Patent ID: 7556765

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a metallurgical melting vessel adapted to hold a molten metal bath therein; a tapping pipe in operative connection with the metallurgical melting vessel, wherein the tapping pipe includes an inlet end, an outlet end, and an axially running passage channel between the inlet end and the outlet end, wherein the axially running passage channel has a cross-section between the inlet end and the outlet end which follows the following dependency: A (y) =A*√ ( h 1 +h k )/[(h 1 +h k )− y] with A=cross-sectional area of the passage channel at the outlet end in m 2 (with a desired volume flow quantity predefined), h 1 =effective height of the molten metal bath in the metallurgical melting vessel above the inlet end of the tapping pipe (in axial extension of the tapping channel) [m] (with h 1≦ 0.2h max ), h max =maximum height that the metallurgical melting vessel is capable of holding the molten metal bath therein above the inlet end of the tapping pipe [m] (in axial extension of the tapping pipe), h k =length of the tapping pipe between the inlet end and the outlet end [m], and Y=axial distance [m] between the outlet end and a point along the tapping pipe (with 0<y≦(h 1 +h k )).