Kiln for firing heavy ceramics
OwnerGiorgio B. Moriinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A transport surface for a kiln for firing heavy ceramic articles includes a loading, an unloading end, a chassis standing between the ends and a transport surface resiliently connected to said chassis; a drive motor for imparting vibratory motion to the transport surface portion is provided externally of a hearth in which the surface portion is disposed; a releasing guide is provided to facilitate movement of the surface portion in a selected direction upwardly and forwardly an extent sufficient to shift an article resting on the surface portion from the loading to the unloading end; loading and unloading devices are provided to automatically load and unload articles from the transport surface; the hearth includes conduits for carrying cooling air along the hearth on the outside thereof.
Claims11
A kiln for firing heavy ceramic articles comprising a hearth including a transport surface portion, a loading and unloading end disposed at spaced ends of said hearth, a supporting chassis, means mounting said transport surface portion on said chassis so that said surface portion is movable relative to said chassis, means rigidly mounting said chassis in said kiln, drive means for imparting a predetermined vibratory motion to said surface portion, said drive means including an eccentric member whereby said motion is generally rearwardly and downwardly directed during a first portion of a vibratory cycle, said means mounting said transport surface portion including spring means and said drive means including releasing means so that upon release of said surface portion from said drive means, said surface portion will move, under the influence of said mounting means and spring means, upwardly and forwardly an extent sufficient to shift an article resting on said surface portion in a forward direction in said hearth toward said unloading end, said means mounting said surface portion including conduit means extending along at least a portion of said hearth below said transport surface portion for conveying cool air along said hearth exteriorally thereof, insulating material being disposed between said transport surface portion and said conduit means, said kiln further including first conveying means for conveying articles to be fired to adjacent said loading end of said surface portion, a second conveying means for receiving articles from said first conveying means and pusher means for moving articles from said second conveying means to said transport surface portion, said kiln including an unloading conveying means adjacent said unloading end, a detainer stop extending transverse to said unloading end and being movable by contact with articles discharged from said surface portion, an unloading conveyor means cooperating with said detainer stop to receive and periodically move articles received from said surface portion away from said unloading end of said kiln.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.