Conveying apparatus

April 30, 1935.

1,999,596

G. R. ROEMER

CONVEYING APPARATUS

Filed Oct. 25, 1933'

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Patented Apr. 30, 1935

1,999,596

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

1,999,596 CONVEYING APPARATUS George R. Roemer, Brooklyn, N. Y. Application October 25,1933, Serial No. 695,074 5 Claims. (CL 198—107)

The invention aims primarily to provide an apparatus adapted to convey steel sheets or similar materials through chambers or recesses in which they are to be subjected to desired treatments;

₅ for example, such an apparatus may be used in normalizing or similar treatments of sheets and the like, or in pickling and similar operations, and enables the materials to be treated, to be successively mechanically fed to a continuous conveyor which passes through the treating chamber or bath, and at the end of the treatment the sheets are automatically transferred from the conveyor to a suitable traveling conveyor which carries them to the point at which the next succeeding ., operation is to be performed.

In one aspect of the present invention, it contemplates the combination with a continuous carrier as above mentioned, of a mechanism for feeding sheets or the like thereto which is located 20 at an upwardly moving portion of the carrier, and a delivery mechanism located on the same side of the carrier and slightly beneath the feeding mechanism which is arranged to penetrate under the sheet or the like to be delivered, lift it ₂₅ off the carrier, and remove it from the path of movement of the latter. In another aspect of the invention, this last mentioned delivery mechanism may be arranged to operate also as a feeding mechanism, whereby the materials to be _go treated are fed to the carrier and removed therefrom, at the same point. In utilizing this latter aspect of the invention the continuous conveyor may rotate in either direction, in fact the type of transfer mechanism herein disclosed is in₃₅ herently capable of being used regardless of the direction in which the continuous conveyor is traveling.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious and in part specifically ₄₀ referred to in the description hereinafter contained which, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, discloses a preferred embodiment thereof, which embodiment, however, is to be regarded as merely illustrative. In the ₄₅ drawing—

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view largely diagrammatic of a furnace equipped with a conveying apparatus adapted to operate in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section, looking down upon the apparatus of Fig. 1, certain of the parts being cut away at the left hand side of the figure as indicated by the broken lines, to expose the mechanism which lies underneath them.

The illustrated form of the invention is ap plied to a furnace chamber I such as may be used for heating or normalizing steel or iron sheets, tin plates or the like, the illustrated furnace having a suitable number of burners 2 shown in the upper portion of the combustion chamber and g exhaust ports 3 at the bottom which lead to a suitable collecting flue 4 and stack 5.

A conveyor of the continuous type is shown as carried by a horizontal shaft 6 which may be suitably mounted in the heating chamber I and iq which is provided with spaced sets of radiating members 7 which are adapted to support the sheets or other work to be conveyed through the chamber i. A fixed guide 8 underlies the lower part of the conveyor constituted by the radiating members 7 and it will be understood that the above members may be suitably water-cooled where necessary as is well known in the art and hence need not be referred to in greater detail herein. Certain other features of construction of such a conveyor are furthermore referred to ²⁰in my copending Patent No. 1,935,783, issued November 21, 1933, entitled “Sheet conveyor”, and accordingly will not be described in detail herein.

In accordance with one aspect of my invention the work to be passed through the chamber ²⁵I may be fed by a suitable traveling conveyor having the rollers 9, to a point located adjacent an upwardly moving portion of the continuous conveyor constituted by radiating members 7, and preferably the roller conveyor 9 delivers the work ³⁰to a point located somewhat above the central axis of the continuous conveyor whereby the sheets or the like may travel down inclined guides 10, into a position where they are supported by the radiating members 7. A suitable kicker mechanism as is known to the art, may be employed to move the work from off rollers 9 down on to the guides 10 and into position on the radiating members 7; in the drawing, arms 11 reciprocating on supporting shafts 12» and actuated by ⁴rack 11» and gear I i*> (Fig. 1) are shown for this purpose, but it will be understood that the above mechanism is merely an example of any device suitable for the purpose. ₄₅

