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(11) | EP 0 640 416 A3 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
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| (54) | Method and apparatus for filling and discharging a filling material |
| (57) A discharging furnace (4) and a filling furnace (3) are disposed in the upper and
lower parts of a filling and discharging furnace (2). The discharging furnace has
a reservoir (5), with a sloping bottom surface protruding toward the filling furnace
and provided with a valve (9). Hot air heated by a duct heater (18) through a duct
(16) is fed mainly into the discharging furnace while a remaining portion of the hot
air is fed into the filling furnace. In the discharging furnace molten filling material
from a bent (worked) workpiece (6) is collected in the reservoir and, when the valve
is opened, is introduced into a straight (unworked) workpiece (1) which is carried
by a filling carrier (12) in the filling furnace. The filling carrier is divided into
three parts comprising a filling deck (30), a carrier body (31) and a sealing deck
(32), the filling deck (30) having a nozzle (52) and the sealing deck a seal member
(60). When the sealing deck (32) is moved upwards, a workpiece lifting deck (38) is
also moved up to a condition in which the seal member is engaged with the lower end
of the unworked workpiece, and the top end of the latter engages with the nozzle.
The filling material is now be filled through the nozzle into the workpiece. If the
specification of the workpiece 1 is changed, the nozzle and the seal member are replaced. |