Method and apparatus for heat-treating of workpieces

Claim 3

A method as defined in claim 1; further comprising the step of introducing further streams of said combustion gases into said chamber at said speeds and with such orientation as to form intermediate said workpiece and the other of said top and bottom walls a further pair of laterally adjacent gas spirals similar to the first-mentioned pair.

Claim 4

A method as defined in claim 2; further comprising the step of advancing an additional workpiece through said chamber in an additional path vertically spaced from the first-mentioned path; and introducing into said chamber additional streams of said gases at speeds in excess of 50 m./sec. and with such orientation as to form in the space between Said paths two additional superposed pairs of laterally adjacent gas spirals similar to the first-mentioned pairs of gas spirals.

Claim 5

An industrial furnace for heat-treating workpieces, comprising wall means defining a horizontally elongated treating chamber having transversely spaced sidewalls and vertically spaced top and bottom walls; guide means extending longitudinally of said chamber in a plane intermediate said top and bottom walls for guiding a workpiece for advancement through said chamber; and burner means including pairs of burners provided in said sidewalls transversely aligned for ejecting streams of substantially fully combusted combustion gases into said chamber at speeds in excess of 50 m./sec. transversely of the direction of advancement of said workpiece and into the space between said workpiece and at least one of said top and bottom walls with such orientation that said gas streams impinge upon one another in a sense causing their conversion into respective rotating gas spirals, whereby to obtain between said workpiece and said one wall a pair of laterally adjacent gas spirals each of which has an axis coincident with the direction of elongation of said chamber and a rotary component of movement about its respective axis in direction towards the associated gas spiral.

Claim 6

An industrial furnace for heat-treating workpieces, comprising wall means defining a horizontally elongated treating chamber having transversely spaced sidewalls and vertically spaced top and bottom walls; guide means extending longitudinally of said chamber in a plane intermediate said top and bottom walls for guiding a workpiece for advancement through said chamber; and burner means including pairs of burners provided in said sidewalls transversely aligned for ejecting streams of substantially fully combusted combustion gases into said chamber at speeds in excess of 50 m./sec. transversely of the direction of advancement of said workpiece and into the space between said workpiece and at least one of said top and bottom walls with such orientation that said gas streams impinge upon one another in a sense causing their conversion into respective rotating gas spirals, whereby to obtain between said workpiece and said one wall a pair of laterally adjacent gas spirals each of which has an axis coincident with the direction of elongation of said chamber and a rotary component of movement about its respective axis in direction towards the associated gas spiral.

Claim 7

A furnace as defined in claim 4, said burner means comprising further pairs of burners provided in said sidewalls transversely aligned and operative for ejecting further streams of said combustion gases at said speeds into a further space between said workpiece and the other of said top and bottom walls whereby to provide in said further space a further pair of laterally adjacent gas spirals similar to the first-mentioned pair.

Claim 8

A furnace as defined in claim 5, said guide means comprising first and second guide instrumentalities for guiding the first-mentioned workpiece and an additional workpiece in two vertically superposed spaced planes; and said burner means including additional pairs of burners provided in said sidewalls transversely aligned and operative for ejecting into the space between said workpieces two additional superposed pairs of laterally adjacent gas spirals similar to the first-mentioned pairs of gas spirals.

Claim 9

A furnace as defined in claim 5; and further comprising divider means provided on said top and bottom wall, respectively, projecting into said chamber and extending longitudinally of said chamber intermediate the respective gas spirals of each pair of gas spirals.