Apparatus for heat treatment of material to be worked on, especially of aluminum or magnesium alloys

In an apparatus for heat treatment of a metal piece or metal pieces to be subsequently worked on, such as ingots, billets, rods, tubes, cast strips and cast billets, especially of aluminum or magnesium alloys, wherein the pieces are preheated, each piece having a predetermined diameter, and thereafter the pieces are held at a predetermined heat treatment temperature for a predetermined time, comprising, in combination:

• heating means operable for heating and preheating, respectively, said pieces,
• a transport device movable in a transport direction, with relation to said heating means, including
• a plurality of stationary beams, each of the beams being formed with a plurality of sawtooth-shaped depressions, each of the depressions having a bottom for receiving the pieces, and being at least partly defined by an oblique surface relatively slightly inclined with respect to the transport direction;
• and
• a plurality of lifting beams disposed between the stationary beams, respectively, movable from a rest position below said lifting beams in a lifting direction, and independently thereof also in the transport direction, each of the lifting beams having a flat surface and a plurality of prismatic guards disposed on said surface at respective distances, each of said distances exceeding the diameter of each of the pieces, said pieces being liftable from said depressions by said lifting beams and lowerable in a controlled manner on the oblique surfaces of the succeeding depressions, respectively, as viewed in the transport direction, said pieces being thereupon freely rollable into the bottom of said depressions, said lifting beams being contactable by said pieces upon the pieces being disposed in said depressions, and subsequently movable in a controlled manner in a direction opposite to the lifting direction.