Patent ID: 8446929

Claim:
A furnace refractory brick hearth system, comprising: a vertically cylindrical, rigid steel, containment shell in which a bottom is lined on its interior with a hearth refractory sub-layer and a downwardly dished hearth brick working layer, and further comprising a solid shell wall with a hoop strength for leverage; a ring of thrust blocks providing for radial inward compression of a whole outer perimeter of said hearth brick working layer toward a center and for closing gaps between separate bricks; a plurality of individual radially spaced thrust rods around the entire circular perimeter that penetrate an outer bottom wall of the containment shell, and that enable a transmission of radially inward compression forces generated outside the containment shell to be applied in unison against the ring of thrust blocks; and a number of compression devices respectively connected to each thrust rod and providing for an adjustable amount of force to be inwardly applied through matching ones of the plurality of individual thrust rods to a corresponding thrust block in the ring of thrust blocks; wherein, the ring of thrust blocks allows said hearth brick working layer to change in diameter inside margins provided within the containment shell while still maintaining a substantially constant compressive force that denies gap formation amongst separate bricks.