Cooling device

Device for cooling small hardware items positioned between a heat treatment furnace (9) and a quenching bath (11d), the device comprises wall means forming a generally vertically arranged hollow chamber having an upper inlet end and a lower outlet end, a plurality of baffles (3) spaced apart in the vertical direction within the hollow chamber, adjacent said baffles are offset relative to one another and inclined relative to the vertical for forming a tortuous downward flow path between the inlet and the outlet, said baffles each have an adjustable angle of inclination, relative to the vertical, wherein the improvement comprises that said baffles are thermal conductors, said wall means comprises opposed walls, a separate adjustable spring plate connects an upper end of each said baffle to an adjacent said wall of said hollow chamber, said spring plates are adjustable to the adjustable angle of inclination of said baffles and prevent the small hardware items flowing downwardly over said baffles from bypassing the downward flow path by moving between said baffles and the adjacent said walls.