Liner And Divider Structure For Slag Pots Or The Like

Abstract

An expendable, pre-molded, heat-resistant liner and divider assembly for use with a slag pot or the like adapted to receive molten materials for facilitating the removal and recovery of said materials from the pot after solidification of said materials and the manipulation and transportation of the latter when free of the pot. The liner employs a one-piece cup-like unit adapted to be inserted into the pot and to complementally engage the inner surface of the pot. The divider may employ a one-piece unit having a plurality of intersecting partition elements having outer surfaces complementally engaging the inner surface of the liner or of the pot when no liner is used or a multiple piece unit having a plurality of partition elements which may be coupled together during installation to present a similar divider configuration.

Description

This invention relates to the field of slag pots or similar metallurgical receptacles and, more particularly, to expendable liner and divider means for insertion within the pot to facilitate the removal and recovery of the metal material from the pot.

It has long been a serious problem in the steel industry and other related metallurgical industries that the pots and receptacles which are used to transport the molten steel or other metal, have a tendency to retain a certain amount of the material on their internal surfaces. The retention of the material, especially after a number of uses, may significantly reduce the effective capacity of the pot due to the buildup of successive layers of material within the pot. The problem is even more acute with regard to slag pots, where the entire amount of the metal material placed in the pot in molten condition is normally held therein until it has solidified, whereupon it is often extremely difficult to remove the solidified material from the pot.

The method commonly used to attempt to remove solidified material is the physical striking or dropping of the pot in an effort to break the bond between the material and the interior surfaces of the pot, so that the material may then be dumped or otherwise removed therefrom. Such striking or dropping of the pot often results in breakage or extensive damage to the pot, thus requiring expensive repairs or, in some cases, complete replacement of the pot at substantial expense. A second drawback to the use of such physical force for removing the material is that this method, even when it does not result in damage to the pot, frequently fails to completely remove all of the material.

A secondary problem facing the steel and other related industries is the problem of transporting and handling the mass of slag or other metal material once it has solidified and been removed from the pot. As may be appreciated, a mass of metal material corresponding to the volume and dimensions of the interior of the typical pot, which often is as much as 9 feet high and 9 feet in diameter, is extremely large and heavy and very difficult to handle. Heretofore, it has been necessary that the entire mass of material be cut up into a plurality of smaller chunks of a size which may be more conveniently handled and transported, which is extremely time consuming and expensive.

Accordingly, it is the primary object of this invention to provide an expendable liner for insertion within and use with a slag pot or the like in order to facilitate the removal of solidified slag or other metal material from the pot and to substantially eliminate the need to physically strike or jar the pot.

Another important object is to provide such a liner which is expendable and may be economically fabricated from a dry, heat-resistant material having a melting point temperature higher than that of the metal material to be handled.

Still another important object of this invention is to provide a divider for insertion within the liner, or within a pot if no liner is used, which will greatly facilitate the manipulation and transportation of the metal material after solidification and removal of the material from the pot by substantially reducing the amount of cutting necessary to separate the original amount of material into a plurality of smaller pieces of a size more convenient to handle.

A further important object is to provide such a divider which is expendable and may be economically fabricated from a dry, heat-resistant material having a melting point temperature higher than that of the metal material to be handled.

Still other important objects of the invention will be apparent or be made clear from the accompanying drawing and the description of the illustrative embodiments of the invention that follows.

In the drawing:

FIG 1 is an exploded view showing the operative relationship of a liner and one embodiment of a divider of the present invention with a conventional slag pot;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the slag pot, divider, and liner of FIG. 1, with the pot and liner shown in vertical cross section and the divider shown in side elevation;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the liner, divider and slag pot of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of a second embodiment of the divider of the present invention shown in its unassembled state.

A liner and divider assembly of the present invention utilizing the first embodiment of the divider is generally designated in the drawing by the numeral 10 and broadly includes a liner 12 and a one-piece divider 14. The liner 12 has a side wall 13 and a bottom wall 15 and is configured to be received within a conventional slag pot 16 with the external side surface 18 and bottom surface 19 of the liner 12 being complementally received and supported by a normally tapered internal side surface 20 and a bottom surface 21 respectively of the pot 16, the liner 12 providing complete separation between the inner surface 20 of the pot 16 and the inner surface 22 of the liner 12, thereby effectively isolating the molten material (not shown) to be introduced into liner 12 from the interior surface 20 of the pot 16.

