Patent ID: 8110142

Claim:
A refractory bottom for a metallurgical vessel, comprised of: a bottom lining having a bottom surface that is dimensioned to overlay a bottom of a metallurgical vessel and an upper surface, said upper surface consisting essentially of a plurality of discrete sections including an uppermost section, at least two intermediate sections and a lowermost section, each section having an upper surface at a predetermined elevation wherein said upper surface of said uppermost section has a highest elevation, said upper surface of said lowermost section has a lowest elevation, and said intermediate sections each have an intermediate elevation that are different from each other and disposed between said highest elevation and said lowest elevation, all of said sections forming said upper surface of said bottom lining being at a different elevation and being arranged in elevation-descending order from said uppermost section to said lowermost section to define a continuously downward stepped path from said uppermost section to said lowermost section, wherein each successive section along said continuously downward stepped path is lower than a preceding section in said continuously downward stepped path and wherein each of said sections is pie-shaped and said pie-shaped sections are disposed such that said continuously downward stepped path is circular; and an opening extending through said lowermost section of said bottom lining to allow a molten metal to drain from said vessel.