US3833206A

US3833206A - Protective device for use in the maintenance of foundry ladles

Info

Publication number: US3833206A
Application number: US00396284A
Authority: US
Inventors: A Makynen
Original assignee: Ovako Oy AB
Current assignee: Ovako Bar Oy
Priority date: 1972-09-20
Filing date: 1973-09-11
Publication date: 1974-09-03
Anticipated expiration: 1991-09-03
Also published as: FI47053B; SE388797B; DE2345255B2; GB1440325A; FI47053C; DE2345255A1; DE2345255C3

Abstract

A device for use in the maintenance of foundry ladles comprises a support structure which includes a pair of upstanding beams adapted to receive and support the carriers of a foundry ladle, and an intervening supporting stage adapted to support the ladle from its carriers in a generally horizontal position. An L-shaped carriage is provided with a horizontal portion having wheels movable along tracks disposed below the horizontally supported ladle, and with a vertical portion to which an elongated protective barrel structure, having insulating walls, is attached. The protective barrel structure has a generally oval configuration and an open end which is attached to the vertical carriage portion, and the barrel structure extends in a generally horizontal direction for insertion into and out of the ladle as the carriage is moved. The interior dimensions of the barrel structure are sufficiently large to permit an inspector to enter the barrel structure via its open end and to walk along the barrel structure to its opposite end, which is closed except for a service opening, to permit the inspector to service the bottom of the ladle when the protective barrel has been moved into the ladle.

Description

United States atent 11 1 Makynen 1 Sept. 3, 1974 PROTECTIVE DEVICE FOR USE IN THE MAINTENANCE OF FOUNDRY LADLES [75] Inventor:

[73] Assignee: Ovako Oy, Helsinki, Finland [22] Filed: Sept. 11, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 396,284

Arvi Makynen, Imatra, Finland [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. 20, 1972 Finland 2584/72 [52] US. Cl 266/1 R, 164/152, 222/148 [51] Int. Cl. F27d 23/00 [58] Field of Search 266/1 R, 30, 43; 164/152; 222/192, 148

Primary ExaminerRobert B. Reeves Assistant ExaminerDavid A. Scherbel Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Elliott 1. Pollock [57] ABSTRACT A device for use in the maintenance of foundry ladles comprises a support structure which includes a pair of upstanding beams adapted to receive and support the carriers of a foundry ladle, and an intervening supporting stage adapted to support the ladle from its carriers in a generally horizontal position. An L-shaped carriage is provided with a horizontal portion having wheels movable along tracks disposed below the horizontally supported ladle, and with a vertical portion to which an elongated protective barrel structure, having insulating walls, is attached. The protective barrel structure has a generally oval configuration and an open end which is attached to the vertical carriage portion, and the barrel structure extends in a generally horizontal direction for insertion into and out of the ladle as the carriage is moved. The interior dimensions of the barrel structure are sufficiently large to permit an inspector to enter the barrel structure via its open end and to walk along the barrel structure to its opposite end, which is closed except for a service opening, to permit the inspector to service the bottom of the ladle when the protective barrel has been moved into the ladle.

10 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures I Y //f/ A r ail n PATENTED SEP 3 I974 SHEEP? UF 2 PROTECTIVE DEVICE FOR USE IN THE MAINTENANCE OF FOUNDRY LADLES When foundries use a ladle where the casting gate is on the bottom, the so called mouth tile, serving as this casting gates nozzle, must be changed every now and then. This necessitates that certain control and maintenance procedures be effected on both sides of the bottom of the ladle. Any procedurestaken on the inside of the ladle necessitate, however, cooling of the hot ladle to enable a worker to go into the ladle.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a device which makes the cooling of the ladle unnecessary before any control and maintenance procedures. This achieves multiple advantages, to be explained later.

The device which constitutes the subject matter of the present invention includes a protecting barrel adapted to be fitted inside the ladle for use by the inspector, and is characterized by a structural arrangement wherein the open end of the protecting barrel is propped against a movable carriage which cooperates with a support structure for the ladle so dimensioned with respect to the carriage that by moving the carriage, the protecting barrel can be readily inserted into or removed from the ladle.

