Clamping system for coke oven heating walls

In a coke-oven-type industrial furnace having a brick heating wall which is subject both to thermal and mechanical operational loads, the heating wall defining opposite vertical end faces, a upright central plane, and horizontal upper and lower edge and vertical edges at each end face, a clamping system for preventing detrimental tensile and shearing stresses in the heating wall, said system comprising at least one clamping plate engaging each said end face of the heating wall, an upright yoke-shaped beam having upper and lower end portions situated above and below said clamping plate and an intermediate portion facing said clamping plate, cross tie rods connected by springs to said end portions of the beam to apply clamping forces thereto, and pressing elements provided between said intermediate portion of said beam and said clamping plate to transfer the clamping forces via said clamping plate into said heating wall, said beam being elastically suspended between said pressing elements and said connecting springs exclusively opposite said heating wall of the furnace and, prior to the application of the thermal and mechanical operational loads, said beam having a substantially convex configuration, and pliable insulating means provided between the mating surfaces of said end face of the heating wall and said clamping plate to compensate local roughness in excess of 2.5 millimeters therebetween, wherein the mutual arrangement of the cross tie rods, the connecting springs, the beam, the clamping plate and the pressing elements being such as to fulfill at least one of the following conditions for the distribution of clamping forces into the heating wall:

• (a) clamping forces starting approximately midway between said horizontal edges of each end face of the heating wall decrease toward respective horizontal edges over a length of about 75% of the distance between the horizontal edges according to a bell-shaped or parabolic characteristic curve;
• (b) the resultants of the clamping forces when viewed in longitudinal direction of the heating wall act on midlines of two outer marginal areas of the end face within a distance of approximately 65 millimeters from said vertical edges, and the resultants are applied at angles between 0 and 30.degree. relative to said central plane of the heating wall;
• (c) the effect of interfering forces in the case of any thermal and/or mechanical disturbance is resiliently held by the cross tie rods, the connecting springs, the beam, the clamping plate and the pressing elements within limits of 5 to 20% of preset clamping forces so as to maintain the desired distribution of the clamping forces over the entire length of the clamping plate.