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US 4,056,959 AGranted
Apparatus for conveying heated rod
AssigneeSouthwire Company
InventorGeorge C. Ward
Life of this patent
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AssigneeSouthwire Company
InventorGeorge C. Ward
Estimating the term…
Reducing or overcoming frictional drag on a rod moving through an enclosing tube by utilizing viscous drag of a liquid medium flowing through the tube in the direction of rod movement. Heated metallic rod moves through a hollow support tube leading from the output of a rolling mill to a mechanism for coiling the rod. The rod leaving the rolling mill is at an elevated temperature which places the rod in an extremely flexible state, so that the rod tends to become twisted within the tube to create "cobbles" or entanglements preventing further movement of the rod through the tube. The present apparatus and method, as applied to the disclosed embodiments of the invention, provide a flow of liquid medium through the tube in the direction of rod movement at a velocity sufficient to impart substantial force to the rod through the effect of viscous drag between the moving liquid medium and the rod. The amount of force imparted to the moving rod through viscous drag may be adjusted to be substantially equal to the frictional retarding force which would otherwise impede movement of the rod, or the amount of force may be adjusted to provide an increment of force tending to propel the rod in the forward direction through the tube. The liquid flowing through the tube may also perform additional functions, such as cooling and pickling the heated rod moving through the tube.
Apparatus for conveying heated flexible metal rod continuously emitting from a rolling mill into a coiling means, comprising an elongated guide tube having an inlet end for receiving the rod from the rolling mill, an exit end through which the rod is delivered to the coiling means and a curved portion through which the direction of travel of the rod is changed from a substantially straight upwardly inclined path into an arcuate path prior to emitting from said exit end, a liquid recirculation system for conveying a cooling liquid through said tube in the direction of rod travel therethrough, and wherein said liquid recirculation system includes a plurality of fluid injector means spaced over a substantial segment of said curved portion of said tube for directing jets of liquid into said tube, said injector means being positioned to direct said jets both to deflect the rod in the direction of curvature of said curved portion so as to prevent the rod from contacting any portion thereof, and to impart a viscous drag force on the rod in the direction of rod travel whereby the rod is conveyed through said guide tube with a minimum of friction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.