Annealing furnace

Claim 1

A FURNANE FOR CONTINUOUSLY ANNEALING ELONGATED METAL STOCK PASSING LONGITUDINALLY THROUGH SAID FURNACE, COMPRISING: A HOUSING FORMING AN ELONGATED TRANSPORT PATH FOR SAID STOCK FROM AN INLET END TO AN OUTLET END OF SAID HOUSING; FIRST MEANS DEFINING IN SAID HOUSING A PLURALITY OF GENERALLY HORIZONTAL, PARALLEL, LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING, CIRCUMFERENTIALLY ENCLOSED PASSAGES FOR SAID STOCK, SAID PASSAGES HAVING RESPECTIVE ENTRANCES GENERALLY IN THE REGION OF SAID INLET END AND EXTENDING OVER A RELATIVELY MAJOR FRACTION OF THE LENGTH OF SAID PATH; SECOND MEANS DEFINING A GENERALLY HORIZONTAL, UPWARDLY OPEN CHANNEL FOR SAID STOCK COMMUNICATING WITH SAID PASSAGES FORWARDLY THEREOF ALONG SAID PATH AND REMOTE FROM SAID ENTRANCES; A DOWNWARDLY OPEN BURNER CHAMBER FORMED IN SAID HOUSING AT A LOCATION ABOVE SAID CHANNEL AND COMMUNICATING THEREWITH WHILE EXTENDING THEREALONG OVER A LENGTH OF SAID PATH LESS THEN THE LENGTH OF SAID PASSAGE; BURNER MEANS IN SAID CHAMBER FOR GENERATING A HEATING GAS BY COMBUSTION OF FUEL; AND MEANS INCLUDING AN EXHAUST COMPARTMENT AT SAID INLET AND COMMUNICATING WITH SAID PASSAGES AND AN EXHAUST BLOWER FOR DRAWING SAID GAS FROM SAID CHAMBER IN A DIRECTION COUNTER TO THE DIRECTION OF DISPLACEMENT OF SAID STOCK WHEREBY SUBSTANTIALLY ALL OF THE GAS GENERATED IN SAID CHAMBER IS WITHDRAWN THEREFROM ALONG SAID PASSAGES.