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US 8,707,844 B2Granted
Case annealer
AssigneeAlliant Techsystems Inc.
InventorJames Eveland
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A portion of a work-hardened essentially tubular work piece such as a metallic firearm cartridge case is annealed by contact with solid or granular tooling material which has been heated to a temperature approximately that of the appropriate annealing temperature, thereby reducing the possibility of overheating the work piece, and also thereby permitting the annealing of only that portion of the work piece contacted or in close proximity to the point(s) of contact.
Claims6
A method of annealing a portion of a cartridge casing having an open mouth end and a closed head end, comprising:
- providing a heat transfer element having a plurality of shape adapting structures;
- heating the heat transfer element with a heating element contacting the heat transfer element to a predetermined temperature;
- inserting the mouth end of the cartridge casing into the heat transfer element to a predetermined depth at which the entire portion of the casing to be annealed is inserted into the heat transfer element, wherein the plurality of shape adapting structures are movable to conform to the shape of the portion of the cartridge casing such that the heat transfer element substantially contacts the entire exterior of the portion of the casing to be annealed;
- maintaining contact between the portion of the casing to be annealed and the heat transfer element for a predetermined duration;
- and
- cooling the annealed portion of the cartridge casing by separating the casing from the heat transfer element and exposing the annealed portion to a cooling media.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.