US1742017A - Method of brazing - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 31, 1929. F, P, VINCENT A 1,742,017

METHOD OF BRAZ ING Filed Oct. 4; 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet l N w "D N ,gwen/br n Dec. 31., 1929. F. P. VINCENT v 1,742,017

METHOD OF BRAZING Filed Oct. 4. 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 [NVE/uren i EZMQ PM E Yff/Zf A rromvfys Parenteel Dec. 31, 1929 UNITED STATES FRANK P. VINCENT, or ELYEIA, lomo, AssIeNoE, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T o STEEL AND TUBES', INC., 0E CLEVELAND, oHIo, A CORPORATION orl oHIo METHOD oF BEAZ'ING Application led October 4, 1926. Seriall No.l 139,331.

This invention relates to a method of brazing. More particularly it relates to a. method of heating a plurality of elongated articles,

such as tubes, for the'purpose of brazingor4 the like.

An object of thev invention is to provide a process in which articles may be uniformly heated on all sides.

Another object is to provide a process in which all articles will be heated alike, ir-

respective of the part of the heated chamber through which they pass. m

vAnother object is to provide a-processv fin which the temperatures of different parts of .ahea'ted chamber may be readily and independently controlled.

Another object is to provide la process by vwhich articles may be mechanically conveyed l'and'y at thesame time uniformly heated.

Other objects willv hereinafter appear. p AThe invention vwill be better understood from the description of one practical em? bodiment thereof illustrated in the accdmpanying drawings, in which'- Fig. 1 is a plan view of the 'furnace and associated parts, the upper part of the furnace being shown in section taken on line l-l of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a side elevationof the apparatus shown in Fig.v 1, parts being shown in section taken on line 2-2 of that figure; and

Figs. 3 and 4 are cross sections of the furnace and the chamber, taken ton lines 3-3 and f1-4, respectively, of Fig."'2.

Figure 5 is aslightly enlarged view of a conveyor bar'withtubes thereon shown in section.. i `The furnace consists of a bottom 1, atop 2, an intermediate horizontal wall 3, sides 4 and 5, and `ends 6 and 7. The intermediate wall divides the interior of the furnace into two chambers or compartments, a lower or heating chamber extending throughout the furnace and having openingsfQ andl()l in its ends, and an upper or combustion chamber l tically.

to thecombustion chamber. The air admitted 1s controlled by doors or dampersl atthe outer ends of the passages. A passageA 16 PATENT OFFICE. I

allows the burning gases to pass from the ,l

end of'thecombustion chamber remote'frorn opening 12 to the heating chambers. In order Yto direct the gases through this passage 1 .and prevent the `setting up of eddy currents, i

the inner surface of the end wal16'i's down-A wardly andoutwardly inclined'in t-he combustion chamber and below this extends vertically down to opening 9; l

At the 4end of the` heating chamber opposite passage 16 isa stack -`17'. y Just before the stackat 18l the ceiling Aofthe heating chamberhasa short, .depending step, and the end wall 7 depends slightly further than this step, as shown.

It will be noted that'most of the rcombustion chamberll, the passage 16, thel heating chamber 8 and the stack 17 are all of the same width and that The furnace is constructed material, such as fire brick, and may be protected and supported by a metal sheathing as shown.' The entire structure is supported on legs 19.

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the sides of all extendl ver-fA of refractory Extending along the bottom of the heating i `chamber and projecting through the openings at both ends are two parallel Apipes 20..

cool enough to not be damaged by the furnace heat.

. Outside the furnace, and in alignment with pipes 20, are two other pairs ofparallel pipes or rods22 and 23 supported, respectively, on tables 2,4: and 25. These three pairs form a track for a chain vconveyor by which articles are carried through the furnace.

The conveyor consists of two chains driven by sprockets 26 and running over idler sprockets 27. `The sprockets 26 are rotated in a counterfclockwise direction as shown in Fig; 2, by any suitable source of power, through gearing 28 and controlled by a clutch 29.'`

Beyond the chain conveyor, on table 25, is a series of rollers 30 to which the chain conveyor may deliver articles and this part of the table is also provided with a transfer cradle composed of shaft 31 and bars 32 by the rotation of which articles can be removed laterally from the rollers.

The chains of the conveyor carry at frequent intervals cross bars 33 arranged to slide along the tops of the track formed by the pipes above described. These cross bars carry the articles which are to be heated and may have their upper edge notched as shown or otherwise suitably shaped to retain the articles. It will be noted that when in the heating chamber the ends of the bars are well clear of the side walls, there being in practice about three inches between the ends of bars and the Walls, and there is a considerable space between the bars and the bottom of the furnace.

