Apparatus for stripping an anode block from an anode assembly

Apparatus for stripping an anode block, or butt, from an anode assembly used in aluminum smelting includes a conveyor having a carrier from which the anode assembly is suspended and a stripping station on the path of travel of the conveyor. At the stripping station, the support of the anode assembly is transferred from the carrier to an anvil which is mounted in the path of movement of the anode assembly so as to be engageable by the yoke portion thereof. The transfer is accomplished by lowering the carrier and anode assembly on a lift section of the conveyor, stabilizing the anode assembly against longitudinal and transverse swinging movements, and forwarding the carrier and the anode assembly along the lift section to a stripping position by a feeding device, the yoke of the anode assembly engaging an upwardly inclined ramp surface on the anvil during this forwarding movement and thereby transferring the weight of the anode assembly from the carrier to the anvil. A pair of pivoted stripping heads then move downwardly against the upper face of the anode block, stripping it from the yoke, and any portion of the anode block which still remains attached to the yoke is stripped therefrom by the anvil as the lift section is raised.