The liner 12 is provided with an out-turned annular flange portion 17 adapted to overlie the top edge of the pot 16 when the liner is in place, so as to prevent molten material being poured from entering between the liner 12 and the internal surface 20 of pot 16. The liner 12 is preferably premolded in the above configuration from a dry, heat-resistant material having a melting point temperature higher than that of the slag in order to present a one-piece, expendable liner. One suitable material satisfying these requirements, and which is currently the preferred material for forming assemblies 10, is disclosed in U. S. Letter Pat. No. 3,373,047, issued to Sheets and Lennon on Mar. 12, 1968, and comprising a mixture of granular refractory material, inorganic fibrous asbestos, and bonder. The liner 12 is preferably made relatively thin, an inch or less being typical, and the minimization of such thickness of the walls of liner 12 is dependent upon the physical strength during handling and emplacement and the amount of burning if any during pouring characterizing the particular material chosen to form the liner 12.

The divider 14 is also preferably pre-molded from a material such as described for the liner 12, and comprises a plurality of intersecting partition elements 24 intersecting generally along the vertical center axis of the liner 14. Each of the partition elements 24 have a pair of opposed, outwardly facing, upwardly extending side surfaces 26 which are complementally received and engaged by the interior surface 22 of the liner 12 (or the interior surface 20 of the pot 16 if no liner 12 is employed). Each partition element 24 also has a horizontal bottom surface 27 which engages a corresponding interior bottom surface 20 of liner 12 (or pot 16). The partition elements 24 separate the interior of the liner 12 into a plurality of zones 28 of generally equal volumetric capacity which divide and separate the mass of slag which is ultimately poured into the pot into a corresponding plurality of separate, generally equal, smaller units. As may be appreciated, these smaller units, when they have solidified are capable of being handled with a greater amount of ease than that required for a piece corresponding to the original volume of slag held by a slag pot of customary size.

The side surfaces 26 of divider 14 are preferably provided with a plurality of spaced notches 30, in order to provide a series of limited passageways communicating each zone with its respective adjacent zones, for maintaining a uniform level of molten metal material in all of the zones 28 and eliminating any excessive stress on any one partition wall resulting from an uneven accumulation of material within a corresponding zone 28. If notches 30 were not provided, and if the molten material were allowed to accumulate in one zone, the greater weight inherent from the larger accumulation of material might tend to force the partition element 24 in the direction toward its adjacent zone 28 resulting in a fractured or collapsed partition element 24. On the other hand, the size of notches 30 must be kept relatively small in comparison with the overall size of the partition 24 in order to reduce or retain at a minimum the size of the material which will ultimately interconnect zones 28 through the notches 30 and which will, when the material has cooled, to some extent bond the original mass of material together until such time as the material is cut or broken apart. As may be appreciated, an unnecessarily large notch 30 would lessen the effectiveness of divider 14 by forming a bond of larger size requiring more effort to sever than for a smaller bond. It may also be observed that in lieu of notches 30, a plurality of openings could have been provided through the main portion of the partition elements 24 in order to provide a similar method of leveling the material within the liner 12; however, the solidified material extending through such openings could not be cut or broken as easily as the material resulting from the use of notches 30 through the side surfaces 26.

Each divider 14 is provided with a top edge 34 preferably sloping downwardly toward the common axis of intersection 32. Top edge 34 is sloped in the manner described in order to facilitate division of material between the zones 28 and to reduce the tendency of the material to splash out of the confines of the pot 16 during the introduction of the molten material therein.

A second illustrative embodiment of the divider assembly of the present invention is shown in FIG. 4 and is generally designated by the numeral 114. Divider 114 is also preferably used in conjunction with a liner 12, and comprise a plurality of individual partition elements 124 similar in configuration to the divider partitions 24, but the elements 124 are provided with a vertical central slot 129 extending upwardly through a horizontal bottom surface 127 of one element 124, and extending downwardly through top edge 134 of a second partition element 124. Divider 114 is assembled by inserting the one partition element 124 over and downwardly onto the other element 124 at their respective slots 129 in order to present a configuration of intersecting elements 124 similar to that of divider 14 of the first embodiment. Such construction of divider 114 facilitates shipment and handling, since the elements 124 may be stacked when not assembled.

