Apparatus for cleaning billets

Claim 1

A CYLINDRICAL BILLET CLEANING APPARATUS COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION: INCLINED RUNWAY MEANS DIVIDED INTO AN UPPER SECTION FOR THE BILLETS TO BE CLEANED AND A LOWER SECTION FOR THE CLEANED BILLETS, SAID SECTIONS BEING LONGITUDINALLY SPACED FROM ONE ANOTHER; BILLET CLEANING MEANS OPERATIVE IN THE SPACE BETWEEN SAID SECTIONS AND INCLUDING A CYLINDRICAL CLEANING ELEMENT MOUNTED FOR ROTATION ABOUT A FIXED AXIS EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY ACROSS AND AT A LOWER LEVEL THAN THE RUNWAY MEANS, MEANS FOR POSITIVELY DRIVING SAID CLEANING ELEMENT, AND MEANS DISPOSED ABOVE SAID CLEANING ELEMENT FOR SUPPORTING A BILLET TO BE CLEANED ROLLING THERETO FROM THE UPPER SECTION OF THE RUNWAY MEANS IN A POSITION SUCH THAT ITS PERIPHERAL SURFACE IS ENGAGED AND ACTED UPON BY THE PERIPHERAL SURFACE OF THE CLEANING ELEMENT; AND MEANS FOR EJECTING A BILLET ALREADY ACTED UPON BY THE CLEANING ELEMENT FROM THE CLEANING MEANS ONTO THE LOWER SECTION OF THE RUNWAY MEANS FOR ROLLING MOVEMENT THEREALONG AND FOR FREEING A BILLET TO BE CLEANED DISPOSED ON THE UPPER SECTION OF SAID RUNWAY MEANS FOR ROLLING MOVEMENT TO SAID CLEANING MEANS.