This permits the hot gases to readily reach every side of each article and thus heat it uniformly throughout.

Due to the flaring sides of the combustion chamber near the fuel inlet opening, the fuel air and burning gases flow along this chamber without setting up serious eddy currents. The gases also pass through the passage 16 and along the heating chamber Without material disturbance. It is, therefore, possible, by controlling the air admitted through ports 14 and 15, to control the temperature at different parts of the heating chamber, thus always heating the articles to the desired temperature. This is particularly important in brazing, where the metal must be heated sufficiently to fuse and must not be permitted to burn.

The chain conveyor carries the articles into the furnace at the stack end, where the gases are comparatively cool. and then, as the articles become heated, through progressively hotter parts of the furnace, thus extracting the greatest practicable amount of heat from the gases.

The conveyor may be operated continuously at such a speed that the articles are heated any desired amount as they pass through the furnace, or may be caused to stop when the articles have been carried into the furnace and then operated to remove them after they have been heated for any desired period.

Due to the arrangement of the conveyor parts, the heated gases have ready access to all sides of the articles, so that no side is heated substantially more than any other.

While I have described the illustrated embodiment of my invention in some particularity, obviously it may be applied in many other Ways and I do not, therefore, limit myself to the precise construction shown but claim as my invention all variations, modifications and embodiments coming Within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The process of brazing tubes which comprises moving a plurality of tubes simultaneously through a chamber, controlling the temperature of the chamber, so that the temperature of the tubes is substantially uniform on any transverse plane, and controlling the speed at which the tubes are moved so that brazing material is heated sufficiently to fuse but not to burn.

2. The process of brazing tubes which comprises ap lying brazing material to the seams of the tu es, arranging the tubes in groups, each of Which comprises a plurality of tubes in spaced side-by-side relation, passing the groups successively through a furnace from the cooler end to the hotter end thereof, While maintaining the tubes at a distance from all walls of the furnace, controlling the temperature in the furnace by admitting air at a plurality of points so that the temperature of the tubes is substantially uniform on any transverse plane, and controlling the speed at which the tubes are moved so that the brazing material is heated just suiiiciently to insure proper fusion.

3. The process of brazing tubes which comprises applying brazing material to the seams of the tubes, arranging the tubes in groups,

each of which comprises a plurality of tubes in spaced side-by-side relation, passing the groups successively through a chamber While maintaining the tubes at a distance from all walls of the chamber, controlling the temperature in the chamber, and controlling the speed at which the tubes are moved so that the brazing material is heated just sufficiently to insure proper fusion.

4. The method of brazing which comprises introducing heated gas into a chamber, passing articles to be brazed through the chamber at such a speed that they are heated by the gas to a brazing temperature, and maintaining substantially uniform the temperature in the chamber in any vertical plane at right angles to thc path of travel of the articles.

5. The method of brazing which comprises introducing heated gas into a chamber, passing articles to be brazed through the chamber in such a manner that they are heated by the gas to a brazing temperature, and introducing cooling gas into localized portions of the heated gas whereby the temperature of the i latter is maintained substantially uniform in any vertical plane at right angles to the path of travel of the article.

6. The method of brazing which comprises passing heated gas into a chamber, passing articles to be brazed through the chamber and heating them to a brazing temperature While maintaining them in spaced relation to the walls of the chamber, and maintaining the temperature in the chamber substantially s1gnature.

uniform in any vertical plane at right angles to the path of travel of the articles.

7. The method of brazing Which comprises passing heated gas through a chamber, controlling thetemperature of the gas so that in any given plane at right angles to its direction oli' travel the temperature of the gas is substantially uniform, and passing arti-y cles to be brazed through, thelchamber in a direction opposite to the travel of the gas and lout of contact With the chamber Walls and controlling the travel. of the articles so that they are gradually heatedto brazing temperature. f

8. The method of brazing tubes which comprises passing heated lgas through a chamber, passing tubes to be brazed through the chamber in a direction opposite to that of the gas and causing the tubes each yto be heated substantially uniformly in any given transverse plane and gradually heated up to the brazin temperature.

9. The method of brazing tubes which comprises passing heated gas through a chamber, passing tubes to be brazed through the chamber ina direct-ion opposite to 'that of the gas and causing the tubes each to bel heated substantially uniformly and all to be heated to substantially the same temperature in any given transverse plane and gradually heated up to the brazing temperature.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my FRANK P. VINCENT.

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