Partition elements 124 are also provided with notches 130 vertically along the side surfaces 126 similar to notches 30 of the first embodiment and a top edge 134 similar to surface 34 of the first embodiment and for the same reasons.

In use, the liner 12 is emplaced within the interior of slag pot 16 and divider 14, if it is to be employed, is then emplaced within the interior of liner 12, both operations being accomplished prior to the introduction of the material into slag pot 16. The procedure for the liner 12 and divider assembly 114 of the second embodiment is similar to the aforementioned procedure with the exception that before the insertion of divider 114, the latter must be assembled in the manner previously described, with one element 124 being fitted onto the other element 124. With the liner 12 and divider assembly 14 or 114 being in position within slag pot 16, the slag material is then introduced into the pot. When it is desired t remove the material from pot 16, the pot 16 may be inverted by any suitable method thereby allowing the solidified material, liner 12 and divider 14 or 114 to fall free and clear from slag pot 16. A new liner 12 and divider 14 or 114 may then be inserted into the pot 16 in preparation for the next batch of material.

With the bulk of the solidified material now resting on the ground and free from pot 16, the small amount of material extending through slots 30 or 130, which is disposed in a freely accessible position around the external surface of the solidified material, may be severed by a torch or the like in order to cause the slag material to break away from the divider 14 or 114 and to be separated into a plurality of separate pieces corresponding to the number of zones 28 defined within the interior of the pot by the divider partitions 14 or 114. These smaller individual pieces may then be conveniently removed and used or disposed of in whatever manner is desired.

Therefore, it may be appreciated that the present invention accomplishes all of its objects by providing an expendable, heat resistant liner which may be easily removed from the pot without striking or jarring and which eliminates the problem of the metal material adhering to the walls of the pot, and by providing an expendable divider which substantially reduces the amount of cutting or the like necessary to separate the metal material into a plurality of smaller pieces that can be more conveniently handled. It should also be appreciated by those skilled in the art that a number of minor modifications and changes of details of construction might be made without departing from the principles and true spirit of the invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that the invention is to be deemed limited only by the fair scope of the claims that follow.

Claims

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In apparatus for handling metal slag material wherein an imperforate, metallic slag pot is provided for carrying said material, the improvement of which comprises the combination with said slag pot of a liner device adapted to fit into said slag pot for receiving said material while molten and facilitate the latter removal and recovery of said material from said pot without damage to said pot after solidification of said material, said device comprising: an expendable, unitary assembly adapted to be inserted and freely received in said pot prior to introduction of said molten material for receiving and holding said material within said pot, said assembly being dry, heat-resistant, substantially rigid and molded from a nonmetallic substance having a melting point temperature greater than said metal material, said assembly being of cup-like configuration to isolate the outer surface of said material from the interior surface of said pot, said assembly being proved with exterior surfaces configured and adapted for complementally engaging the interior surface of said pot throughout substantially the entire area of the latter to support the assembly during introduction of molten material into said pot; said assembly and said material therein falling as a unit free and clear of the pot when the latter is placed in an inverted position after solidification of the material in said assembly.

2. The invention of claim 1, wherein is provided expendable divider structure in said assembly for dividing the interior of the assembly into a plurality of separate material-receiving zones, said structure being dry, heat-resistant, substantially rigid and molded from a nonmetallic substance having a melting point temperature greater than said metal materials, said structure being configured to separate a major portion of each one of said zones from a major portion of its respective adjacent zones, said divider structure including a plurality of vertically disposed intersecting partition elements, each of said elements having a pair of opposed, outwardly facing, upwardly extending surfaces for complementally engaging the inner surface of said assembly to support the structure during introduction of molten material into said assembly.

3. The invention of claim 2, wherein said divider structure has an element provided with a slot extending upwardly from its bottom and an element provided with a slot extending downwardly from its top, said slotted elements being fitted together with a portion of each recessed within the slot of the other.

4. The invention of claim 2, wherein said elements are provided with opening means therethrough interconnecting a minor portion of each zone with a minor portion of its respective adjacent zones, said opening means comprising a plurality of notches spaced along the length of said opposed surfaces.