An Improved Apparatus for Charging Pig-iron and Scrap or other Material into Open Hearth Furnaces.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Mar., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 21st Jan., 1899-Accepted, 21st Mar., 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Apparatus for Charging Pig-iron and Scrap or other
Material into Open Hearth Furnaces.
I, CHARLES BEDFORD, of Gayles Street, Stockton-on-Tees, in the County of
Durham, Crane Driver, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to machinery or apparatus for delivering and charging
pig iron scrap or other material into open hearth furnaces in which the material
is charged in a horizontal direction through feeding doors or charging holes
provided at the breast of the furnace.
In the manufacture of steel in the open hearth furnace according to the method
usually practised, pig-iron and scrap metal are charged onto the bed of the furnace
by hand and peel, which method is not reliable for evenly distributing the charge
to all parts of the furnace hearth, and involves so much labour and time that
machinery of an expensive and complicated character has been devised to supersede
charging by hand labour.
The object of this invention is to provide an apparatus of simple construction and
management by which the labour required and time occupied in charging a
furnace is greatly reduced as compared with the hand and peel process; the means
employed being such that the whole surface of the furnace bed is traversed by a
peel supported from a travelling crane and operated in the manner hereinafter
described by which the power and facilities of the crane are brought to bear in
aid of the manipulation of the peel by hand in the distribution of the charge. A
suitable construction for the purpose of my invention consists as follows:-
The peel is supported in the horizontal position in bearings in which it can be
turned about on its shaft by hand for the purpose of tilting the flat end to either
side when tipping a charge. The peel shaft bearings are secured and swivelled to
a rod placed vertically in bearings which are fixed pendant fashion to the jib of
the crain the said rod being slung from the burden chain running over the jib
end in the usual way.
By this arrangement the vertical rod which for distinction I will designate the
burden rod is vertically adjustable being lifted and lowered in its bearings by the
burden or jib chain like an ordinary free load and is also capable of being turned
about its axis at the will of the man manipulating the peel, when requiring to turn
the peel to the right or left or it may be a fixture in this respect the peel being
turned round with its bearing by a suitable swivel attachment. For the proper
working of the peel the burden rod must be rigid to any sideward movement and
its bearings are secured accordingly, so that the peel can be thrust forward or drawn
back with the crane and as a fixed part thereof. This enables the peel to
be thrust under a pile of pig-iron, scrap, or other material placed on a bogie in
front of the crane which lifts the load so taken on the peel and then having other-
wise adjusted its position in front of the furnace breast, thrusts the peel through the
charging door as far into the furnace as the manipulator of the peel requires, who

page_text: then turns the peel to the right or left if required and tilts it over to discharge the
load. This operation is repeated until the furnace is charged.
In order to prevent the peel tilting that is turning round on its shaft or swivelling
to the right or left when not required it is locked in its bearings by a pin or other
equivalent device which is removable or withdrawn by the manipulator at will.
Dated this 19th day of March 1898.
G. J. CLARKSON,
Chartered Patent Agent.
Stockton-on-Tees and Hull, Agent for the Applicant.
An Improved Apparatus for Charging Pig-iron and Scrap or other
Material into Open Hearth Furnaces.
I, CHARLES BEDFORD, of Gayles Street, Stockton-on-Tees, in the County of
Durham, Crane Driver, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement:-
66
"
This invention relates to machinery or apparatus for delivering and charging
pig iron, scrap' or other material into open hearth furnaces in which the
material is charged in a horizontal direction through feeding door or charging
holes provided at the breast of the furnace.
In the manufacture of steel in the open hearth furnace according to the method
usually practised, pig iron and scrap metal are charged on to the bed of the furnace
by hand and peel, which method is not reliable for evenly distributing the charge
to all parts of the furnace hearth and involves so much labour and time that
machinery of an expensive and complicated character has been devised to supersede
charging by hand labour.
The object of this invention is to provide an apparatus of simple construction and
management by which the labour required and time occupied in charging a furnace
is greatly reduced as compared with the hand and peel process; the means
employed being such that the whole surface of the furnace bed is traversed by
a peel supported from a travelling crane and operated in the manner hereinafter
described by which the power and facilities of the crane are brought to bear in
aid of the manipulation of the peel by hand, in the distribution of the charge.
A suitable construction for the purpose of my invention is illustrated in the
drawing annexed to this specification in which Fig. 1 illustrates a crane furnished
with my improved charging apparatus with the peel inserted through the charging
hole of a furnace, the crane and charging apparatus being shown in side elevation
and the furnace in a section view taken transversely. Fig. 2 is plan view of the
peel itself taken on line x x of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is sectional view taken on line yy of Fig. 1 and Fig. 4 illustrates a
convenient form of bogie for the purpose of my invention but which is not to be
taken as novel or forming part thereof.
The apparatus as constructed consists as follows:-
The peel a is supported in the horizontal position in bearings in which it can
be turned about on its shaft by hand for the purpose of tilting the flat end a¹ to
either side when tipping a charge. The peel shaft bearings 6 are secured and
swivelled to a rod e placed vertically in bearings which are fixed pendant fashion
to the jib of a crane the said rod or shaft c being slung from the burden chain d
running over the jib end in the usual way. By this arrangement the vertical

