Claims
- 1. An apparatus for pickling wire, which comprises:
- an elongate housing having side walls, a top wall and a bottom wall and open at ends thereof,
- means for forming water curtains at the ends of said housing to provide an enclosure,
- a rectangularly cross-sectioned open-topped elongate tank extending longitudinally within said housing from an upstream location adjacent an entrance end of said housing towards a downstream location spaced from an exit end of said housing,
- said tank having an overflow weir at said upstream location and wave forming means at said downstream location for forming by a hydraulic jump in conjunction with pickling liquor in said tank a wave of pickling liquor passing from said downstream end and overflowing said weir at said upstream location, and
- means for passing at least one wire horizontally from said entrance end to said exit end of said housing at a location slightly above the open top of said tank at a level which permits said wire to be substantially submerged by said wave passing from said downstream location to said upstream location.
- 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said housing comprises a lower portion and an upper portion, said lower portion including upwardly-opening elongate channels provided at the upper extremity of side walls of said lower portion and arranged to have a liquid housed therein, said upper portion including downwardly-depending side walls extending into said channels to terminate below the level of liquid in said channels so as to seal the sides of said housing, said upper portion being mounted to be movable out of the side-sealing relation of said depending side walls and said channels so as to enable access to the interior of the housing to be gained.
- 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said housing further comprises additional means for forming at least one water curtain located between the ends of said housing adjacent the downstream end of said tank and dividing said housing into a pickling zone between said water curtain forming means at said entrance end of said housing and said additional water curtain forming means and a washing zone between said additional water curtain forming means and said water curtain forming means at said exit end of said housing.
- 4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein at least one further water curtain forming means is provided between said additional water curtain forming means and said water curtain forming means at said exit end of said housing.
- 5. The apparatus of claim 4 further including wire wiping means located in said washing zone positioned to engage said at least one wire to remove liquid from the surface of said at least one wire.
- 6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein each of said water curtain forming means comprises a water tray having a width substantially that of said housing located adjacent said top wall of said housing and having a weir extending along one longitudinal side thereof to permit water to overflow from said tray and form a downwardly-flowing curtain of water, sump means for collecting water from said curtain and recycle means for recycling said collected water from said sump to said tray.
- 7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said elongate tank has a width corresponding substantially to the width of said housing and said wave forming means comprises a slot located at said downstream end of said tank, extending for the width of said tank and located adjacent the bottom wall of said tank through which pickling liquid flows into said tank.
- 8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said tank has a pickling liquor static depth d and a width L, pump means associated with said wave forming means has a capacity Q, said weir has a height W, g is the gravitational constant and the sequent depth D of a wave of pickling liquor formed in said tank by said wave forming means is determined by the relationship: ##EQU7## and the height of the weir is determined by the relationship:
- W D--h.sub.c
- where h.sub.c is the critical height of the wave above the weir at which the Froude Number is unity and is determined by the relationship:
- h.sub.c =(Q.sup.2 /gL.sup.2).sup.1/3.
- 9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said tank is located above a sump tank in such manner that pickling liquor overflowing said weir is collected in said sump and conduit means is provided connecting said sump to said wave forming means for recycling pickling liquor from said sump means to said wave forming means.
- 10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said tank has wire contacting means located at each longitudinal end of the tank to contact wires passing through said enclosure.
- 11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said means for passing at least one wire comprises means for passing a plurality of said wires arranged in parallel side-by-side laterally-spaced relation from said entrance end to said exit end of said housing at said location.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
580453 |
Oct 1988 |
CAX |
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Parent Case Info
This is a division of Ser. No. 326,643, filed 3/12/89.
US Referenced Citations (8)
Foreign Referenced Citations (3)
Number |
Date |
Country |
585073 |
Oct 1959 |
CAX |
3039303 |
May 1981 |
DEX |
2415151 |
Sep 1979 |
FRX |
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry |
Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics, Gerhart and Gross, Addiston-Wesley, 1985, pp. 792-804. |
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
326643 |
Mar 1989 |
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