Patent ID: 8635969

Claim:
A device for guiding a metal strip immersed in a liquid metal bath, the device comprising: a dip tank containing the liquid metal bath and having sidewalls, two of said sidewalls each having a respective hole formed therein defining a hole axis; a diverting roller immersed in said dip tank between said two sidewalls; centering bearings disposed outside said dip tank; support parts each rotating in a respective one of said centering bearings; two aligned bearing shafts each passing through a respective one of said holes in said sidewalls perpendicular to a respective one of said two sidewalls up to a respective one of said support parts for journaling said diverting roller for rotation around a roller axis, each of said support parts having a portion inserted, with only a small play, in a cylindrical opening formed in a respective one of said sidewalls; a fixed housing disposed on a support plane surrounding one of said holes for said bearing shafts perpendicular to said hole axis, along an outer surface of one of said sidewalls of said dip tank; bearings each associated with a respective one of said bearing shafts, said bearings each including at least two rotating support components mounted and spaced apart in said fixed housing for withstanding transverse stresses exerted on said roller, said support components including an outer support component and an inner support component; and a device disposed at said one sidewall for centering said housing around said hole axis.