Continuous furnace for the heat treatment of articles, more particularly ceramic pipes

A furnace for heat treatment of articles, which comprises a plurality of connected zones for heating and cooling of said articles, each zone comprising an upper hood section which comprises a top wall and opposing side walls extending downwardly from said top wall;

• a train of lower base sections movable through said furnace relative to said upper hood sections, said lower base sections each comprising carriage means for transporting said articles through each of said furnace zones, said carriage means comprising a bottom wall, opposing side walls extending upwardly from said bottom wall, partition means disposed at an end of said lower base section and roller means adapted for supporting cylindrically shaped articles, said lower base sections adapted to coincide with said upper hood sections to provide individual furnace chambers for said zones wherein said downwardly extending, opposing side walls of said upper hood section and said upwardly extending side walls of said lower base section together form the side walls of said chambers.