In the form of the invention shown In Fig. 1, the work after having been fed into the continuous conveyor constituted by the radiating members 7, then travels upwardly through chamber I and down on the right hand side of the figure, 50 the guides 8 serving to keep the work from dropping out of position between members 7, until the work comes up to a point beneath the Conveyor 9 and preferably about level with the central axis of the continuous conveyor. At this C5

1,999,596 latter point the work is lifted off the radiating members 7 by means of a transfer mechanism having a suitable number of arms 12 adapted to underlie and support the work, and lift the lat5 ter off the radiating, members 7, and move it to a delivery point outside of chamber I, the arms 12 being advanced into and retracted from position between the radiating members 7, and raised and lowered, at the proper times.

In the illustrated form of the invention these arms 12 are supported on rollers 13 carried by pivoted levers 14, and the levers 14 are controlled as to position by an arm 15 connected thereto and moved by a cam 16 as shown at the left of Figs.

1 and 2. In their lower positions the arms 12 are advanced and retracted by racks 17 thereon driven from pinions 18, and in their upward positions a pinion 19 cooperating with a rack 20, serves the same purpose.

Thus when such a transfer mechanism is used in connection with the remainder of the apparatus as illustrated, the arms 12 at the proper time and while maintained in lower position by the levers 14, may be advanced into position be25 tween the radiating members 7, such that they underlie the sheet or other work which is to be delivered from chamber ί; the arms 12 will then be elevated to lift this sheet from off its supporting radiating members 7, after which the ^q0 arms 12 will be withdrawn from chamber I, carrying the sheet with them, and delivering it for example to a position just above a delivery rollerconveyor 21, on to which the work is dropped when the arms 12 are next adjusted to lower posl35 tion.

It should be noted that if desired, the transfer mechanism above described may be employed both to feed the work into the continuous conveyor in chamber I, and remove the work there40 from, and this regardless of the direction in which the conveyor is turning. For such mode of operation, assuming that the work arrives at the apparatus on a suitable conveyor such as the roller conveyor 21, and at a time when the 45 arms 12 are in lower position, the arms 12 may be then raised to lift the work off rollers 21, the arms 12 will then be advanced to carry the work into the chamber I between the adjacent radiating members 7, after which the arms 12 will 50 be adjusted to lower position and withdrawn as above described. The next operation of the arms 12 may then be to remove the next succeeding sheet or the like, (which has been completely treated) from the radiating members 7, just as 55 previously described, and a new sheet may be fed in and deposited in. the space vacated by the one removed. It will be understood that the above operations merely require proper timing of the moving parts each with respect to the other and 60 that interlocks may be provided for this purpose, the same not being described in detail herein as they are well known in the art. Usually the moving parts will be operated in step by step fashion.

If desired for certain treatments, a transfer mechanism 12', as indicated at the right of Fig. 1, and similar in all respects to the mechanism above described, may be employed at the opposite side of the continuous conveyor, to permit 70 the work to be withdrawn after traveling only a fraction of a revolution or more than a revolution, through chamber I.

If the second transfer mechanism 12' be employed and the radiating conveyor members ro⁷⁵ tated in a counter-clockwise direction, the apparatus becomes suitable for bath treatments in that the work travels through the lower half of the path of movement of the conveyor, although in some cases, it is desirable to pass the work through the complete path of conveyor δ movement, using the upper pass as a drying stage. A transfer mechanism of the type described makes it possible to rotate the conveyor in either direction and convey the work through either the upper or the lower pass of the con- 10 veyor, or both, or where two of the transfer mechanisms are used as above described, work may be fed in by the arms 12 and removed by the arms 12', while other work is being fed in by the arms. 12' and removed by the arms 12. 15

While a specific form of the invention has been described it will be understood that changes may be made therein without departing from the invention in its broader aspects.