US3358985A - Apparatus for conveying fluid toward a region of high temperature - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 19, 1967 w. E. COOPER 3,358,985

APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING FLUID TOWARD v A REGION OF HIGH TEMPERATURE Filed April 17, 1964 4 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 l m, B 7 FIGI 35 37 INVENTOR.

/// WILBUR E. COOPER gum-2M ATTORNEY APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING FLUID TOWARD A REGION OF HIGH TEMPERATURE Filed April 17, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 19, 1967 w. E. COOPER 3,358,985

INVENTOR.

WILBUR E. COOPER BY M-smil A 'I'TORNE Y w. E. COOPER APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING FLUID TOWARD Dec. 19, 1967 A REGION OF HIGH TEMPERATURE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 17, 1964 INVENTOR.

WILBUR E. COOPER ATTORNEY liefird 8w Pam O I 3,358 985 APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING FLUID TOWARD A REGION OF HIGH TEMPERATURE Wilbur E. Cooper, Steubenville, Ohio, assignor to National Steel Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 17, 1964, Ser. No. 360,559 4 Claims. (Cl. 266-41) The present invention relates to apparatus for conveying fluid toward a region of high temperature, and more particularly to improved melting means for such apparatus. The preferred environment in which the invention is to be practiced is in connection with a metallurgical furnace, in which a gaseous fluid such as oxygen or fuel or a mixture of the two is conveyed through an elongated rigid conduit known in this art as a lance or probe or jet. Such apparatus is often used in the steel industry in combination with furnaces of the open hearth or converter or electric furnace type. It is expressly to be understood, however, that the present invention is also applicable in a variety of other environments. Moreover, although the fluid conveying means of the present invention is shown in the drawings mounted adjacent but independently of a furnace, it is to be understood that it could equally well be mounted on and carried by the furnace itself.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide apparatus for conveying fluid toward a region of high temperature, characterized in that the operation of the apparatus is rapid and easy to control so as not to hinder other operations.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of such apparatus that can be used so as to introduce the fluid at any desired angle to the horizontal.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of such apparatus that will occupy a minimum of space.

Finally, it is an object of the present invention to provide apparatus for conveying fluid towarda region of high temperature, and also to provide in combination with a metallurgical furnace apparatus for supplying fluid to the furnace through a fluid-supplying lance, which will be relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture, easy to install, operate, maintain and repair, and rugged and durable in use.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of apparatus according to the present invention, shown in the environment of a furnace which is broken away the better to show the relationship of the parts;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragment of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary side cross-sectional view taken on the line 33 of FIGURE 2.

Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, the invention is shown in combination with a metallurgical furnace 1 of the Bessemer scrap melting type containing a charge or melt 3 of molten metal which is to undergo heating or refining or other treatment with fluid in vapor phase introduced through an oxygen lance 5 that extends down into furnace 1 from an upper or inlet end 7 of lance 5 to a lower or discharge end '9 of lance 5. Lance 5 in the illustrated embodiment is of the oxygen lance type, meaning that it continuously discharges gaseous oxygen from its discharge end 9. Gaseous oxygen is supplied to inlet end 7 through a flexible conduit 11, and cooling water is caused to flow through the length of lance 5 about the inner oxygen conduit by means of flexible conduits 13 and 15 by which cooling water is supplied to and removed 3,358,985 Patented Dec. 19., 1967 from lance 5. The structure of lance 5 as such may be entirely conventional.

Entirely new, however, is the mounting for lance 5, indicated generally at 17. Mounting 17 includes a pair of fixed standards 19 that extend upwardly on either side of lance 5. Lance 5 is vertically reciprocable between standards 19. The base of standards 19 is provided with an opening 21 through which lance 5 extends. Opening 21 serves to guide the movement of lance 5 in a desired direction.

Standards 19 and lance 5 are interconnected by lazy tongs linkage 23. On the side of each standard 1'9 opposite lance 5, a pair of short links 25 are mounted at one end of each link 25 for vertical swinging movement on a pin 27. The two pins 27 are coaxial and horizontally disposed and are secured to the upper portions of standards 19. At their outer ends, short links 25 are pivotally interconnected each with a longer link 29 inter-mediate the length of link 29. There are thus four each of short links 25 and longer links 29.

