Hardening process and apparatus for holed flat parts

Abstract

A process for hardening a plurality of holed flat parts. The holed flat parts are heated by inserting a cantilever hanger into the holes of the holed flat parts to support them in vertical positions within a furnace. The holed flat parts are then removed from the hanger by inserting a moving fork into the holes of the holed flat parts and moved to a cooling section while being supported in the vertical positions on the moving fork. Then, the holed flat parts in the vertical positions are quenched in the cooling section by blowing a gas downward to them. Also disclosed is an apparatus for practicing the holed flat part hardening process. The apparatus comprises: a continuous furnace; a plurality of stands arranged in the continuous furnace and each having a cantilever hanger; a loader including a moving fork for hanging the holed flat parts on the hanger; an extractor including a moving fork for extracting the holed flat parts from the hanger; and a cooling section for blowing a gas downward to the holed flat parts supported by the moving fork of the extractor, to quench the holed flat parts.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.