Sliding gate spring loading toggle
AssigneeUnited States Steel Corporation
InventorJoseph Lothmann
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The toggle levers in a sliding gate valve operative to impart the compressive loading between the slide assembly housing and the teeming vessel are mechanically actuated to their engaged or released positions by the drive motor utilized to operate the slide frame. The toggle levers are attached to connecting rods which are, in turn, connected by a follower rod that extends across the path of travel of the slide frame. The follower rod can be positioned on one side of the slide frame or the other to alternatively engage or release the levers. During normal operation of the valve the follower rod is locked to the housing whereby the slide frame is free to move with respect to the toggle levers.
Claims7
A sliding gate valve for a teeming ladle including a housing hingedly attached to the bottom of said ladle and vertically movable with respect thereto, a slide frame in said housing, means for imparting motion to said slide frame in said housing a slide plate mounted in said slide frame and urgeable against a superposed top plate by springs carried by said slide frame, and compression means on both sides of said housing parallel to the direction of movement of said slide frame operative to move said housing toward the bottom of said ladle by loading said springs, characterized in that said compression means comprises:
- a. levers pivotable in the direction of movement of said slide frame through movement of said slide frame in one direction into a condition loading said springs and into a condition unloading said springs by movement of said slide frame in the other direction;
- b. follower means selectively positionable between said slide frame and said levers for transmitting the motion-imparting force from said slide frame to said levers alternately in one direction or the other;
- and
- c. means for locking said follower means with respect to said housing when said levers are in the springloading condition.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.