Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for Charging Furnaces with Metal.
Year: 1899

page_text: Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for Charging Furnaces
with Metal.
I, JOHN JAMES BLECKLY, Director of the Pearson & Knowles Coal & Iron
Company Limited, Warrington, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to apparatus for charging reverberatory-open hearth-
and like furnaces with iron or steel billets, ingots, piles, scrap or pigs. It is to
a less degree applicable also for charging scrap and ingots or billets of other
metals.
Immediately.in front of the furnace, and running on a railway parallel with
the side of the furnace I place a carriage on which is fixed a hopper having an
adjustable door whereby the charge of billets, ingots or the like can be discharged
into a peel or trough. This door is preferably hinged above, and can be made
of skeleton bars so that the charge can be readily seen. Secondly on this carriage
I place a long trough or peel sliding or running on rollers or slides at right
angles to the railway and of such length that a part of it can run through the
furnace door to the opposite wall of the furnace to be charged and yet leave
sufficient amount of trougli or its continuation beyond the first roller to be attached
to the carriage and so more than balance the part of the trough in the furnace and
its load Thirdly, I arrange a scotch or stop in this trough worked by means
of a rack and pinion so that it can be placed at any required position in the
trough and held there. Fourthly, the continuation of the trough itself is provided
with a rack also worked by a pinion whereby the pinion can drive the trough
backwards and forwards. These pinions can be worked by crank and hand or by
power as desired, and in place of rack and pinion I can use a screw and hand-
wheel or the like. The frough is supported on the rollers at such height that
when running into the furnace its lowest part shall be a little above the bed,
and thus not in contact with the same, and thus the bed is not injured by the
pushing in of the charge.
The mode of action is as follows:-
-
The hopper having been loaded with the required quantity of billets or other
material the trough is brought into position immediately below it and directly
opposite the door of the furnace, the scotch or stop is then fixed at the back end
of the trough furthest from the furnace and at a distance from the front end
determined by the exact position on the bed of the furnace, in which it is desired
to deposit the charge. The door of the hopper is now released and the charge
falls into the trough. The trough being thus charged is now run forward into
the furnace to a position which brings the front end of the trough and of thie
charge of billets etc.. to the required' distance from the opposite wall of the
furnace where the charge is intended to lie.
The hand wheel, crank or mechanism is now put in action to draw out the

page_text: trough, while the stop remains stationary. As the trough is drawn out, the
billets etc., fall the slight distance necessary so as to lie on the bottom of the
furnace. The stop is now run back to a point sufficient to allow of the placing
of a fresh load in the trough and the door of the hopper again manipulated so as
to allow another charge to fall into the trough. It is now ready for further
charging the furnace, the carriage is moved on to the next charging door or to
the required distance to prevent the trough coming in contact with the first charge
and a second charge is then run into the furnace. This can be continued till the
furnace is charged sufficiently. The trough is usually rectangular so as to allow
a rectangular pile of billets to stand within it, but other forms may be used and
the various charges are placed on the bottom of the furnace at any distance from
one another that is required. In this way I estimate that a furnace can be
charged by one man or even a boy in the course of a few minutes instead of
requiring a considerable number of men, a much longer period of time with very
great exertion, to do the same work. By this means also, and as a necessary
sequence to the above, the temperature of the furnace will not be anything like
as much reduced in charging as in the present system.
D
T
ALL
1
1000
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Uf 6, Lord Street, Liverpool. Patent Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for Charging Furnaces
with Metal.
'
I, JOHN JAMES BLECKLY, Director of the Pearson & Knowles Coal & Iron
Company Limited, Warrington, in the County of Lancaster, 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:-
This invention relates to charging reverberatory and other similar furnaces,
and it consists in certain novel features of construction and combination of parts
hereinafter described and also certain methods of operating the same. The inven-
tion is adapted for charging reverberatory open hearth, and like furnaces, with
iron or steel billets and ingots, or may also be used for dealing with scrap
or pig iron.
The arrangement is also applicable for the charging of other metals in a similar
manner. In charging a reverberatory furnace with iron or steel billets the common
practice has generally been to place each billet singly, either directly on the
furnice bottom by hand, or to use a long charging bar known as a peel, for the
purpose. This method of charging is necessarily slow, the operations of the
furnace are greatly delayed and the manual labour required for charging is
heavy and expensive. With my improved method the number of men required
for working the furnace is very much reduced, and the operating of the charging
trough involves little or no manual labour, and consequently materially reduces
the cost of working.
The charging trough may be of any desired size, the capacity of the one that
I have thus far contemplated, being adapted for dealing with billets in lots of
about two tons each. The hopper of the machine is filled with billets dropped in
from an overhead runner requiring no more labour to fill this hopper than would
be required to drop the material in front of the furnace door for hand charging.
Suitable mechanisin operated, by hand or power is provided for successively

