GB277325A - Improvements in apparatus for reducing oxides of metals - Google Patents

Abstract

277,325. Hornsey, J. W. Sept. 8, 1926, [Convention date]. Rotary furnaces; charging and discharging; cooling discharged materials.-A furnace plant for the direct production of iron, or for the reduction of oxide ones, such as those of zinc, lead, and copper, comprises a preheater 1, a reducing chamber 24, and a cooler 47, all of the rotary type, the drums being mounted loosely in fixed end heads and escape of gas being prevented by sealing devices, such as 9, 17, &c. In connection with each seal is provided a pocket 10 with a. screw conveyer 11 for collecting and removing dust. The ore is fed to the upper end of the drum 1 by a conveyer 12 passing through the end head 8. and is delivered therefrom into a channel 20 in the intermediate head 26, from which it passes through a grating 22 to a screw conveyer 23 opening into the upper end of the reducing-drum 24. By this arrangement the ore and heating-gases are kept out of contact during transfer from one drum to the other. The conveyer 23 has four concentric casings 29 --32. Fig. 3, of which the three innermost are spaced as shown to form passages for the circulation of cooling-water, and a heat-insulating space. Alongside the ore conveyer is a second conveyer 28 for powdered coal, and beneath the junction between the drum 24 and the head 26 is arranged a dust pocket 36. At the lower end of the drum 24 the reduced charge passes over a lip 37 into a channel 42 in the head 38, and is delivered by the conveyer 44 to the cooler 47, on to the outer surface of which water is allowed to fall from an overflow trough 52 with notched edges. The upper ends of the preheater and cooler have helical ribs 13. 48 for preventing accumulation of the charge at the point of delivery. Reducing gases are supplied to the reducing drum through the port 45, and surplus gas is burnt in the preheater with air supplied through water-cooled nozzles 15, ignition being effected by a blower delivering through the port 27. Inspection ports and manholes are provided in the various fixed heads, and in the uppermost dust is collected in a pocket 4, and the gases pass over a baffle 3 to the stack. In a modification transfer of the charge between the drums, is effected through inclined shoots, and dust is removed from the pockets 10 of the seals by a double bell device. Specification 284,040, [Class 72, Iron &c.], is referred to.