Turning mechanism for the movement of ladles in steel mills

A turning mechanism for the movement of casting ladles in a steel mill comprising a turning member mounted to turn about a vertical shaft and carrying two diametrically opposite arms,

• each arm having a first end rotatably mounted on a horizontal shaft carried by the turning member and a forked end remote from said turning member,
• two support members for each ladle, each support member defining a seat adapted to receive a projection from said ladle, the lower part of each support member being mounted to turn on a horizontal shaft supported by one of said forked ends,
• a rod associated with each support member, one end of each rod being pivotally connected to said turning member for rotation about a horizontal axis and the other end of each rod being pivotally connected to the support member with which it is associated, whereby said turning member combines with said arms, rods and support members to form parallelogram linkages maintaining said individual support members in a generally vertical position during swinging movement of said arms, and
• fluid-pressure operated jacks connected between said turning member and said arms to swing said arms.