12, it is only necessary that the 
rods be comprised of a high-temperature alloy which will withstand the 
high temperatures within the furnace structure. The spaced apart plates 16 
may be comprised of common structural steel to provide a completed 
assembly at a minimum of cost that is reusable over and over again. 
The composition of the refractory tile material is well known to those 
skilled in the art and when the tile refractory material 11 is suspended 
by the tile hanger assembly 12 to the roof or ceiling of the furnace 
structure, a plastic form of refractory material is then installed between 
the refractory tile material by a steel hammer or air rammer or is filled 
with a castable refractory material which is installed by a prepared 
formwork. Once installed, the plastic refractory material is baked to form 
a monolithic furnace lining which eliminates leaky joints, reduces 
spalling, prevents air infiltration and provides effective heat radiation 
within the furnace structure.