The invention is more throughly illustrated by the following drawings where FIG. 1 is a vertical section of the device of the present invention with its protecting barrel driven into the ladle.

FIG. 2 is a section along the line IIII of FIG. 1.

On the drawings the ladle is marked by the reference numeral 1 and the reference numeral 2 indicates the nozzle situated on the bottom of the ladle. Changing the nozzle in the ladle is nowadays done by pushing the conic mouth tile, plastered with mortar, from the outside of the ladle into a complementary conic hole on the bottom of the ladle. Due to this procedure, the mortar plastered on the surface of the nozzle tends to squeeze outward as the nozzle is pushed into place, and a groove is left around the nozzle which is not filled with mortar. This groove is designated in FIG. 1, by reference numeral 3. To avoid leakages, the installation of the nozzle must be checked before using the ladle and the groove 3, which has perhaps remained unfilled, must be seamed with mortar. In an ordinary use, the

v The control carriage 5 has wheels which run on rails 9 as well as a body structure 11 to which the protecting barrel 4 is attached at its open end. To provide sufficient bending stiffness, the cross section of the pro,- tecting barrel 4 is oval, with the longer axis of the oval being oriented in a vertical'direction. In addition, the protecting barrel 4 is stiffened by means of profile steels extending in a longitudinal direction, as shown in FIG. 2. The front of the barrel is conic and otherwise closed, except that it has a working opening 12 so placed that when the protecting barrel is pushed inside the ladle as shown in FIG. 1, the nozzle 2 is directly opposite the working opening 12. r

The protecting barrel 4 is made of two sheet-iron plates, lying one inside the other, between which there is mm of insulation made of ceramic fiber and an alumina layer lying against the inner surface of the outer plate.

Due to the construction described above and illustrated in the drawings, the control carriage 5 is so light that one man can move it along the rails 9. Also safety precautions have been included to ensure that the worker can withdraw from the barrel 4 safely and ladle must be cooled about an hour so that the inspector can go into the ladle.

By using the device of the present invention, however the above cooling of the ladle becomes unnecessary. The inside control and maintenance procedures can thus be carried out while the ladle is still hot.

The device developed for the hot control procedure consists mainly of three parts: a protecting barrel 4, a movable carriage 5 and a ladle support structure 6.

The support structure 6 consists of two supporting beams 7 and a supporting stage 8 onto which the ladle l is lowered in a horizontal position to enable the ladle carriers 13 to fit onto forks situated on the ends of the supporting beams 7 and to rest the lower part of the ladle on the supporting stage 8. In this way, the casting gate is situated within the radius of 45 with regard to the vertical section of the bottom of the ladle. In addition, the support structure of the ladle includes two horizontal rails 9, along which the control carriage 5 is moved.

quickly. This is made possible especially by the horizontal position of the protecting barrel 4.

The device,-according to the invention, can be used not only for the procedure discussed above but also when the nozzle is put into place in a hot ladle from the inside. In both cases the advantages of the device will be nearly the same, viz.:

l. Rotating time of the ladle will be shortened by about an hour, which reduces the number of the ladles needed.

2. The hot control procedure reduces the necessary heat energy neededin pre-heating and thus cuts down expenses.

3. By using procedure the hot control, changes of temperature of the ladle become smaller and this lengthens the life of the masonry.

It may be noted that the hot control procedure referred to above contemplates that, at the time of the procedure, the ladle is at a temperature of about 600 C.

The support structure for the ladle, comprising a portion of the device of the present invention, also supports the ladle carriers 13, as illustrated by the drawings. This prevents the carriers 13 from swinging dangerously downwards.

The support member indicated by reference numeral 14 in FIG. 1 is the portion of the ladle by means of which the ladle is turned to a horizontal position. On the interior of the protecting barrel 4 there is a walkway see FIG. 2) which provides a walking and working 'level for the inspector. The protecting barrel is sufficiently high and its open end is sufficiently wide to enable therein the inspector to walk and work easily.

