Apparatus for charging shaft-type furnaces

Claim 1

An apparatus for charging a shaft-type furnace, comprising: a housing surmounting said surface; an upper and lower gate along upper and lower portions of said housing and alternately operable to permit communication between the said housing and said furnace and between the exterior and said housing, each of said gates being formed with a respective opening in a horizontal plane, said openings registering with one another, and with respective plates slidable in said planes for selectively unblocking and blocking said openings; a bucket received in said housing between said gates and including a pair of bucket halves swingably mounted in said housing for receiving a charge introduced into said housing through the upper gate in a closed condition of said bucket wherein said bucket halves are swung together and for discharging the charge into said furnace through said lower gate upon the swinging of said bucket halves apart; and a pair of shafts extending parallel horizontally below the upper gate and outwardly of the boundaries of the opening thereof and swingably carrying said bucket halves, said bucket halves having respective downwardly converging floors in the closed condition of the bucket and lower edges spreading substantially the full width of said openings in an open condition of the bucket.

Claim 2

An apparatus for charging a shaft-type furnace, comprising: a housing surmounting said surface; an upper and lower gate along upper and lower portions of said housing and alternately operable to permit communication between the said housing and said furnace and between the exterior and said housing, each of said gates being formed with a respective opening in a horizontal plane, said openings registering with one another, and with respective plates slidable in said planes for selectively unblocking and blocking said openings; a bucket received in said housing between said gates and including a pair of bucket halves swingably mounted in said housing for receiving a charge introduced into said housing through the upper gate in a closed condition of said bucket wherein said bucket halves are swung together and for discharging the charge into said furnace through said lower gate upon the swinging of said bucket halves apart; and a pair of shafts extending parallel horizontally below the upper gate and outwardly of the boundaries of the opening thereof and swingably carrying said bucket halves, said bucket halves having respective downwardly converging floors in the closed condition of the bucket and lower edges spreading substantially the full width of said openings in an open condition of the bucket.

Claim 5

An apparatus for charging a shaft-type furnace, comprising: a housing surmounting said furnace; an upper and lower gate along upper and lower portions of said housing and alternately operable to permit communication between the said housing and said furnace and between the exterior and said housing; a bucket received in said housing between said gates and including a pair of bucket halves swingably mounted in said housing for receiving a charge introduced into said housing through the upper gate in a closed condition of said bucket wherein said bucket halves are swung together and for discharging the charge into said furnace through said lower gate upon the swinging of said bucket halves apart, said bucket being of clamshell configuration and said bucket halves being mirror symmetrical about a vertical plane parallel to the swing axes of said bucket halves and having downwardly and inwardly inclined ramplike floors including an obtuse angle in the closed condition of said bucket; a pair of massive shafts spanning said housing and journaled in opposite walls thereof along the respective swing axis and rigidly affixed to said bucKet halves; and means external of said housing for swinging said shafts, said housing being provided with an upper opening below said upper gate and a lower opening aligned with said upper opening and above said upper gate, and a pair of downwardly converging walls mirror symmetrically disposed on opposite sides of said vertical plane and terminating at said lower opening, said shafts being offset outwardly of the projections of said opening, each of said bucket halves having a pair of generally trapezoidal vertical end walls, said end walls and said floor defining an abutment edge engageable with the abutment each of the other bucket half in a substantially rectangular seam, said walls including between them an acute angle and being provided with means engageable with said floors in the swung apart positions of said bucket halves, said floors lying parallel to said walls in said swung apart positions.

Claim 6

An apparatus for charging a shaft-type furnace, comprising: a housing surmounting said furnace; an upper and lower gate along upper and lower portions of said housing and alternately operable to permit communication between the said housing and said furnace and between the exterior and said housing; a bucket received in said housing between said gates and including a pair of bucket halves swingably mounted in said housing for receiving a charge introduced into said housing through the upper gate in a closed condition of said bucket wherein said bucket halves are swung together and for discharging the charge into said furnace through said lower gate upon the swinging of said bucket halves apart, said bucket being of clamshell configuration and said bucket halves being mirror symmetrical about a vertical plane parallel to the swing axes of said bucket halves and having downwardly and inwardly inclined ramplike floors including an obtuse angle in the closed condition of said bucket; a pair of massive shafts spanning said housing and journaled in opposite walls thereof along the respective swing axis and rigidly affixed to said bucKet halves; and means external of said housing for swinging said shafts, said housing being provided with an upper opening below said upper gate and a lower opening aligned with said upper opening and above said upper gate, and a pair of downwardly converging walls mirror symmetrically disposed on opposite sides of said vertical plane and terminating at said lower opening, said shafts being offset outwardly of the projections of said opening, each of said bucket halves having a pair of generally trapezoidal vertical end walls, said end walls and said floor defining an abutment edge engageable with the abutment each of the other bucket half in a substantially rectangular seam, said walls including between them an acute angle and being provided with means engageable with said floors in the swung apart positions of said bucket halves, said floors lying parallel to said walls in said swung apart positions.