US2910746A - Tilting ladle - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 3, 1959 F. M, SCHWEINBERG TILTING LADLE Filed Dec. 16, 1958 United States Patent TILTING LADLE Fred M. Schweinberg, Bridgeville, Pa., assignor to Koppers Company, Inc., a corporation of Delaware Application December 16, 1958, Serial No. 780,753

3 Claims. (Cl. 22-375) The present invention relates to improvements in the general operation of tilting ladles for molten metal, such as commonly used for transferring molten metal from an open-hearth furnace to ingot molds, and more particularly, to an improvement in the general operation of the tilting ladle of my copending application Serial No. 740,326, led June 6, 1958, now Patent No. 2,881,488, issued April 14, 1959, of which this application is a continuation-in-part. This improvement consists in eliminating the bolt used for restraining engagement with the shank for holding the tilting eye in a locked position when not in use in the ladle of my copending invention, and using instead a slot recess or groove in the top of the bracket for restraining engagement with the eyelet at the end of the shank to hold the tilting eye in locked position when not in use by restraining engagement with the eyelet, rather than with the shank as in my copending application.

To further protect the eyelet from disengaging from the slot, groove or recess in the eye bracket, the sides of the ladle are extended down below the base of the ladle to prevent disengagement of the eye from the slot, groove or recess in the bracket when the ladle is set down on its bottom.

With the p-resent improvement, manual removal of a bolt is unnecessary, for disengagement of the tilting link, prior to tilting the ladle, and manual insertion of the bolt, as is also necessary with the improved ladle of my copending application, for locking of the tilting eye iu position for a next tilting operation, after the dumping of skull and slag, is no longer required. The crane hook still can disengage the tilting eye from'the bracket and restore it back into the bracket as in the ladle of my aforesaid applicatiomby lifting the eyelet at the end of the shank, groove or recess and resetting the eyelet in the slot, groove or recess solely by manipulation of the hoisting strand of the crane hook from a point above the ladle.

With the improvements in such open-hearth ladlesr of my said copending application, the skull and slag may be more readilyand easily dumped from the larger size open-hearth ladles which are designed to contain three to four hundred tons of steel, and which are provided with bottom pouring nozzles for gravity llow of steel into the ingot molds, and so must be later turned over completely, 180, to dump the skull and slag clear of the inner sides of the bottom discharge ladles.

The main object of my prior invention is the provision of a ladle of this type having a tilting mechanism incorporated as a permanent part of the ladle for turning the same completely over, 180, and which can be readily engaged by the lifting hook of a hoist cable, solely by manipulation of the strand of the hoist cable by an operator of the same at a point above the ladle, without having a Workman go under the ladle or around the base of the same to connect the lifting hook to the ladle preliminarily to tilting to remove the skull and slag. i` The physical dimensions of steel ladles of said capacice ities are such that it is no longer possible for workmen to manually manipulate the hoisting hook into lifting engagement with a connecting part on the ladle located around or underneath the base of the ladle at a region suitable for turning the ladle completely over. These ladles are built of the order of 16 feet diameter at the top, 13 feet inside diameter at the bottom, and 15 feet high. Necessarily, therefore, any hook or eye for tilting a vessel of such great weight must itself also be of such great weight that they are too heavy and cumbersome for one or two workmen to manipulate into lifting engage# ment while another hoisting hook is suspending the ladle in position for tilting by means of its bail through trun-` nions located somewhat above the center of gravity'of the ladle.

The present improvement continues that invention with its simple means for tilting open-hearth ladles of the aforesaid type in the form of a simply operable pivoted lever, pin and link dumping mechanism that forms a permanent part of the ladle, but with a member in the form `of an upwardly open slot, groove or recess in the top of a bracket on the side of the ladle for restraining engagement with the eyelet at the end of the shank of the link rather than by restraining engagement with the shank of the link, the dumping link alongside the outerside of the vessel in a position at which the hook grasping part in the form of an eyelet at one end of the shank can be grasped at any time by a hoisting hook manipulated into grasping relation by a crane operator above the ladle Without having another workman first remove, and later replace, a pin and bolt, and manipulate the heavy lifting hook into the eyelet of the dumping link from a position underneath or around the base of the ladle while the` Vessel is being suspended by its trunnion and bail by another hook from the hoisting crane above the ladle,