Links 29 in turn are pivotally interconnected at their lower ends by pins 31 that pass through the lower ends of links 29 and are guided for reciprocatory movement in slots 33 that extend through standards 19. At their other or upper outer ends, links 29 are pivotally interconnected with still longer links 35, which in turn cross each other and are pivotally interconnected at their intersection by pins and at their upper ends by further pins further links 35, and so on up. There is thus produced a lazy tongs linkage having a fixed point at 27 and a movable point at 31, and motion-multiplying means comprising the system of links 25, 29 and 35 such that the uppermost part of the lazy tongs linkage as seen in the drawings will have a motion in a direction opposite the direction of motion of point 31 and of a magnitude determinable by the number and size of links 25, 29 and 35. It will of course be understood that in general, the more the links the greater the motion multiplication, and that the multiplication of motion divides the applied force; in other words, ignoring friction, the product of force and motion remains equal for any point in the system. These and other principles of the operation of lazy tongs linkage are well known and need not be discussed at greater length.

At its upper end, lazy tongs linkage 23 carries an annular collar 37 which is fixedly but detachably secured to inlet end 7 of lance 5.

The link elements of linkage 23 are duplicated on opposite sides of lance 5; that is, the elements of the linkage that are shown in FIGURE 1 are exactly superposed on identical linkage elements on the opposite side of lance 5. This relationship is perhaps best seen in FIGURE 3. It will therefore be appreciated that linkage 23 has two fixed points 27 the common axis of which intersects the axis of lance 5, and that the medial points of articulation of the links all lie in a plane which in-' cludes the axis of lance 5. Lance 5 thus overlies the length of linkage 23 and is disposed internally of linkage 23. Moreover, linkage 23 extends upon retraction of lance 5, that is, upon movement of lance 5 away from the furnace; and conversely, linkage 23 retracts upon extension of lance 5, that is, upon movement of lance 5 farther into the furnace. As a result, no more space is needed for the lance-moving equipment axially of the lance than the length of the lance itself, and a highly valuable consolidation of parts is thus elfected.

It will also be recognized that, although lance 5 is other pivot points but in modified form. Thus, every medial point of articulation of linkage 23 that lies on the midplane of lance 5, other than point 27, will move along a path that is congruent with the path of motion of point 31. Thus, the motion of those midpoints of articulation of linkage 23 that are on the side of point 31 opposite point 27 will describe movements that are mirror images of the movements of point 31 and that are increased in distance relative to the movement of point 31 in proportion to their distance from point 27 along the linkage. The significance of this is not so apparent in the case of the embodiment illustrated in FIGURE 1 as it would be if slot 33 were not straight. Instead, if slot 33 were some shape other than straight, as it can be according to the present invention, then it would be apparent that as point 31 moved along a non-rectilinear path, collar 37 would move in a mirror-image direction at considerably increased velocity and through a considerably greater distance. In other words, pins 27 would be the true pivotal axis of the lance for any position of the lance and during any movement of the lance. The provision of an appropriate shape for slots 33 will cause the lance to follow any desired path of movement without binding of its mounting means. Needless to say, such manipulation is completely impossible with the usual lance mounting means, which have been little more than crane and counterweighted cable arrangements.

Power means are also provided for actuating linkage 23 to cause lance 5 to follow its desired course of movement. These means include an actuator frame 39 which is a hollow open rectangle and to the medial portions of the longer sides of which the pins 31 are secured. Fluid motors 41, which act generally parallel to the axis of lance 5, are fixedly mounted on the adjacent structure of the Work station or building and have their movable portions or piston rods secured to the midportions of the shorter sides of frame 39. Points 31 thus move with the movable portions of fluid motors 41, which causes a corresponding movement of increased magnitude of lance 5 through collar 37.

As actuator frame 39 descends, lance 5 rises. It is thus possible to counterbalance the weight of lance 5 by providing counterweights 43- carried by frame 39. Theoretically, therefore, the only work that fluid motors 41 need do is to overcome friction.

