The walking beam furnaces are used for treating billets, slabs, springs, etc.The parts to be treated move within the furnace and are set side by side; this permits to reduce the size of the furnace considerably and to have a high productivity rate.
The walking beam furnaces are constituted of a stationary top section, equipped with gas fired burners or heating elements and a bottom section consisting of a few stationary and mobile beams.

The mobile beams lift and shift forward permitting the parts to be treated to “walk”.

The mobile section then descends and returns to its initial position, allowing the parts to rest on the fixed hearth and wait for the next move. The treated parts are unloaded by means of motor-driven rollers or electro-hydraulic systems with alternated movements.

The advantages of this type of furnace is the absence of metal parts inside the furnace, easy replacement of the ceramic supports and removal of the entire lower section of the furnace to ease cleaning and maintenance services.