Abstract: Equipment for patenting steel wires, comprising preheating and patenting tanks for processing the wires along substantially horizontal and straight-line paths, an electrical potential being applied to end plates in at least some tank sections, the plates having notches at points of intersection with the wire paths, the wires being passed under respective levels of the baths in the tanks; through the notches, the paths being beneath upper edges of the end plates but above lowest points of the notches, the levels of the baths being kept above planes defined by the wire paths. Among optional features, pull is imparted to sections of the wires that exit from the patenting tank at a higher speed than to sections entering the preheating tank, thereby to reduce the cross-sections of the resulting steel wires without the application of dies and the like.

Abstract: Process for patenting steel wires, comprising the steps of passing steel wire substantially horizontally through a preheating tank containing a salt bath, and through a patenting tank similarly containing a salt bath; and applying an electrical potential between the tanks.

Abstract: A patenting process and a hot-forming process take place simultaneously, based on the principle of the direct electrical resistance heating, in an apparatus wherein the steel wire is led onto two discs or drums, provided with peripheral surfaces having different diameters and immersed in the patenting medium and from here the wire is led onto a guide disc or drums, outside the patenting medium.