Apparatus for the Preliminary Fining of Iron.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd May, 1897-Accepted, 19th June, 1897
Apparatus for the Preliminary Fining of Iron.
I, REINER MARIA DAELEN, of Kurfürstenstrasse, 7 Düsseldorf, Germany,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
An apparatus for the preliminary fining of pig or crude iron coming from a
blast furnace or cupola preparatory to being worked in the open hearth and
operating in a similar manner to a Bessemer converter, must fulfil the following
conditions.
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1. It must be transportable in order to avoid the use of a ladle between the fining
apparatus and the open hearth furnace because otherwise the treatment in the latter
would be retarded in consequence of the cooling due to the transference of the
metal from one vessel to the other.
2. The form and size of the bath of crude metal must be such as to permit of the
introduction of the air blast at the side at as small a depth below the surface as
possible, and so that the apparatus shall contain from ten to twenty tons of crude
iron with a maximum width of from 1 to 15 metres which width experience shows
should not be exceeded for obtaining a proper intermixture of the air blast and
iron.
3. The bath of crude iron must furthermore be maintained as far as possible in
equilibrio when tilting the apparatus for the charging, blowing, and discliarging in
order to obviate useless mechanical labour as much as possible.
'
4. The distance of the deepest point of the bottom of the converter from the
charging opening must be as small as possible, in order that the distance between
the rails and the bottom of the blast furnace hearth may not be unduly great,
furthermore, the discharge opening of the converter must be capable of being
lowered to about 800 milimetres above the line of rails situated in front of the open
hearth furnace, in order that the discharge may be effected from the converter
directly over the sill of the hearth.
5. As the capacity of the converter becomes increased owing to the wear of the
refractory lining, the refractory tuyeres must be capable of being shifted down-
wards, after a certain number of heats have been worked out to an extent
corresponding to the sinking of the level of the metal in consequence of the said
enlargement, in order that the entrance of the air blast may always take place
approximately at the same distance below the surface of the metal bath.
6. As the capacity of the converter must be very great in order to prevent any
boiling over, and consequently the hood thereof must be a considerable height, it is
advantageous to provide a special opening for charging and discharging situated at
a lower level so that the opening of the hood shall only serve for the escape of the
gases.
7. Lastly, an arrangement must be provided for enabling iron ores or other
bodies rich in oxygen, in powder form, to be introduced into the bath during the
blowing.
The above described conditions which must be fulfilled by an effective apparatus
for preparatory fining, are not fulfilled by the ordinary construction of Bessemer

page_text: The present invention relates to a construction of apparatus which will effectually
fulfil the above stated practical conditions, and which consequently entirely obviates
all disadvantages that arise in the use of the Bessemer converters of ordinary
construction.
I will describe the construction of the said apparatus with reference to the
accompanying drawings in which :-
:-
Fig. 1 shews a vertical section at right angles to the axis of rotation;
Fig. 2 is a vertical section through such axis,
Fig. 3 a section through the tuyeres of the air chamber and the hopper for the
introduction of the powdered ore;
Fig. 4 a front view of these parts, the cover of the air chamber being removed.
As shewn in Fig. 1, the converting vessel rests upon a truck frame A running
upon rails, being supported upon the 4 rotating rollers B B in such manner as to be
rotated thereon round the point C as centre.
The hollow trunnions D on the vessel, which rest in the forked bearings E, serve
as a guide in the rolling of the vessel round the centre C upon the rollers B, the
air supply to the air chamber H being effected through one of the hollow
trunnions D by means of the air pipe F; from the chamber H the air blast
passes into the vessel through the tuyeres M; the air pipe F is for this purpose
made to fit with a trumpet mouth over the tapered end of the hollow trunnion D as
shewn at Fig. 2.
While the left hand hollow trunnion D thus serves in the above described
manner for the air blast supply, the right hand hollow trunnion D carries a
device by means of which the tilting over of the vessel round the centre C can be
effected.
By way of example a worm wheel G is shown fixed on the trunnion D with
which is engaged a worm and suitable gear rotated either by hand or by power, for
effecting the turning of the vessel upon the rollers B.
In Fig. 1 are indicated in dotted lines several positions which the vessel can be
made to assume by such turning round C.
The air chamber I connected with a suitable blowing engine is provided with
two rows of tuyeres M and N, arranged on one side of the vessel, and of which the
upper row M serves for the blast so long as the level of the bath stands high ;
when, however, the level of the bath sinks in consequence of the wear of the
refractory lining, the lower row of tuyeres N, which were previously plugged, are
opened, for the passage of the blast, and the upper ones are plugged, so that,
approximately, the entrance of the blast is always effected at the same distance
below the level of the bath.
The above described construction is essentially different from the ordinary
construction of Bessemer converters, as is also the provision of a special charging
and discharging spout P, the hood L only serving to prevent the boiling over of
the metal while allowing the gases to escape.
This special charging and discharging spout P has an opening O which is made
narrow where it passes through the wall of the converter and is considerably
enlarged both inwards and outwards where it terminates in the spout O. By means
of this peculiar form of the special charging and discharging opening, the following
effect is obtained. The boiling metal rises in the interior of the converter to a
higher level than in the external spout, because it is there mixed with gases, which
only enter the spout to a smaller extent and there escape more quickly so that the
specific weight of the more solid iron in the spout is higher than that in the
converter. The rising and falling motion of the metal in the two baths connected
by O caused by the ebullition in the converter also serves to prevent any
solidification of the metal.
In order to enable iron ore or other bodies rich in oxygen to be introduced
during the blowing, a hopper R of sheet iron is provided above the air chamber,
as shewn more clearly at Figures 3 and 4, the cover of which hopper can be
hermetically closed.

page_text: This hopper, which contains the powdered iron ore, communicates with the air
chainber H by means of the tubes S.
These tubes enter with their lower ends, which are of a curved scoop shape into
the openings of the tuyeres, so that the ore powder passing from R into these tubes
is carried by the blast through the tuyeres into the converter.
In order to regulate or cut off the supply of the ore powder, there is provided
over the upper opening of each of the tubes R a small disc U having two different
diameters and fixed on the shaft T which can be rotated externally by the crank
handle K.
When turned into the position shewn at Figure 3 the larger diameter of the
disc U closes the communication between the hopper R and tubes S, while when
turned into the diametrically opposite position the disc leaves the communication
quite open.
By the provision of the above described device for supplying ore powder, and
the peculiarly formed charging and discharging spout P, as also by the provision of
the two rows of tuyeres M and N, which are put consecutively in action, also, the
peculiar tilting arrangement of the converter, the special form of the latter, and
lastly, the mounting the same on a transportable truck frame, all the first
above enumerated requirements of a practically operating preliminary fining
apparatus are satisfied.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. An apparatus for the preliminary fining of liquid crude iron from a blast
furnace or cupola, and for delivering the same to an open hearth furnace for the
production of ingot iron, consisting of a converting vessel rotatably carried on
rollers B on a transportable frame A. and having a special charging and discharging
spout P situated at a lower height than the hood opening, and formed so as to
prevent the boiling over of the metal, air blast being supplied to the vessel by
means of two superposed rows of tuyeres M and N, the one or other of which rows
put in action according to the level of the bath, so as to cause the blast to
enter approximately always at the same distance below the said level substantially
as described.
2. In fining apparatus such as is referred to in the first claim the provision of a
hopper R for the supply of powdered ore to the metal bath, so arranged that the
supply takes place through the tuyeres by means of tubes and can be regulated or
cut off at will by hand, substantially as described.
Dated this 3rd day of May 1897
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.