Heat treating apparatus

Claim 1

IN AN APPARATUS FOR THE CONTINUOUS TEMPERATURE TREATMENT OF SHEET MATERIAL, A SHEET QUENCHING APPARATUS COMPRISING A BASE, A FRAME MOUNTED UPON SAID BASE, A PLURALITY OF LOWER BACKUP ROLLS MOUNTED UPON SAID FRAME AND VERTICALLY SLIDABLY ADJUSTABLE WITH RESPECT THERETO, POWER MEANS TO DRIVE SAID LOWER BACKUP ROLLS, A LOWER QUENCH ROLL CONSISTING OF A CYLINDRICAL HOLLOW SLEEVE CONTRUCTED OF RESILIENTLY DEFORMABLE, HEAT-CONDUCTIVE MATERIAL FREELY AND ROTATABLY SUPPORTED UPON SAID LOWER BACKUP ROLLS, A PLURALITY OF UPPER BACKUP ROLLS VERTICALLY SLIDABLY MOUNTED UPON SAID FRAME, POWER MEANS TO DRIVE SAID UPPER BACKUP ROLLS, AN UPPER QUENCH ROLL SIMILAR TO SAID LOWER QUENCH ROLL, SAID UPPER QUENCH ROLL FREELY AND ROTATABLY SUPPORTED BETWEEN SAID UPPER BACKUP ROLLS AND SAID LOWER QUENCH ROLL AND DEFINING WITH THE LATTER A ROLL PASS FOR PASSAGE THEREBETWEEN OF THE SHEET TO BE QUENCHED, MEANS TO VERTICALLY EXTEND AND RETRACT SAID UPPER BACKUP ROLLS WHEREBY, IN AN EXTENDED POSITION THEREOF, SAID QUENCH ROLLS ARE SUBJECTED TO A COMPRESSIVE FORCE AND ARE THEREBY RESILIENTLY DEFORMED TO A GENERALLY ELLIPTICAL SHAPE THEREBY INCREASING THE HEAT TRANSFER AREA OF SAID ROLL PASS, AND MEANS TO PREVENT MOVEMENT OF SAID QUENCH ROLLS IN THE DIRECTION OF THE LONGITUDINAL CENTERLINES THEREOF.