Sealing apparatus for inlet/outlet of compartment of continuous heat treatment furnace, continuous vacuum evaporation facility or the like

A sealing apparatus for sealing inlets/outlets of continuous heat treatment furnaces which use an atmospheric gas, continuous vacuum evaporation facilities which perform vacuum evaporation under reduced pressure, or the like, through which a metal strip is passed, or for sealing inlets/outlets of compartments of continuous heat treatment furnaces, continuous vacuum evaporation facilities or the like in which a pair of elastic rolls for sandwiching a metal strip is provided outward from an inlet and/outlet opening of a compartment, for passing the metal strip, to shut off the interior of the compartment from the exterior, the sealing apparatus comprising:

• opposed side walls contacting the end faces of the pair of elastic rolls to ensure sealing;
• a pair of rigid rolls hermetically contacting the pair of elastic rolls respectively with a clearance from the metal strip, between the opposed side walls;
• and
• elastic pushing members for hermetically sealing the boundary between each rigid roll and the furnace body or a compartment casing while contacting the rigid rolls.