Heat treating apparatus with cooling fluid nozzles

Claim 1

A vertical type heat-treating apparatus, comprising: a reaction tube extending substantially vertically along a longitudinal direction and containing a uniformly heated zone in which an object to be heat-treated is received; a coil-like heater surrounding the reaction tube; a liner tube provided between said reaction tube and said heater; a plurality of inlet nozzles through which a cooling fluid is forcedly introduced toward the reaction tube, said inlet nozzles being arranged at predetermined intervals along the longitudinal direction and the circumference of the reaction tube, and passing through gaps between coils of said heater and penetrating said liner tube so as to extend perpendicularly and near to respective surface portions of said reaction tube; and exhaust means, located substantially at the upper most end of the reaction tube, for exhausting the cooling fluid from around the reaction tube; wherein each nozzle discharges the cooling fluid in a direction parallel to a tangent drawn to the circumference of the reaction tube at a point where the reaction tube and the respective nozzle are closest, so as to permit the cooling fluid to form a swirl around an other wall of the reaction tube, to thereby directly cool the outer wall of the reaction tube.