Walking beam conveying apparatus and method
AssigneeUnited States Steel Corporation
InventorSteve Shufran
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A walking beam conveying apparatus for handling elongated cylindrical articles and a handling method particularly applicable to a reheating furnace for pipes. Articles, such as pipes, are advanced in steps along the conveyor simply by raising and lowering movable beams without moving the beams axially as long as the articles are straight and can roll. The movable beams can move axially to advance bent articles incapable of rolling. The beams can be raised at one end only to introduce articles to the conveyor for storage without advancing articles already carried on the beams.
Claims3
In a structure in which elongated cylindrical articles are handled, said structure including entry and exit troughs and a walking beam conveying apparatus for carrying articles from said entry trough to said exit trough, said conveying apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of elongated parallel stationary beams extending from said entry trough to said exit trough;
- a plurality of elongated parallel movable beams extending from said entry trough to said exit trough;
- and
- means on said beams providing article-receiving notches;
- the combination therewith of an improved mechanism for operating said movable beams, said mechanism comprising:
- independently operable means at opposite ends of said beams for raising and lowering said movable beams at both ends simultaneously to advance articles from one set of notches to the next or for raising and lowering said movable beams at their entry ends only to introduce articles from said entry trough to the beams without advancing articles already occupying said notches;
- means on said beams providing sloping surfaces extending from said entry trough to said notches to receive articles for storage;
- and
- means operatively connected with said movable beams for moving them axially.
In a structure in which elongated cylindrical articles are handled, said structure including spaced apart entry and exit troughs and a walking-beam conveying apparatus for carrying elongated cylindrical articles from said entry trough to said exit trough, said conveying apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of elongated parallel stationary and movable beams extending from said entry trough to said exit trough and having entry and exit ends adjacent the respective troughs;
- means on said stationary and movable beams providing article-receiving notches;
- and
- drive means operatively connected with said movable beams at both the entry and exit ends for raising and lowering the movable beams and at one end for moving them axially to advance articles along the stationary beams to said exit trough;
- the improvement in which:
- said stationary and movable beams have sloping storage segments extending from said entry trough, and stops at the ends of said segments preceding the first of said notches, said segments being of a length to store a plurality of articles;
- and
- the drive means at the entry ends of said movable beams are operable independently of the drive means at the exit ends to raise and lower said movable beams from their entry ends only and thus transfer articles from said entry trough to said storage segments while articles already on said storage segments and within said notches remain in place.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.