Apparatus for plugging holes in an electric smelting furnace or the like

Apparatus for plugging holes in an electric smelting furnace or the like comprising a tubular member open at a first end thereof, a piston operatively associated with said tubular member being sized and adapted to be inserted therein and displaced along the longitudinal axis thereof, a second, generally conical member having accessible openings at the axial extremes thereof, a first accessible opening being dimensioned to be urged into contact with the opening of the first end of said tubular member and a second accessible opening being dimensioned according to a predetermined size based on the size of a hole to be plugged, and means joining said tubular member to said conical member with the said first accessible opening and said opening of the first end being in register, said means comprising two hinge means spaced approximately 180.degree. from each other, each said hinge means comprising cooperating leaf members joined by a taper pin, one leaf of each said hinge means being affixed to the tubular member and being mounted on the exterior thereof and the other said leaf member being affixed to the conical member and being mounted on the exterior thereof, each said taper pin being free of threaded engagement with the hinge members and being removable upon the application of one or more sharp blows, the axes of said two taper pins being substantially parallel to each other said axes being substantially vertical, removal of one or the other of said taper pins permitting the conical member to be rotated in a horizontal direction either to the left or to the right about the vertical axis of the other said taper pin to a point where the entire cross-sectional area of the said opening of the first end of the tubular member is exposed and unobstructed by the conical member and removal of both said taper pins permitting separation of the said conical member from the said tubular member.