As best shown by FIG. 1, the carriage 5 is L-shaped, andincludes a bottom arm which is very long between the bottom arm and the protecting barrel 4 there is enough room even for a ladle having a thick wall.

I claim:

1. A device for use in the maintenance of foundry ladles comprising a support structure for supporting a ladle in a generally horizontal position, a movable carriage adjacent said support structure,'an elongated protective barrel structure extending in'a generally horizontal direction and having an open end which is attached to said carriage, the exterior of said barrel structure being dimensioned to fit into the interior of said supported ladle for movement into and out of said ladle by movement of said carriage, and the interior of said barrel structure being dimensioned to permit an inspector to enter said barrel structure via its open end and to walk along said barrel structure to the end thereof opposite said open end to service the bottom of said ladle. I

2. The device of claim 1 wherein said barrel structure has an oval cross-sectional configuration, the major axis of said oval configuration being oriented in a vertical direction.

3. The device of claim 2 wherein said movable carriage is generally L-shaped, said L-shaped carriage including a vertical portion to which the open end of said barrel structure is attached, and said L-shaped carriage including a horizontal portion extending in a direction generally parallel to the direction of extension of said barrel structure at a position below and spaced from said barrel structure to provide an unobstructed region between said barrel structure and the horizontal portion of said carriage for reception of the side wall of the ladle when said carriage is moved to insert said barrel structure into said ladle.

4. The device of claim 3 wherein said support structure includes a pair of spaced, upstanding support beams the upper ends of which include means for receiving and supporting the carriers of the ladle to support the ladle from its carriers, said support structure further including a supporting stage disposed between said beams for engaging and supporting the lower side wall of said horizontally disposed ladle.

5. The device of claim 2 wherein said support structure includes a pair of spaced, upstanding support beams the upper ends of which include means for receiving and supporting the carriers of the ladle to support the ladle from its carriers, said support structure further including a supporting stage disposed between said beams for engaging and supporting the lower side wall of said horizontally disposed ladle.

6. The device of claim 1 wherein said movable carriage is generally L-shaped, said L-shaped carriage including a vertical portion to which the open end of said barrel structure is attached, and said L-shaped carriage including a horizontal portion extending in a direction generally parallel to the direction of extension of said barrel structure at a position below and spaced from said barrel structure to provide an unobstructed region between said barrel structure and the horizontal portion of said carriage for reception of the side wall of the ladle when said carriage is moved to insert said barrel structure into said ladle.

7. The device of claim 1 wherein said support structure includes a pair of spaced, upstanding support beams the upper ends of which include means for receiving and supporting the carriers of the ladle to support the ladle from its carriers, said support structure further including a supporting stage disposed between said beams for engaging and supporting the lower side wall of said horizontally disposed ladle.

8. The device of claim 1 including a pair ofspaced, parallel, generally horizontal tracks, said carriage having rotatable support wheels in engagement with said tracks for moving said carriage along said tracks into and out of said barrel structure.

9. The device of claim 1 wherein the end of said barrel structure opposite to said open end is substantially closed except for a working opening of limited dimension provided therein.

10. The device of claim 1 wherein the walls of said barrel structure comprise a pair of spaced metallic members having an insulating material therebetween.

Claims

1. A device For use in the maintenance of foundry ladles comprising a support structure for supporting a ladle in a generally horizontal position, a movable carriage adjacent said support structure, an elongated protective barrel structure extending in a generally horizontal direction and having an open end which is attached to said carriage, the exterior of said barrel structure being dimensioned to fit into the interior of said supported ladle for movement into and out of said ladle by movement of said carriage, and the interior of said barrel structure being dimensioned to permit an inspector to enter said barrel structure via its open end and to walk along said barrel structure to the end thereof opposite said open end to service the bottom of said ladle.

8. The device of claim 1 including a pair of spaced, parallel, generally horizontal tracks, said carriage having rotatable support wheels in engagement with said tracks for moving said carriage along said tracks into and out of said barrel structure.