page_text: emptying the loaded opper the ag
furnace, holding the charge inside the furnace while withdrawing the trough, and
withdrawing the blocking plate,
Each two ton charge can be dealt with in this manner very expeditiously, and
a twelve ton furnace may be charged in from ten to twelve minutes if properly
handled!
The mechanism for filling and handling the trough in charging may be varied
according to circumstances.
-
Suitable mechanism for carrying out my method more especially where a series
of furnaces are set in a line, is shown in the accompanying drawings:-
Fig. 1 is a side elevation partly in section;
Fig. 2 is a plan;
Fig. 3 is a rear end elevation partly in section through line XX showing more
especially the mechanism for running charging trough into furnace and for hold-
ing blocking plate in position while withdrawing the empty trough, and then
withdrawing the blocking plate.
A A are widely separated track rails on which operates a traction car A¹ the
latter having mounted thereon reversing engines or electric or other motor B
for propelling the car along the tracks. The engine shaft B₁ has a pinion b
engaging a gear wheel bon a counter shaft c which gears with the car axles
by means of bevel wheels d d and as the engines and gearing may be of the
ordinary construction no further description of these is considered necessary.
aa are parallel beams extending lengthwise of the car joined together by other
beams extending crosswise of the car, and constituting a part of the framework
of the car, these beams also curry a frame consisting of two side channel bars e e
rigidly connected and inside of which runs the charging trough supported upon.
rollers and hereinafter mentioned in the specification as trough C. This
trough C is composed of two side plates c¹ rigidly connected and suitably stiffened
& cross rollers S₁ arranged at intervals. In the trough C the stiffening plate ³ is
fixed and supports two racks f and g. The rack f is securely bolted to plate
of trough C and is used for running the loaded trough C into furnace F and then
withdrawing it when empty. The rack g is carried in slides g which latter are
fixed to plate of trough C, and is bolted to blocking plate at the rack's front
end. This rack g is used for holding blocking plate in position at door of
furnace and so preventing the billets from travelling back with the trough C
and afterwards withdrawing the blocking plate . In other words this blocking
plate can be placed in any required position in the trough and held there. On
the outside of the trough C at the rear end, are rivetted two angle irons G or other
bars which just touch two rotatable guide rollers h h securely mounted on pillars
fixed to the side channels e e. These guide pulleys h prevent the trough C
from rising up in case the rear end should be overbalanced and so put the racks
out of gear. In the front half of trough C is a bottom plate S provided with
rollers to allow the material to slide off. At the rear end of the main frame
are fixed a pair of reversing engines EE for running forward and withdrawing
the charging trough. Two loose pinions 7 on the engine shaft I gear with the
racks and on the trough C through stud wheels. The pinions are
provided with friction clutches mm working on feather-keys and is also
provided with a band brake z worked from the foot plate. This brake is to allow
the blocking plate to be held in position while withdrawing the empty trough C
and as the engines or other motor and gearing may be of the ordinary construction
no further description is considered necessary.
At the front end of the machine parallel with the trough C is the hopper D
composed of wrought iron plates and stiffening angles. One side of the hopper D
is made up of a number of arms n, securely keyed to a loose shaft o, and held in
position by a bolt. This bolt is fixed underneath the bottom plate Q of hopper
and is moved backwards and forwards from the footplate by means of a hand
lever P. The bottom plate Q of the hopper is fixed at such an angle that any