page_text: rod c which for distinction I will designate the burden rod is vertically adjustable,
being lifted and lowered in its bearings by the burden or jib chain like an ordinary
free load.
For the proper working of the peel the burden rod c must be rigid to any
sideward movement and its bearings are secured accordingly so that the peel can be
thrust forward or drawn back with the crane and as a fixed part thereof. In the
construction shown in the drawing the burden rod c is housed in a frame consisting
of four corner uprights e connected together each upright forming a running
bearing for pulleys f and fi mounted in brackets or goose necks secured to the
rod c and this frame is rigidly connected to the jib post of the crane by any
adjustable means.
Two sets of pulleys f and f' are shown at different levels in the frame so as to
effectually control the burden rod and guide it in a vertical motion.
Whether the burden rod c can be turned on its axis at the will of the man
manipulating the peel so as to turn the peel to the right or left depends upon
how this rod is fitted to the pulley brackets. If rigidly this movement cannot
take place, but if preferred each set of brackets may jointly constitute a ring frame
in which the rod c can be turned. Otherwise I prefer to make provision for turning
the peel with its bearings by a suitable swivel attachment such as a plate g so
fitted to the rod c that it is free to turn round like a collar plate in a groove.
It will now be seen that the peel has three motions, one on its own axis to tilt the
shovel end, one on a vertical axis in line with the burden rod to turn it to the right
or left, and a vertical-adjustment shared with the burden rod. But the peel has no
other movement relatively to the crane. This enables the peel to be thrust under
a pile of pig iron scrap or other material placed on a bogie in front of a crane, a
convenient form of bogie being shown in Fig. 4. The load so taken on to the
peel is lifted by the crane which then adjusts its position in front of the furnace
breast and thrusts the peel through the charging door in the manner shown in
Fig. 1 and as far into the furnace as the manipulator of the peel requires, who then
turns the peel to the right or left and tilts it over to discharge the load. This
operation is repeated until the furnace is charged.
The peel as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 may be taken as representing an ordinary
flat shovelled peel or other suitable form of peel but I prefer for the purposes of
my invention to construct the peel with a trough shaped end which is detachable
and this is the construction shown in plan in Fig. 2, in inverted plan in Fig. 5, and
in transverse section in Fig. 6 taken on line z z of Figs. 2 and 5 but drawn to a
larger scale and in a different angular position. Such a trough shaped end can be
placed on a bogie to be charged with scrap or pig iron and lifted therefrom by the
peel fork and, inserted as an ordinary peel into the furnace. But in order to
prevent slipping from the fork into the furnace it automatically locks itself to the
peel fork when in the tilted position.
For this purpose the peel shaft is forked at the lifting end with two prongs i
set to the angle of the trough sides which are furnished with ledges a² a² to secure
a sliding fit between the prongs and the trough sides the trough being closed up
between the prongs or withdrawn therefrom endwise. This enables the peel to
insert its prongs along the sides of the trough containing the charge and lift it from
the bogie, instead of lifting the charge directly from the bogie on an ordinary
peel. The inner end of the trough terminates in two hooks; claws or their
equivalents adjusted to take hold of a pin inserted in a corner or bight of either
hook but with an open gate between them. A pin works on a pivot and when
the peel is in the level position as shown in Fig. 2 this pin hangs down clear
of the hooks, but when tilted falls to the lower side thereby engaging with a hook
as shown in Fig. 6. It will now be seen that when the peel and trough are not
tilted they are not locked together, but when tilted as in the furnace the trough
becomes automatically locked to the peel fork and there is therefore no risk of
leaving the trough in the furnace as it can be withdrawn in the tilted or locked
position.

page_text: In order to prevent the peel tilting, that is turning on its own axis or swivelling
to the right or left when not required it is locked in its bearings by a pin h or other
equivalent device which is removeable or withdrawn by the manipulator at will.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. In combination with a travelling crane of suitable construction as a means for
charging open hearth furnaces an arrangement of mechanism in which a peel
mounted in bearings to turn on its axis is slung from the crane by means of a
burden rod such as c working in a frame rigidly connected to the crane, provision
being made thereby for a vertical adjustment of the peel without oscillation com-
bined with the means of turning the peel as on a pivot to the right or left and
tilting it on its own axis, all arranged combined and operating substantially as
hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
Dated this 20th day of January 1899.
G. J. CLARKSON,
Charred Patent Agent.
Stockton-on-Tees and Hull, Agent for the Applicant.