Patent ID: 6944930

Claim:
A method for continuously manufacturing ingots of low-oxygen copper, comprising: preparing a starting material for the low-oxygen copper; performing combustion of the starting material in a reducing atmosphere in a melting furnace so as to produce molten copper; sealing the molten copper in a non-oxidizing atmosphere in a casting trough, the casting trough extending horizontally and having a degasser, the degasser including a plurality of dikes positioned on upper, lower and side surfaces of the casting trough and extending in vertical directions and horizontal directions inside the casting trough such that the molten copper is channeled to flow upward, downward and side to side in the casting trough; transferring the molten copper horizontally through the degasser to a tundish by using the casting trough; feeding the dehydrogenated molten copper to a continuous casting machine so as to continuously produce cast copper; and cutting the cast copper into ingots of the low-oxygen copper, each ingot having a predetermined length.