Loading and unloading device for a furnace wagon

Device adapted for loading firing, sintering or drying material onto, and unloading it from, the shelving frame of a furnace wagon, the said device having:

• a) a first lifting device which, for its part, comprises:
• aa) a lifting cradle capable of travel in the vertical direction;
• ab) a shifting cradle carried by the lifting cradle and capable of horizontal travel in relation to the latter;
• ac) a conveyer system carried by the shifting cradle,
• wherein it also comprises:
• b) a second lifting device which is disposed at a distance from the first lifting device such that the shelving frame is accommodated between the two lifting devices, and which comprises:
• ba) a lifting cradle capable of travel in the vertical direction;
• bb) a conveyer system carried by the lifting cradle;
• c) an interlocking apparatus with the aid of which the shifting cradle of the first lifting device can be mechanically coupled, in an extended position, to the lifting cradle of the second lifting device;
• d) the vertical movements of the two lifting cradles being synchronised in the period in which the shifting cradle of the first lifting device is mechanically coupled to the lifting cradle of the second lifting device by the interlocking apparatus enabling said conveyor system of said first lifting device to load and unload material to and from said shelving frame.