In addition to the general objects recited above, the invention has for further objects such other improvements or advantages as may be found to obtain in the structure and general operation of a ladle as shown on the drawing and hereinafter described or claimed.4

Referring to the drawings:

Figure l is a schematic arrangement of apparatus embodying the ladle of the present invention with parts in section and parts in dotted lines to illustrate the various operations of the ladle; i s

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of theladle, parts being in section;

Figure 2a is a fragmentary plan view of a ure 2;

Figure 3 is a detailed side elevational view of the pin and link connection to the side of theladle vessel; i

Figure 4 is a detailed horizontal top plan view of Figure 3 10 designates a ladle having a main body portion with a tapered side 11 and bottom 12, both of welded rolled steel plate 13.

The ladle is linked with brick 14 down to 350 tons. The bottom 12 is supported on a grid of steel beams 15, and is provided preferably with two bottom pouring nozzles 16 for gravity flow of molten metal into ingot molds 17 on a trackway in the pouring aisle alongside the open hearth 18. The ladle also carries as apermanent part a conventional stopper rod rigging 19 for the outlets ofthe nozzles 16 which, as shown, comprises a stopper Vrod 21, rig 22, link 23 and operating lever 24. i

As conventional, the ladle is provided with a bail 25 and trunnions 26 `positioned on diametricallyopposite sides of the ladle with the center of the t-runnionlocated with respect to the center of gravity of the full ladle so part of Figthat the top 27 of the ladle will right itselfinto the hori-l Patented Nov. 3, 1959i trunnon block 29. The ladle is also provided with a reinforcing ring 31 and a slag runoff spout 32for overow of slag from the hearth 33 directly into a slag bowl (not shown) at one side of the ladle when the ladle is alongside the pouring spout 34 for the hearth.

In accordance lwith the present invention, the ladle is provided with an eyelet 35 :at the radial center of the bottom 12, to which is pivotally connected a tilting lever 36 extending outwardly beyond the side of the vessel, preferably to `a vertical plane beyond the outermost periphery 37 of the side of the vessel, namely the widest par-t of the top 27 of the vessel. A dumping link 38 with a shank 4t) is pivotally connected at its lower end 39 `to the outermost end of the lever 3d by a pin 39, and is provided at its upper end with a part in the form of an eyelet 41 lfor grasping engagement by the lifting hook '42 of the strand 42a of an auxiliary overhead hoisting crane 43a. The eyelet 41 is `spaced from its pivotal pin end 39 by shank 40 to be extensible upwardly alongside the side of the vessel to be held there in position to be grasped by the hook 42 of the yauxiliary overhead crane 43a. A link retaining member in the form of an upwardlylopen slot, groove or recess 44 is mounted on the side of the vessel in position -to hold the link 38 upwardly alongside the vessel 1li' with a tix to maintain `the eyelet 41 of .the link 38 in a vertical plane beyond the outermost perimeter 37 of the vessel vwhere hook 42 of crane 43a may be readily inserted in the eye of the eyelet and the link 38 thus grasped by the hook 42 of the overhead crane 43a. Preferably, the upwardly open slot, groove or recess 44 is formed in the upper edges of a bracket 45 fixed to the outerside of the vessel 14), which bracket is in the form of two peripherally spaced vertical plates 46, between which the shank 40 may enter and be locked in by the engagement of the eyelet 41 in slot, groove or recess 44 instead of by the engagement of the shank with the bolt as in my prior invention. The eyelet is provided with shoulders 47 which straddle the edge tops of the bracket plates 416 and thus `co-act with the slot, groove or recess 44 to hold the lever 36 up in horizontal position below the bottom of the Vessel and the eyelet 41 of the link 38 in position to be grasped by the auxiliary overread crane hook 42. The slot, groove or recess 44 is upwardly open to permit the link 38 and lever 36 of the mechanism to straighten out when hoisted by the auxiliary overheadcrane hook 42, and thus pull the center 35 of the bottom 12 `around .the trunnions of the ladle, 180, to turn the vessel completely over in dumping the skull and slag.

To permit the vessel to be set down flat on the ground without lifting the link 38 `out of engagement with the slot 44, the sides of the vessel are extended down as shown at 48 to below the level of the eyelet 35 for lever 36, at the r-adial center of the bottom of the vessel, to form a flat seat for the same and thereby also enclose the lever 36 all around the base of the ladle, thus protecting it from damage and dirt when the ladle vessel is set down on the ground.

