Patent GB-845845-A (GB)
Title: Feeding device for induction heating furnaces
IPC: F27D3/04
Filed: 1959-02-12
Abstract: 845,845. Charging and discharging furnaces. AJAX MAGNETHERMIC CORPORATION, Feb. 12, 1959 [Feb. 17, 1958], No. 4908/59. Class 51 (2). A loader 20, Fig. 4, for feeding billets through an induction heating furnace after the last of the billets has been inserted comprises a reciprocating tubular piston rod 22 within a housing 21, a ram 28 slidably mounted within the rod 22 and movable relative thereto, and gripping jaws 40 mounted on the rod 22 and adapted to effect a step-by-step movement of the ram either forwardly or rearwardly by frictionally engaging the ram. In normal operation the loader 20 may feed the furnace in known manner without the ram 28 and a dummy billet 29 attached thereto so that as the piston rod 22 reciprocates within the housing 21 at the optimum rate for proper heating of the billets by the alternate introduction of pressurized fluid into the ends of the housing on either side of a piston 23 rigidly secured to the rod through passages 15, 16 the billets are propelled by the reciprocating movement of a head 27 coaxially fitted to the piston rod 22. To clear the furnace without the insertion of new billets the ram 28 with the dummy billet 29 attached thereto are mounted within an axial bore 24, 27a extending through the rod 22 and head 27. The head 27 has channels 31, Fig. 5, at right angles to each other to provide apertures in the bore 27a to expose the ram 28 and allow the jaws 40 to grip the ram. The jaws 40 are pivotally mounted in the channels 31 by eccentrically mounted lateral pivot shafts 41 which may be maintained against rotational movement and which comprise a pair of axially aligned journals 43, 44 rotatably mounted in apertures 35, 36 of the head 27 having interposed eccentric pivots 45 which project within the channels 31 to pivotally mount the jaws 40 so that each jaw 40 may be selectively tilted to either of two positions whereby the jaw contacts the ram and allows movement in one direction only and an intermediate non-tilted position in which the jaw does not contact the ram. The head 27 has grooves 37, 38, 39 substantially vertically aligned with grooves 40a in the jaws 40 corresponding to the pivoted and intermediate non- pivoted positions of the jaws and a circumferentially continuous coil spring 47 is contained within an internal groove 47a of a retainer ring 49 surrounding the head 27. Longitudinal grooves 49a in the ring are provided adjacent the jaws 40 whereby the outermost surfaces 43 of the jaws are spaced from the ring. The spring 47 is longitudinally movable in a forward or rearward direction of the ring 49 to positions whereby the spring enters either the groove 37 or the groove 39 so that the spring leaves the grooves 40a of the jaws and contacts the outer surfaces 43 of the jaws thereby pivoting the jaws into contact with the ram. The ram 28 is cooled by water circulating forwardly through a tube 70 positioned within the ram rearwardly of a plug 71 at the forward end of the ram and rearwardly between the tube and ram, from where it is expelled through a fitting 74 and a flexible hose 75.