The useof a lazy tongs linkage mounting for the lance in combination with counterweight means such as counterweight 43 will also be seen to have the advantage of promoting the use of lance 5 in any direction in addition to vertical as shown in the drawings. This is because counterweights such as counterweights 43 are effective only in proportion to the sine of the angle between the line of movement of counterweights 43 and the horizontal. In other words, when counterweights 43 are traveling vertically as in the illustrated embodiment, they exert their full weight in counterweight effect; and correspondingly, the sine of 90 is unity. But when the counterweights are traveling on an incline, and lance 5 is correspondingly traveling on an incline, then counterweights 43 exert less than their full counterweight effect; and correspondingly, the sine of their angle of movement to the horizontal is less than unity. But at the same time, the needed counterweight effect, that is, the force necessary to move lance 5 and its associated linkage 23 against the influence of gravity correspondingly decrease as the sine of that angle to the horizontal. In other words, when counterweights 43 move generally parallel to the lance, as is possible by use of the lazy tongs linkage of the present invention, they effectively counterbalance the weight of the lance and the associated structure regardless of the angle at which the lance travels. Again, no such effect has been capable Of achievement With the crane and pulley mechanisms for moving lances according to the prior art.

In speaking of the illustrated linkage 23, reference has been made to a fixed point 27. Of course, as is well known by those skilled in the art of lazy tongs linkage, it is not necessary to have a fixed point at all. It is necessary only to partially or totally restrain some portion of the linkage against what would otherwise be its normal movement lengthwise of the linkage, so that a restrained portion in effect passes on to an unrestrained portion of the linkage what would otherwise have been the movement of the restrained portion of the linkage. In the illustrated embodiment, the most restrained portion of the linkage is at point 27. It will also be understood that alternatively, any of the various pivot points could be restrained to some extent. For example, links 25 and 29 could be completely eliminated and the lower ends of the lowermost links 35 could ride in channels perpendicular to the axis of the lance. Similarly, the force that is now applied parallel to the axis of lance 5 by fluid motors 21 could, with some loss of the advantages described above,

be instead applied perpendicular to the axis of lance 5, for example, against the ends of links 35. These and other obvious modifications of lazy tongs linkage are all well known and need not be shown or further described in order to make it obvious to those skilled in this art that many modifications and variations of the illustrated embodiment could readily be made within the purview and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with a metallurgical furnace, apparatus for supplying fluid to the furnace, comprising an elongated fluid-supplying lance having a longitudinal axis, means mounting the lance for extension in a direction into the furnace and retraction in a direction out, of the furnace, said means including lazy tongs linkage for movement in a direction parallel to the longitu-, dinal axis of the lance disposed outside the furnace and having at least one part secured to the fluid-supplying lance restrained against movement axially of the lance and at least one other part secured to the lance for reciprocal movement with the lance toward and away from the furnace, and power means operatively connected to the lazy tongs linkage for moving such linkage to control movement of the fluid supply lance, into and out of the metallurgical furnace.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, the lazy tongs linkage comprising a pair of sets of links, one pair being disposed on each side of the lance.

3. Apparatus. as claimed in claim 2, the midline of each set of links and the axis of the lance lying in a common plane.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, and counterweight means mounted for movement with the lazy tongs linkage in a direction opposite the direction of movement of the lance.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 226,101 3/1880 Pfautz 74-521 X 843,301 2/1907 Sagenhorn 74-521 X 2,282,608 5/1942 Rempel 74-521 X 2,615,413 10 /1952 Adams et al. 2,981,377 4/1961 Brisson. 3,057,616 10/1962 Wohlfahrt et al. 266-34 3,112,135 11/1963 Solomonson 74521 3,170,977 2/1965 Obenchain 266-34 JOHN F. CAMPBELL, Primary Examiner,

I, COHEN, Examiner,

Claims (1)

1. IN COMBINATION WITH A METALLURGICAL FURNACE, APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING FLUID TO THE FURNACE, COMPRISING AN ELONGATED FLUID-SUPPLYING LANCE HAVING A LONGITUDINAL AXIS, MEANS MOUNTING THE LANCE FOR EXTENSION IN A DIRECTION INTO THE FURNACE AND RETRACTION IN A DIRECTION OUT OF THE FURNACE, SAID MEANS INCLUDING LAZY TONGS LINKAGE FOR MOVEMENT IN A DIRECTION PARALLEL TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE LANCE DISPOSED OUTSIDE THE FURNACE AND HAVING AT LEAST ONE PART SECURED TO THE FLUID-APPLYING

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