In operation, after the ladle vessel 10 is lled with mol-ten steel from the hearth, yand the slag therefrom overilowed through the ladle and its slag runoff spout 32, the ladle 10 is: hoisted by its` bail and trunnions 28 upon the hook 30 of the main overhead crane 43 and then moved over `to the ingot molds 17 when the stopper rod operating mechanism 19 is then operated to pour the metal out through the bottom nozzles 16 into the ingot molds 17.

To remove the residues of skull and slag from the ladle, it is necessary to completely upset the ladle by turning it completely over so that the slag can strike the skull and break the same away from the inner sides of the ladle. Heretofore, it has been necessary to have an operator on the ground manually swing a cable from the auxiliary hook of 4the pit crane 413e and attach it to an eyelet on the side or underneath the ladle 10. This operation is 4 hazardous and in many cases, the hook 42 on the crane did not engage itself in the eyelet 35 on the iirst try.

With the present invention, after the metal has been poured into the ingot molds, the cranemen manipulate the auxiliary hook 42 o-f the pit auxiliary crane 43a by manipulation of the strands 42a of the hoisting hook 42 from the crane 43a above the ladle 10, so as to engage the auxiliary hook 42 of the crane 43a with the eyelet 41 at the end of shank 40 of the dumping link 38 while it still is held in the bracket 45 by the radially outward and upwardly extending confine of the groove, recess or slot 44, above the base 'of the slot 44. This is done without any help from `an operator below and around the base 48 of the ladle 10, While it is still being suspended by the main hoisting hooks 30, operated from the main crane 43, in lifting engagement with the trunnions 28. When this is accomplished without `any help from the operator :around or under the lad-le, then the operator on the main crane 43 moves Ithe ladle 10 over the slag pots 17a, and the auxiliary hook 42 of the crane 43a is then hoisted to pull upon the dumping link 38 so that the ladle is turned completely over las a result of the link 38 moving out of the bracket 45 and pulling the lever 36 on a line transversely to the axis of the trunnions 28. The auxiliary hoisting hook 42 holds the ladle upside down, while the ladle is still suspended by its trunnions 28 from the main hoisting hook 30. When the auxiliary hoisting hook 42 is released, the ladle swings back to upright position, since the ytrunnions are above the center of gravity of the ladle 10 and the dumping link 38 is repositioned in the bracket 45 by further manipulation of its auxiliary hoisting hook 42, whereupon the eyelet 41 is replaced in the slot 44 to retain the shank 40 between the spaced elements that form the bracket 46, and thus hold the lever 36 and link 38 in position on the ladle for a next dumping operation.

As shown, the lever 36 is held up close below the grid of beams 15 by eyelet 41 at the upper end of the shank 4l) of the link 38 and slot, groove or recess 44 and a slot 50 is provided in the skirt 48 through which the lever 36 extends beyond the outside of the skirt. The nozzles 16 are so spaced from each other that the lever 36 is located -a sufcient distance away from the nozzles, that the lever 36 does not interfere in any way with the ilow of hot metal from the nozzles into the ingot molds 17, nor does the lever ever come in contact with the hot metal `from the nozzles during lthe pour. Alternatively, the beams 15 of the grid may be provided with aligned grooves within which the lever 36 can meet, to be held off vthe ground by the link and bolt. With these arrangements, the aforesaid hazardous operation is eliminated, and the necessity of workmen moving underneath or aroundthe base 48 of 4the ladle 10 to hand swing the hoisting hook 42 or dumping link 38 into and out of engagement or .to lock and unlock the latter, is eliminated. This is especially important for operation with ladles for three or more hundred tons, since the hook 42 land dumping link 38 must be made of such correspondingly large size, that they are too cumbersome and heavy for even several men to manipulate manually into and out of operati-ve relation and the manual locking and unlocking of the link to the ladle is extremely tedious.

The invention, as herein-above set forth, is embodied in a particular form of construction but may be variously embodied within the scope of the claims hereinafter made.

