Patent ID: 7445747

Claim:
A metallurgical lance to extend downwardly and inwardly through a shell of a vessel into a slag layer of a bath of molten metal and slag contained in the vessel, and for injecting solid particulate material into said bath, the lance being self supporting in situ in the vessel and comprising: a central core tube through which to pass the solid particulate material; an annular cooling jacket surrounding the central core tube throughout a substantial part of its length, the annular cooling jacket having outer and inner tubes interconnected by a front end connection piece, which form internal water flow passages for flow of cooling water therethrough, the internal water flow passages having an inner water flow passage, through which cooling water can flow generally in a first direction, and an outer water flow passage, through which cooling water can flow in a second, opposing direction; and a mounting structure for mounting the lance on the vessel, the mounting structure having an outer annular part disposed about the annular cooling jacket at a position that is towards the rear end of the lance and that extends along the annular cooling jacket to a position that is spaced back from the forward end of the lance and, the outer annular part having a forward end with a front face that is inclined at an angle to a central longitudinal axis of the lance, and internal water flow passages for flow of cooling water therethrough; wherein the diameter of the outer annular part is at least 1.5 times the diameter of the annular cooling jacket, and the inclined front face of the outer annular part enables mounting of the lance to the vessel in the downwardly and inwardly orientation with the front face flush with an inner surface of a refractory lining of the shell of the vessel, and the lance is adapted to extend inwardly from the shell a horizontal distance of between one quarter and three quarters of the radial distance from the shell to the centre of the vessel and into the slag layer.