Patent ID: 7766649

Claim:
A method of heating at least one of a removable ferrous workpiece and a removable non-ferrous workpiece comprising the steps of: providing a heating apparatus comprising at least one refractory wall enclosing a combustion chamber including at least one burner opening having a burner opening outlet end adjacent said combustion chamber and a burner opening inlet end distal from said burner opening outlet end adapted to receive a burner; providing a burner within said at least one burner opening; providing at least one of a removable ferrous workpiece and a removable nonferrous workpiece inside said combustion chamber; introducing one of a fuel gas and a combustion oxidant into a first fluid inlet end of an innermost coaxial conduit of said at least one burner; introducing the other of said fuel gas and said combustion oxidant into a second fluid inlet end of an annular region formed between said innermost coaxial conduit and an intermediate coaxial conduit disposed around said innermost coaxial conduit, said second fluid inlet end disposed proximate said first fluid inlet end; passing said one of said fuel gas and said combustion oxidant through at least one first fluid opening formed by said innermost coaxial conduit proximate a first fluid outlet end of said innermost coaxial conduit, said first fluid outlet end being one of flush with said burner opening outlet end and recessed within said at least one burner opening ; mixing said one of said fuel gas and said combustion oxidant with the other of said fuel gas and said combustion oxidant in said intermediate coaxial conduit proximate a second fluid outlet end of said intermediate coaxial conduit, forming a fuel/oxidant mixture, said second fluid outlet end being one of flush with said burner opening outlet end and recessed within said at least one burner opening; propelling said fuel/oxidant mixture from said at least one burner at a velocity in a range of about Mach 0.5 to about Mach 1.5; igniting said fuel/oxidant mixture, forming a flame, said flame impinging upon said at least one of said removable ferrous workpiece and said removable non-ferrous workpiece and forming combustion products; drawing at least a portion of said combustion products into a combustion products inlet end of a combustion products annular region formed between an outermost coaxial conduit disposed around said intermediate conduit, said combustion products inlet end being one of flush with said burner opening outlet end and recessed within said at least one burner opening; and exhausting said combustion products through a combustion products outlet end of said combustion products annular region, whereby said combustion products are drawn through said combustion products annular region, resulting in heating of said one of said fuel gas and said combustion oxidant disposed in said annular region prior to said mixing of said fuel gas and said combustion oxidant.