I claim:

1. A ladle comprising a metallic shell having Ian inner lining of refractory material and `a bottom pouring nozzle for gravity discharge of molten metal therefrom, trunnions secured at diametrically opposite sides of the ladle above its center of gravity, and a ladle dumping mechanism permanently connected with the ladle comprising a lever pivoted at one end. to its bottom at the center thereof and extending outwardly laterally of the line of the axis of the trunnions to a region beyond the outer side of the base of said shell, a dumping link with a shank pivotally connected `at one end to the lever at the outer side of the shell in position to be extended upwardly -along said shell and provided with a hook grasping part at its other end for grasping the hoisting hook of a hoisting strand, and a link retaining member mounted on the side at a location of the shell for retaining engagement with said hook grasping part at the end of the shank of the link to maintain the shank upwardly alongside said shell with said hook grasping part in position to be readily grasped by said hoisting hook solely by manipulation of its hoisting strand from a point above the ladle, said link retaining member comprising an upwardly open supporting base part with a radially outward and upwardly extending coniining part for restraining engagement with said hook grasping part at the end of the shank of the link to permit it to be pulled out straight with the lever to tilt the ladle, 180, when the link is hoisted by the hoisting hook to completely turn over the ladle for dumping while supporting the link in position to be grasped when the hoisting hook releases said hook grasping part after restoring it on the link retaining member.

2. A ladle comprising 'a metallic shell having an inner lining of refractory material and a bottom pouring nozzle for gravity discharge of molten metal therefrom, trunnions secured at diametrically opposite sides of the ladle above its center of gravity, and a ladle dumping mechanism permanently connected with the ladle comprising a lever pivoted at one end to the bottom of the ladle at the center thereof and extending outwardly laterally of the line of the axis of the trunnions to a region beyond the outer side of the base of said shell, a dumping link with a shank pivotally connected at one end to the lever at the outer side of the shell in position to be extended upwardly along said shell and provided with van eyelet at its other end for grasping lthe hoisting hook of a hoisting strand, and link retaining means comprising a bracket located on the side of said shell in position to receive the shank of the link and an upwardly open groove in said bracket at a location to supportingly engage a part of the eyelet at the end of the shank to hold the shank at an angle at which the eyelet is maintained in a position to be readily grasped by said hoisting hook solely by manipulation of its hoisting strand from a point above the ladle, said groove having a lower eyelet supporting base `and a radially outward and upwardly extending coniining part vfor restraining the eyelet from falling 0E the bracket when the eyelet is released thereon by the hoisting hook, and said eyelet being freely movable out of engagement with the bracket groove to free the link to permit it to be pulled out straight with the lever to tilt the ladle, 180, when the link is hoisted by the hoisting hook to completely turn over the ladle for dumping.

3. An open hearth ladle comprising a metallic shell having an inner lining of refractory material and a bottom pouring nozzle for gravity discharge of molten metal therefrom, trunnions secured at diametrically opposite sides of the ladle above its center of gravity, and a ladle dumping mechanism permanently connected with the ladle comprising a lever pivoted at one end to the bottom of the ladle 'at the center thereof and extending outwardly laterally of the line of the axis of the trunnions to a region beyond the outer side of the base of said shell, a dumping link with `a shank pivotally connected at one end to the lever at the outer side of the shell in position to be extended upwardly along said shell and provided with an eyelet at its outer end for grasping the hoisting hook of a hoisting strand, link retaining means comprising a bracket of peripherally spaced apart elements with arcuate tops located on the side of said shell in position to receive the shank of rthe link between said elements, and an upwardly open groove in the arcuate tops of said elements of said bracket, said arcuate tops being about the axis of the pivotal groove being at a location in a plane on the outer side of said pivoted connection opposite the side at which the ladle is located, to support and restrainingly engage the eyelet of the shank in the groove of the bracket at an angle at which the eyelet is maintained in position to be readily grasped by said hoisting hook solely by manipulation of its hoisting stnand from a point above the ladle, said eyelet being restrained from dropping out of the bracket by the contines of the groove and said eyelet being freely movable out` of the groove when in the bracket to free the link to permit it to be pulled out straight with the lever to tilt the ladle, when the link is hoisted by the hoisting hook to completely turn over the ladle for dumping, and a skirt arranged around the base of the ladle and provided with a downwardly opening slot within which said lever is contained when the eyelet is in said groove to avoid elevation of said lever by abutment with things below the bottom of the ladle, `and thus prevent the eyelet from being disengaged from the slot in the bracket when the ladle is set down on its bottom.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 366,340 Morgan July 12, 1887 665,499 Boldt Jan. 8, 1901 1,929,607 Pollock Oct. 10, 1933 2,463,811 Schulze Mar. 8, 1949 2,881,488 Schweinberg June 6, 1958

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