Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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The invention relates to an arran~ement for extracting and
introducing a flexible starter bar provided with a starter bar
head, out of and into the arcuate strand guide of a continuous
casting plant, comprisiny a starter bar guide branching off the
strand guide and including a sliding or roller way, and a lift-
ing and transporting means for introducing the foot end of the
starter bar into the mould or into an opening of the strand
guide below the mould, respectively.
In order to provide such an arrangement with little con-
structional expenditures only and in order to be able to conveythe starter bar, for the next onset of casting after one onset
of casting has been efected, in circulation "foot first" to
the mould or into an opening of the strand guide below the
mould, it has been proposed (Austrian patent application
A 2061/79) to equip the starter bar guide branching off the
strand guide with a rocker-shaped shunt arranged in the strand
guide and a cage containing a sliding or roller path and being
rotatable about a horizontal axis by approximately 180. There-
by it is possible to bring the starter bar into the right
position for the introduction into the strand guide prior to
being seized by the lifting and transporting means. As a lifting
and transporting means, a gantry crane that is displaceable in
the casting hall has been proposed. This crane must have a
height which corresponds to at least the length o~ the starter
bar, thus m~ch space being required in the hall. If this space
is limited by, for instance, hall standards or craneway girders,
this proposal cannot be realized with a displaceable crane.
The invention aims at improving this proposed arrangement
in a manner that the lifting and transporting means requires
only a little height during its displacement to the mould, so
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that an installation is pogsible at a later point of time into
already existing halls in which craneway yirders or the like
are provided, which limit the space above the casting platform
level.
The invention provides in an arrangement for extracting
and introducing a flexible starter bar having a foot end and a
starter bar head, out of and into an arcuate strand guide of a
continuous casting plant of the type including a mould, a starter
bar guide branching off said arcuate strand guide and including
one of a first sliding means and a first roller way means, and a
lifting and transporting means for introducing said foot end of
said flexible starter bar into said mould, said starter bar guide
including a rocker-shaped shunt arranged in said arcuate strand
guide and a cage rotatable about a horizontal axis by approxi-
mately 180 and accommodating one of a second sliding means and
a second roller way, the improvement wherein said lifting and
transporting means comprises a displaceable car havlng a carrying
device including a lifting device arranged thereon for accommo-
dating said starter bar, said carrying device being pivotable
about a further horizontal axis between vertical and horizcntal
positions, one end of said carrying means being the upper end and
the other end being the lower end when said carrying means is in
the vertical position, said lifting means being provided at said
upper end of said carrying means.
According to a preferred embodiment, the carrying
device comprises a roller way supporting the starter bar.
Suitably, the carrying device is provided with a lift-
ing means on the upper end when in the vertical position, where-
by it is possible to design the starter bar particularly short.
Suitably, the carrying device is mounted to be pivot-
able approximately about its center of gravity. Thereby, the
drive for pivoting the carrying device need not be powerful and
.
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the region tha-t is covered by the pivotal movement i5 small.
It is advantageous if the carrying device is displace-
able at the height of the casting plat~orm.
The arrangement according to the invention will now be
explained in more detail by way of one embodiment and with refer-
ence to the accompanying drawing, which is an overall view of a
continuous casting plant in a schematic illustration seen from
the side.
A strand guide downwardly follows upon a continuous
casting mould 1, 'che cast strand being bent from the vertical
into a circular arc in the bending zone 2 of the same. In a
circularly arc-shaped guiding structure 3 following upon the
bending
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zone, supporting and guiding rollers 4 are mounted in segments
5 that are individually removable and installable. The starter
bar has to be introduced ~rom above through the mould 1 into
the strand guide until the first ones of the drivable rollers 6
seize it and convey it downwardly. In the straightening zone 7
of the strand guide the circularly arc-shaped cast strand is
straightened. By 8 a horizontal strand guiding structure is
denoted. Between the straightening zone 7 and the horizontal
strand guiding structure 8, driving rollers 9 are provided. At
the end of the horizontal guideway, further driving rollers 10
are arranged. Upon these, a torch-cutting roller table 11
follows, in which a torch-cutting arrangement (not illustrated)
is provided for dividing the cast strand into desired lengths
and which also serves for cutting off the crop ends.
At the beginning of the torch-cutting roller table, a
rocker-shaped shunt 12 is arranged so as to be pivotable about a
stationary axis 13 ~rom a position A illustrated in the drawing
by full lines into a position B illustrated by broken lines.
A pressure medium cylinder 14 serves for pivoting.
A stationary roller way 16 mounted on a supporting structure
15 follows upon the upwardly pivoted shunt 12 (position B). On
the upper end of this stationary roller way 16, a cage 18 also
containing a roller way 17 is provided in the extension of the
same, which cage is mounted on the supporting structure 15 so as
to be rotatable about an axis 19. For rotating the cage 18, a
driving motor 20 serves, which is preceded by a drive 21. On the
two ends 22, 23 of the cage, clamping rolls 24 are provided,
serving for clamping the starter bar 26 which is comprised of
link bodies 25 hinged to one another. For conveying up the
starter bar 26 wh~nthe latter is conveyed out by the last driving
7 ~ ~ ~
rollers 10 arranged before the torch-cutting roller table, driv-
ing roller-structures 27 serve, one of which is provided on the
stationary roller way 16 and one of which is provided approxi-
mately in the center of the cage 18.
