Nippon Kokan Kabushiki Kaisha

Minoru Morita

Shinji Akita

Masachika Numano

Masachik Numano

There is disclosed an apparatus for performing conditioning operations including cutting operations such as beveling for welding, chamfering to aid in starting thread cutting, thread cutting and lead cutting and inspecting operations such as bevel or chamfer inspection and threads inspection on the ends of seamless steel pipes or round bars transferred from the preceding forming stage such as the rolling stage. The apparatus comprises a plurality of end processing multifunction machines each capable of performing by itself the above-mentioned processing operations and a plurality of end inspecting multifunction machines each capable of performing by itself the above-mentioned inspecting operations and these machines are arranged on one side or both sides of a single-line transverse transfer system. Each steel pipe or round bar to be processed is subjected to the end processing operations at a single fixed position and to the end inspecting operations also at a single fixed position.

Processing of steel pipes or round bars

A conditioning line for steel pipes in which steel pipes are transversely transferred to effect the end processing thread cutting, thread inspection, hydrostatic testing, etc., on the steel pipes. With a view to increasing the efficiency of the conditioning operations, a reprocessing line is arranged to run parallel to a main line such that the steel pipes rejected on the main line are automatically transferred to the reprocessing line where the rejected steel pipes are reprocessed and automatically transferred back to the main line.

Conditioning line for steel pipes

Disclosed is a walking beam and more particularly its driving mechanisms whereby a material placed on a plurality of stationary beams for transfer, e.g., a steel product such as a steel pipe or round bar is raised from below, moved forward and lowered again onto the stationary beams by a plurality of transfer beams and this process is repeated to effect the transfer of the material. Each of the driving mechanisms includes a first link for causing the transfer beam to make a circular motion and the first link is rotatable about a supporting shaft with a radius of rotation l. The supporting shaft is fitted in the forward end of a second link and is rotatable about a main rotating shaft with a radius of rotation 2l. Mounted also on the supporting shaft is a first gear which is rotatable along with the first link and the first gear is in mesh with a second gear mounted on the main rotating shaft. The driving of the second gear and the second link is controlled selectively such that one of them is driven and the other is locked or both of them are driven and in this way the feed length of the transfer stroke of the transfer beam is changed to 2l, 4l or 6l.

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Kawasaki, Japan

Minoru Morita