Roller track for pipes

A pipe tempering furnace having a plurality of heating zones with a roller track extending therethrough, the track having a plurality of pairs of rollers for engaging the pipes, the rollers of a pair of the plurality being particularly spaced in a direction transversely to a direction of movement of the pipe in the furnace, most of the pairs being placed in locations of a series of locations being regularly spaced in the direction of movement, the improvement for avoiding scoring the surface of the pipes on the track, comprising:

• at least a first one of the locations in the series being located adjacent a zone of maximum heating of the pipe in the furnace having no rollers but being located in about the middle between a first pair and a second pair of rollers;
• the first and second pairs being spaced from each other by less than said particular spacing, the first pair being located upstream in relation to the second pair, a third pair of rollers of the plurality being disposed in the next upstream location being spaced from the one location by the particular spacing in the series, but being spaced from the first pair of rollers by less than the particular spacing;
• and
• means for resiliently supporting the rollers of at least one of the first and second pairs.