Abstract: A method of operating a reheating furnace in a hot rolling line and a heating furnace therefor in which the reheating furnace is positioned between a continuous casting apparatus and a rolling apparatus rolling workpieces at a higher speed than they are cast by the casting process, the furnace serving as a heating and buffer zone. The heating furnace is longitudinally divided into two heating sections which are changed over so as to receive workpieces for heating and the workpieces are charged into one of the two sections after the other of the two sections has been filled up. The furnace is operated to collectively forward the workpieces heated up to predetermined rolling temperatures to the rolling apparatus for efficient rolling.

Abstract: A method including baking two carbon articles in a chamber, wherein the improvement comprises the steps of:A. providing a protrusion and a stub hole on a face of one of the articles and arranging the articles side by side in the chamber with said protrusion and said stub hole located between the articles, whereby during baking any bonding between the articles is limited to the region of the protrusion so that the articles can later be separated with relative ease, andB. subsequently baking the carbon articles in the presence of a carbonaceous particulate support, with the carbonaceous particulate support being present in the stub holes, whereby the prevention of stub hole distortion and adjoining carbon article blistering is improved.

Abstract: Apparatus for and process of heat treating open coils of strip metal, such as strip steel, by passing hot gases or atmospheres through spaces between spaced convolutions of the coil, in which a shielding structure is provided at the upper end of the coil where the coil edge portions are exposed to radiant heat from the furnace and where they may tend to move and distort from gas velocity or localized thermal expansion. The shielding structure protects these portions of the coil from excessive heat and restricts harmful movement thereof, thus improving the quality of the heat treated product. The disclosed shielding structure comprises spaced upwardly extending walls the height of which is sufficient to, and the spacing of which is such as to, prevent direct impingement of radiant heat on the upper end of the coil while permitting adequate flow of gas through the shielding structure for treating purposes.

Abstract: A glass sheet to be heated, for example to a bending or a quenching temperature, is supported on its lower edge in an upright disposition and is advanced along a horizontally disposed path through a furnace. Transient support is provided for the upper edge of the sheet which support is positioned to cause the sheet to lean at a near-vertical angle as it is advanced, and thermal conditions in the furnace as well as the time the sheet is within the furnace are set in dependence on the glass thickness so as to heat the glass to the required temperature while permitting the glass to relax as it is heated only by an amount less than a maximum acceptable deformation of the sheet which depends on the use to which the sheet is to be put.