| 摘要 |
<p>There is disclosed a kiln (5a, 5b), particularly but not exclusively, for heat treating clay products such as pipes (85a, 85b) or tiles. Prior art kilns suffer from a number of problems. For example: the length of the kiln makes it impractical for large diameter pipes; limited only to heat treating pipes of a certain diameter; heat exchange is not properly effected between lower and upper zones. The invention, therefore, provides a kiln (5a, 5b) for heat treating pipes (85a, 85b) comprising a drying/preheat zone (10a, 10b), a firing zone (25a, 25b) and a cooling zone (40a, 40b), and conveyor means for transporting one or more support means (80a, 95a, 80b, 95b) each supporting one or more pipes (85a, 85b) through at least one of such zones, in use each pipe (85a, 85b) being supported upon the respective support means (80a, 95a, 80b, 95b) substantially perpendicularly to the direction of transportation, each support means (80a, 95a, 80b, 95b) further having means for rotating (100a, 100b) each pipe (85a, 85b) supported therein along a longitudinal direction of the respective pipe.</p> |
