Apparatus for automatically detecting and eliminating flaws on slabs or billets

Apparatus for detecting flaws in a generally flat surface on a stationary object such as a metal slab or a billet and eliminating said flaws, comprising:

• a flaw detector for detecting flaws on or in said surface and producing a flaw signal for each flaw detected;
• means for effecting relative movement of said flaw detector over said surface under inspection so that said flaw detector traverses and scans said surface of said stationary object along a predetermined locus;
• a plurality of storage units for ordered storing of said flaw signals, each of said storage units storing the flaw signals resulting from scanning of one said surface by said flow detector;
• a plurality of flaw eliminators for eliminating said flaws detected by said flaw detector;
• means for allocating each of the objects that have been scanned by said detector and the corresponding one of said storage units which has stored the flaw signals resulting from scanning of each said object to a selected one of said flaw eliminators;
• and means for effecting relative movement of said selected flaw eliminator over said object allocated thereto so that said selected eliminator traverses the surface of said allocated object, following said predetermined locus over said surface;
• and said selected eliminator operates at positions along said predetermined locus in response to said ordered flaw signals stored in said storage unit allocated thereto, said signals to operate said selected eliminator occurring at a position along said predetermined locus corresponding to the position along said predetermined locus where said signal was produced by said flaw detector, whereby said flaws are eliminated by said selected eliminator from said respective allocated objects.