Patent ID: 8257643

Claim:
A temperature maintenance and/or possible heating apparatus for long products, continuously cast and sheared to size by means of shearing means so as to define segments of bloom, said apparatus being disposed between a casting machine having a first casting line and a second casting line, and a rolling line disposed downstream of the casting machine in order to make long rolled metal products, the apparatus comprising: a first furnace provided with a first introduction rollerway to introduce the bloom segments, disposed aligned with said first casting line, a removal rollerway, aligned with said rolling line and suitable to render the bloom segments available to said rolling line, and transverse transfer devices to transfer the bloom segments from the first introduction rollerway to the removal rollerway; a second furnace disposed upstream with respect to said first furnace, provided with a second introduction rollerway to introduce the bloom segments, disposed aligned with said second casting line, an exit rollerway aligned with the removal rollerway and suitable to convey the bloom segments toward said removal rollerway and transverse transfer devices suitable to transfer the bloom segments from the second introduction rollerway toward the exit rollerway; a transit tunnel located aligned with said first casting line, adjacent and parallel to the longitudinal extension of the second furnace and upstream of said first furnace, and having an internal rollerway to transport the cast bloom segments from said first casting line toward the first introduction rollerway of the first furnace, wherein the transit tunnel includes insulation for reducing loss of energy of the bloom segments in transit, wherein the second furnace has a lower containing capacity than the first furnace, the first furnace has a capacity of about twelve/thirteen bloom segments, and the second furnace has a capacity of about ten bloom segments, wherein each of said internal rollerway, first introduction rollerway and second introduction rollerway comprising motorized drawing rollers mounted cantilever on watercooled shafts and made to rotate by motor members disposed outside the furnaces and the transit tunnel, wherein the motorized drawing rollers of the second introduction rollerway are mounted on transmission shafts which extend through the transit tunnel and are mounted on at least two supports, wherein one of the supports is disposed between the transit tunnel and the second furnace to reduce the cantilevered extension and the flexional stresses to which the shafts are subjected.