Abstract: The invention is directed to an oven installation as intermediate storage between the non-mandrel type coiling device for the strip-shaped slab located downstream of a thin-slab casting installation and its uncoiling device corresponding to the rolling mill downstream.

Abstract: The process of operating a reheating furnace for slabs involves the transport of slabs through the heating chamber of the furnace and contacting the slabs with a hot gaseous fluid which is supplied by one or more channels at a level below the path for the slabs. The fluid is thereby cooled and the cooled fluid is withdrawn to be readmitted into the channels subsequent to mixing with hot combustion products which are furnished by burners. The temperature of the fluid which is a mixture of cooled fluid and combustion products matches or approximates the optimum temperature for rolling of the slabs. That portion of the heating chamber which is adjacent to its inlet constitutes a magazine for temporary storage of slabs and contains ways for a charging machine which delivers slabs into the range of a walking-beam conveyor in the heating chamber.

Abstract: A reheating furnace has a row of heating chambers and a mobile roof whose sections can be moved relative to each other so as to expose the tops of selected chambers for admission or evacuation of slabs. The slabs are lowered into and lifted out of selected heating chambers by an elevator which is mounted on tracks at a level above the motors for carriages which shift the roof sections relative to the chambers. Each chamber can be heated by a set of burners independently of the other chambers. The elevator stacks the slabs in such a way that one marginal portion of each slab is exposed for pronounced heating by combustion products and the other marginal portion is nested between and is heated by the neighboring slabs.

Abstract: A top-fired, lifting or walking, hearth-type furnace includes an upstream preheating zone and a downstream primary heating zone. Stock, such as billets or ingots, to be heated is passed sequentially through the preheating zone and primary heating zone. Each zone has therein support members for supporting the stock. The support members of the preheating zone are at a level higher than the support members of the primary heating zone, with a step therebetween, whereby hot flue gases in the preheating zone circulate upwardly around the support members therein and the stock supported thereby. A lowering and lifting apparatus is located at the step to transfer stock from the support members of the preheating zone to the support members of the primary heating zone.

Abstract: The invention relates to a charging and discharging device with a vertically and longitudinally movable supporting arm. According to the invention, a pivotable lifting fork is provided which is fastened, horizontally and rotatably about its longitudinal axis, to the free ends of a supporting arm extending essentially in the form of a U and open at the bottom.

Abstract: A furnace for heating all sides of products such as metal slabs, billets, rough castings and the like includes a furnace chamber having a charging end and a discharging end. A plurality of carriages are positioned throughout the length of the furnace chamber to support products to be heated and are sequentially movable through the chamber from the charging end thereof to the discharging end thereof. Each carriage includes a support bench having extending upwardly therefrom support members to directly contact and support the products to be heated. A charging station is located adjacent the charging end of the furnace chamber for loading a product to be heated onto the carriage and introducing the thus loaded carriage into the furnace chamber, thereby displacing loaded carriages within the furnace chamber toward the discharging end and discharging a downstream-most loaded carriage from the discharging end of the furnace chamber.