Patent ID: 7832366

Claim:
A frame assembly for a sootblower for projecting a stream of a fluid blowing medium against internal surfaces of a combustion device, the sootblower of the type having a lance tube and a carriage which carries the lance tube causing it to be periodically advanced into and retracted from the interior of the combustion device, the carriage of the type having one or more support rollers and a drive pinion gear, the support rollers and the drive pinion gear being rotatable about generally horizontal axes and the drive pinion gear meshing with a toothed rack for driving the carriage along the frame assembly, the frame assembly comprising: a pair of elongated side panels, the side panels formed of substantially uniform thickness metal stock formed to integrally define a first generally horizontal panel track surface, a second generally horizontal panel track surface and a vertical panel track surface extending between the first and the second track surfaces, the first track surface, the second track surface and the vertical panel track surface cooperating to define a roller channel extending substantially the entire length of the side panels for supporting the support rollers to roll along the side panels and to trap the support rollers within the roller channel, the toothed rack affixed to or defined by at least one of the first track surface and the second track surface.