On the very beginning of the -torch-cutting roller table, a
tong-opening mechanism 28 is arranged by which a tong-shaped
starter bar head 29 of the starter bar can be latched open.
In the casting hall, at the level of the casting platform
30, a car 32 is displaceable on supports 31, which car comprises
a ]ib 33 on the one end and is loaded with counter weights 34 on
the other end. On the front end of the jib 33 a roller-way 35 of
a carrying device 36 is mounted so as to be pivotable about a
pivot axis 37, the rollers of this roller way 35 being fastened
to longitudinal beams 38. The pivot drive 39 for the roller way
35 is mounted to the jib 33. With the help of this pivot drive
39, the roller way 35 can be pivoted by about 90 from a posi-
tion C illustrated in full lines in the drawing into a position
D illustrated in broken lines (and vice versa). On the upper end
40 of the roller way 35, when in the vertical position C, i.e.
to the longitudinal beams 38, a lifting device comprised of a
rope winch 41 and a lifting motor 42 is mounted with the help
of which a hook 43 is movable along the roller way 35. The start-
er bar head 29 of the starter bar 26 may be suspended on this
hook 43.
At a distance 44 above the casting platform level 30, a
craneway girder 45 of the casting hall is arranged.
The arrangement according to the invention functions in the
following manner:
At the onset of casting, the starter bar 26, which is sus-
pended with its starter bar head 29 on the hook 43 of the rope
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winch 41, is threaded into the strand guide "foot first" (thefoot being denoted by 46) through the mould l until the starter
bar head closes the mould towards below. This procedure is
illustrated in the drawing by dot-and-dash lines. After the
onset of casting, the starter bar 26, and toyether therewith
the cast strand, are extracted by means of the driven supporting
rollers 6. As soon as the foot 46 of the starter bar has been
seized by the driving rollers 10, the rocker-shaped shunt 12 is
pivoted into position B, which is illustrated in broken lines,
so that the starter bar will be conveyed to the stationary
arcuate. roller way 16 via the shunt. As soon as the starter
bar head 29 has come to lie below the tong-opening mechanism
28, the tong halves of the starter bar head are latched open and
the starter bar thus separated from the cast strand is conveyed
further upwardly by means of the driving roller stand 27 provid-
ed at the stationary roller way 16. When the head 29 of the
starter bar comes to lie on the stationary roller way, the shunt
12 is again tilted downwardly into position A, so that it will
no longer impede the cast strand being conveyed further. The
20 starter bar is then conveyed further upwardly until it comes to
lie completely within the cage 18. This is illustrated in the
drawing by full lines. The starter bar head 29 and the foot 46
of the starter bar 26 are held by the clamping rolls 24, the
central part is held by the driving rollers of the driving-
roller stand 27.
If it were desired to again thread the starter kar into the
mould, at first the cage 18 is pivoted by 180, so that the
starter bar, which intitially projects upwardly with its foot
46, now will project upwardly with its starter bar head 29.
Then the starter bar head 29 is seized by -the hook 43 of the
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rope winch 41 and the starter bar 26 is extracted out of the
cage 18 until it con~acts the roller way 35 of the carrying
device 36. Thereupon, the carrying device 36 is pivoted by
approximately 90 into position D illustrated in the drawing by
broken lines, so that the maximum height 47 of the transporting
means is lower than the distance 44 of the craneway girder 45
from the casting platform level 30. Su~sequently, the car 32 is
moved as far as to the mould 1, so that it will be above the
mould cavity with the end of the jib 33, whereupon the carrying
device 36 is pivoted back into the vertical position C and the
starter bar 26 is lowered into the mould 1 or the strand guide
arranged therebelow with the help of the lifting means 41, 42.
The invention is nct limited to the embodiment illustrated,
but can be modified in various aspects.
For instance, it is possible to do without the stationary
arcuate roller way, if the rocker~shaped shunt bends the starter
bar by about 90. The cage can be connected directly to the
shunt. Furthermore, it is possible to replace the roller ways
for the starter bar, which are illustrated in the drawing, by
slideways. The cage itself can be pivoted to and fro by 180
each, as is indicated by the arrows, or can also be rotated by
360. The rotation axis 19 of the cage need not be arranged
exactly centrical and parallel to a roller of the roller way of
the cage, as is illustrated in the drawing, but can be located
also eccentrically of the cage, whereby the cage 18 comes to
lie in a position (for accommodating the starter bar) with its
end 22 below the casti.ng platform level, and in the other
position, pivoted by 180 (for seizing the star~er bar head by
means of the crane hook) comes to lie, with its end 23 allocated
to the starter bar head 29, above the casting platform. This has
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the advantage that the starter bar head 29 is more easily
seizable.
For accommodating the starter bar, the caye 18 and the
carrying device 36 need not be in a perpendicular position,
but they may also be arranged in an inclined manner, pivot
angles that deviate Erom 180 and from 9o thus resulting
during the pivoting of the cage and during the pivoting of the
carrying device, respectively (for the purpose oE "directing
upwards" the starter bar head).
According to a further modified embodiment, the mould and,
if desired, also part of the strand guide therebelow may be
removed before the starter bar is threaded into the strand guide
and pulled in. It is also possible to design part of the strand
guide in a manner that it can be latched open so as to give
free a thread-in opening.
