Slab cooling device

Claim 1

A slab cooling device having a motorized carriage for movement over the length of an elongated cooling basin capable of simultaneously depositing a first metal slab into and removing a second slab from the basin, comprising: means in said basin for forming a series of adjacent compartments to receive slabs to be cooled, a horizontal member mounted to said carriage for vertical displacement relative to said carriage and said compartments, means for vertically displacing said horizontal member, including a gear rack means for engaging at least two gear pinions arranged in a spaced apart relationship with respect to each other and an equalizing shaft connecting said gear pinions, a number of vertically arranged means rotatably mounted at their upper ends in said horizontal member and extending toward said compartments, at least two horizontal extensions arranged at an angle mounted at the lower end of each said vertically arranged means, one extension for supporting said first slab and the other extension for supporting said second slab. said extension constructed and arranged upon a selected rotation thereof to release said first slab into one of said compartments and to assume a supporting relationship with said second slab in an adjacent compartment, at least two vertical guide means for each vertically arranged means and including two pairs of spaced apart guides fixedly mounted at their upper ends in said horizontal member and extending in a direction parallel to said vertically arranged means and overlapping to an appreciable extent a slab supported by said horizontal extensions and yet leaving an appreciable space between the lower ends of said guides and said horizontal extensions, and wherein said pairs of guides and said vertically arranged means are constructed and arranged to always have a fixed relationship with respect to each other and with respect to each other being arranged in an alternating fashion longitudinally of said compartments, said pairs of guides being constructed to form two groups, the guides of each group being arranged in alignment with each other in a plane parallel to the supported slabs and spaced longitudinally relative to a plane containing the vertically arranged means and the groups being arranged transversely relative to said containing plane to form two openings for said first and second slabs, and means mounted on said horizontal member for synchronously rotating said vertically arranged means.