Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

An aerodynamic seal for a continuous heat treatment furnace which contains a protective atmosphere, and through which a metal strip moves in a given direction is disclosed. The seal is adjacent a passage through which the strip moves through a wall of the furnace, and comprises two slit nozzles above the strip and two slit nozzles below the strip, and inlets for causing a jet of gas to flow through each of the slit nozzles. The slit nozzles are so positioned that gas flowing normal to the strip through the two nozzles above the strip will strike the strip in two lines which are separated from one another in the given direction, and gas flowing normal to the strip through the two nozzles below the strip will strike the strip in two lines which are separated from one another in the given direction. The slit nozzles are operable to direct jets of gas toward the strip in a direction that is either normal to the strip or diverges from normal away from a jet of gas from the other of the nozzles on the same side of the strip. The seal causes a flow which consists of a protective gas through the two nozzles which are closer to the furnace, and causes air to flow through the two nozzles which are farther from the furnace.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim