Abstract: A walking beam furnace has in its interior fixed beams and walking beams for holding and transporting material to be annealed. These beams are provided with different support members for the material to be annealed, of which support members one serves for transporting flat material and the other for transporting round material. The different support members are arranged on the fixed and walking beams one after another in an alternating sequence.

Abstract: The invention relates to a walking beam furnace wherein the walking beams can be lowered beyond their operative stroke to a maintenance position. The actuating device for the walking beams comprises a hydraulic, pneumatic or electric assembly (10) and a wheel (16) rotatably mounted around a stationary axis and a preferably flexible drive-transmitting member (20) which is formed, for example, by a cable, a sprocket chain or the like, and is pivotably connected to said wheel (16). The flexible drive-transmitting member can rest on the peripheral surface of the wheel (16) both during the operative stroke of the walking beams (7) and during their lowering stroke to the maintenance position. The ramps, whereon the lifting rollers (6) for the walking beams (7) run, comprise a less-inclined upper stretch (3) and a successive more-inclined stretch (4).