Shroud support and method for shroud engagement with teeming valve

Abstract

Shown is a method for preventing or reducing cracking in collector nozzles in teeming vessels by securing the shroud underneath the nozzle with a predetermined load, sufficient to cause fluid tight connection between the shroud and the collector nozzle, and yet not enough to crack the collector nozzle. The shroud is urged against the nozzle and supported there by a boom which is free to move with the nozzle and thus becomes slaved to the movement of the nozzle and not its support. In addition, the desirability of removing the shroud from the pouring vessel by tilting it is preserved, and at the same time locking the shroud against pivotal motion is provided which reduces, if not eliminates, the excessive loads that can be caused when the shroud or the valve move, and the lower end is restricted for such movement by the poured fluid, thereby resulting in excessively multiplied loads on the collector nozzle. The apparatus discloses a boom which is pivotally mounted in a horizontal plane and permitted to raise upwardly at a predetermined static load dictated by dead weights which are empirically adjusted for the particular operation. In addition, the shroud, while pivotally mounted on the end of the boom, is locked in a position coaxially with the axis of the collector nozzle during the pour operation to inhibit side loads being formed which, when translated through the interface between the shroud and the collector nozzle, can cause the collector nozzle to crack and have metal break-out within the valve.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.