page_text: material placed upon it immediately slides off again when the arms are
released and as the hopper is placed parallel with the trough C and the
bottom plate of hopper just clears the side plate of the trough C any material
placed in the hopper D at once finds its way into the front end of the trough.
The arms n
hanging from the loose shaft would always find a vertical position
by reason of their own weight, but the bottom plate of the hopper has a slot n
cut for each arm to fall into. These slots are not cut deep enough into the plate
to allow the arms to assume a vertical position, therefore each time the arms
swing back after the billets have left the hopper their weight causes them to
strike against the back of the slot and remain there without any swinging about,
thus they are always in position for the bolt to secure them.
All the levers for starting and traversing etc., are brought to the foot plate J
so that the machine may be brought opposite each charging door and the charge
emptied into the furnace without the attendant moving from his place.
Many of the minor details of the apparatus are omitted so as not to obscure
the more important members, but the general working of the apparatus it is
believed will be readily understood.
To recapitulate. The runner loaded with billets is traversed over the hopper 1)
of the machine and the bolt is shot so that the arms cannot swing out.
The. billets are then dropped from the runner into the hopper. D the machine is
run to a position opposite one of the charging doors of furnace F and the block-
ing plate fixed in the position shown in Figure 2, that is at a distance from
the front end of trough. The bolt p is then withdrawn and the weight of the
billets pressing against the swinging arms causes them to fly open, thus
allowing the billets to slide down into the front part of the trough C and as the
billets leave the hopper D the arms swing back into their original position
and the bolt is again shot into place. The trough is then run into the
furnace and the clutch m' on pinion is thrown out of gear, the brake is
then put down and the blocking plate held firmly in position. The engines
are then reversed and trough C is withdrawn leaving the blocking plate and
billets behind in the furnace. The clutch m on pinion is thrown out of gear
and the clutch for pinion is put in gear, the brake z is then released-and
blocking plate withdrawn thus bringing the parts to the place of beginning
ready for another operation.
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. The arrangement for charging furnaces with iron or steel billets, ingots,
piles, scrap, pig iron or the like, said arrangement comprising a trough or
carrier capable of holding a charge of metal and being run with the charge
thereon through the furnace door into the furnace, and a blocking plate or stop
in this trough, adapted to be placed in any desired position therein and held
tliere, whereby if the charged trough be run into the furnace with the stop at
the rear of the charge, and the stop then locked stationary while the trough or
carrier is withdrawn, the charge of metal will be left behind in the furnace,
substantially as described.
2. An apparatus for charging furnaces with metals, comprising a hopper for
holding the metal with which the furnace is to be charged, a long trough or carrier
mounted on a carriage and capable of sliding or running at right angles to the
travel thereof, said trough or carrier being supplied with metal from the hopper,
and made of such a length that a part of it can be run through the furnace door
with the charge loaded thereon, in combination with a blocking plate or stop
in this trough so arranged that it can be placed in any required position in the
trough and held there, whereby if the trough he brought directiv opposite the
door of the furnace and charged with metal from the hopper, then run into the
furnace and the stop locked stationary in the rear of the charge, the drawing

page_text: back of the trough will leave the charge of metal behind, and cause it to fall
off the trough the slight distance necessary to. lie in the furnace, substantially
as described:
3. In apparatus for charging furnaces, the special arrangement and construc-
tion of hopper with hinged skeleton door and sloping bottom for holding the
material and enabling it to be discharged when required into a trough or
carrier for delivery to the furnace, substantially as described.
4. The apparatus for charging furnaces with iron or steel billets, ingots,
piles, scrap, pig iron or the like, constructed, arranged and operating substan-
tially as herein before described with reference to and shown in the drawings
annexed.
Dated this 7th day of April 1900
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Patent Agents of Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and London.