Heat treatment vessel coupler, heat treatment vessel coupling method, and heat treatment method

A heat treatment vessel coupling method of coupling mutually, by use of a coupler, heat treatment vessels adjacent in a conveying direction or heat treatment vessels adjacent in an orthogonal direction orthogonal to the conveying direction, of rectangular box-shaped heat treatment vessels each loaded with a material to be treated, conveyed on a plurality of rotationally driven conveyor rollers arranged in parallel inside a heat treatment furnace, the coupler comprising:

• a plate body smaller than each of the heat treatment vessels;
• a pair of engagement protrusions projecting integrally from the plate body and engaging respectively with one side wall, lying toward a heat treatment vessel on the other hand, of side walls of a heat treatment vessel on one hand, of heat treatment vessels adjacent in the conveying direction or the orthogonal direction and with the other side wall, facing the one side wall, of side walls of the heat treatment vessel on the other hand, of the heat treatment vessels adjacent in the conveying direction or the orthogonal direction, and
• a spacer protrusion projecting from the plate body between the pair of engagement protrusions so as to be sandwiched between the one side wall and the other side wall.

A heat treatment method using a heat treatment vessel coupler, the coupler coupling mutually, heat treatment vessels adjacent in a conveying direction of the heat treatment vessels or heat treatment vessels adjacent in an orthogonal direction orthogonal to the conveying direction, of rectangular box-shaped heat treatment vessels each loaded with a material to be treated, conveyed on a plurality of rotationally driven conveyor rollers arranged in parallel inside a heat treatment furnace, the coupler comprising:

• a plate body smaller than each of the heat treatment vessels;
• a pair of engagement protrusions projecting integrally from the plate body and engaging respectively with one side wall, lying toward a heat treatment vessel on the other hand, of side walls of a heat treatment vessel on one hand, of heat treatment vessels adjacent in the conveying direction or the orthogonal direction and with the other side wall, facing the one side wall, of side walls of the heat treatment vessel on the other hand, of the heat treatment vessels adjacent in the conveying direction or the orthogonal direction, and
• a spacer protrusion projecting from the plate body between the pair of engagement protrusions so as to be sandwiched between the one side wall and the other side wall.