Abstract: A homogenizing apparatus comprises a casing having an internal cylindrical surface defining a bore having an open end. A portion of the surface is threaded and the casing defines an inlet portion terminating in an annular chamber along the threaded portion substantially centered between the ends thereof. A rotatable closing plug in the open bore end has a cylindrical threaded portion meshing with the threaded portion of the internal cylindrical surface and longitudinally extending grooves along the cylindrical threaded portion of the plug. The threads of the threaded portions and the grooves define homogenizing passages and the annular chamber surrounds the threaded portion of the plug and communicates with the homogenizing passages whereby a liquid or pasty product delivered under pressure into the inlet port is divided into two equal streams flowing from the centered annular chamber through the homogenizing passages in opposite directions. An outlet conduit receives the streams of homogenized product.

Abstract: A thickening apparatus comprises a cylindrical vessel, an axially extending delivery conduit having an outlet in the upper third part of the vessel, a mixer feeding sludge and a flocculating agent to the delivery conduit whereby the sludge and flocculating agent mixture is delivered into the vessel through the delivery conduit outlet, a collecting basin discharging liquid removed from the mixture peripherally of the vessel at the upper part thereof, a vertical rotary shaft extending through the vessel, vanes mounted on the rotary shaft, counter-vanes arranged in the vessel to cooperate with the vanes, the vanes and counter-vanes extending in opposite inclined planes and the vanes forming a discontinuous helix extending from the upper to the lower part of the vessel, the pitch of the helix diminishing towards the lower part, and a discharge conduit for the thickened sludge in the lower part of the vessel.

Abstract: The invention concerns the separation of granular products of different density in a pneumatically pulsated liquid medium. To control the pulsation amplitude, the level of separation of two layers of the product is detected by a sensor which emits a corresponding control signal and the pulsating air is intermittently vented. The beginning of the venting is controlled after the air inlet valve has been opened completely, the termination of the air venting is controlled at the same time as the closing of the air inlet valve, and the duration of the venting is determined by the control signal from the level sensor. This signal is transmitted to a first input of a computer receiving the control signal and a second input receiving the output signal from a memory unit wherein the air inlet valve opening and closing program is stored, and the output signal of the computer controls the venting.

Abstract: A seeding magma for seeding a solution of a crystallizable product is prepared from a suspension the crystals in a liquid phase. This suspension is delivered into a continuously rotating conical basket of a centrifugal drier. The basket has an upper output end and a screen is mounted therein. Rotation of the basket causes the suspension to be subjected to centrifugal forces causing crystals of a size interior to the mesh size of the screen to pass with the liquid phase through the screen and larger crystals to be retained on the screen and centrifugally displaced towards the upper output end and ejected therefrom. These crystals are forcefully projected against an impact surface disposed around the output end of the basket whereby the projected crystals are crushed on impact with the surface. The crushed crystals are recycled into the suspension delivered into the basket while the liquid phase with the crystals passed through the screen is removed for preparing the seeding magma.

Abstract: An installation for continuously casting steel billets comprises a support structure and a guiding roll-rack for the cast billets receiving molten steel from an oscillatory mold and comprising an upper and lower section each having a frame. The upper section and the mold constitute a demountable and replaceable unit. The upper section is supported on the top of the lower section and carries a support for guiding the mold for oscillation. The lower section is mounted on the support structure and carries a mechanism for oscillating the mold. This mechanism comprises an arm mounted for pivoting on the top of the lower guiding device section frame, an actuating rod connecting the arm to the mold for oscillating the mold is response to the pivoting of the arm, and respective pivots connecting the actuating rod to the arm and to the mold, one of the pivots being readily detachable.

Abstract: High temperature phosphate are burning process in which the ore is preheated by gases produced by the combustion of a fuel in the burning zone, and then enters the burning zone and is cooled by a current of cool air which is used, at least partly, as combustion in the burning zone, characterized by the fact that burning is carried out in a static combustion chamber in which the preheated ore is placed in suspension in the current of air which has cooled the burned ore and in which fuel is injected, whereby the combustion of air and fuel supplies the required heat for burning, and that the retention time of the ore in the combustion chamber is less than thirty seconds, the burned ore being blow out of the chamber by the gases resulting from the combustion of the fuel injected into the chamber.

Abstract: The invention relates to a gyratory crusher having a breaking head resting on the piston of a hydraulic adjustment ram. This crusher is characterized in that the piston of the ram carries a rack arranged parallel to its axis and a pinion meshing with this rack is fixed to the end of a shaft going through the wall of the ram cylinder, the other end of this shaft being coupled to a sensor delivering an electric signal according to the angular position of the shaft. The invention is applicable to gyratory or cone crushers or breakers.

Abstract: A sugar cane mill facility for the extraction with imbibition of sugar from sugar cane.This mill is characterized by the fact that it includes a fourth roller placed in front of the upper roller, against which it presses and, above the inlet roller and mounted on a mobile support, means acting upon the said support in order to flexibly push the fourth roller towards the upper roller, adjustable stops hindering these two rollers from coming together, and a trash plate placed between the fourth roller and the inlet roller integral with the said mobile support. The juices extracted by pressure between the upper roller and the fourth roller can be recycled to the bagasse layer feeding the mill, either with the juices which have passed through this layer, or with the juices extracted by pressure between the upper roller and the inlet and outlet rollers.

Abstract: A centrifugal separator has a rotary cylindrical basket on which a cake of solids builds up during rotation of the basket. The charge of the basket is controlled by a sensor sensing the thickness of the cake and a vertical manifold sprays a wash fluid on the cake. The washing of the cake is improved by mounting the manifold on a mobile support and linking this support to the sensor so that the position of the manifold is a function of the thickness of the cake.

Abstract: This invention concerns a system for the protection of the delivery end of a rotary kiln.This system is characterized by the fact that it consists of a refractory concrete ring covering the internal surface of the end of the kiln shell and the front surface of a flange attached to the outside of the end of the shell, the ring being fastened to the shell and the flange by anchorage units fixed on them.The invention can be used in the cement production and minerals processing industries.

Abstract: Apparatus for countercurrently contacting solids with a liquid comprises a rotatable drum housing a screw conveyor having helical turns affixed to the cylindrical side wall of the drum and defining a helical passageway for the solids between the turns, the passageway is divided into a series of compartments. Each compartment has a grating receiving the solids and raising the received solids while liquid is drained through the grating and then permitting the drained solids to fall into a succeeding compartment, and an imperforate partition trailing the grating in the direction of rotation of the drum, the partition defining a chamber receiving the liquid drained from the solids with the adjacent side wall of the drum and the helical screw turns. A passageway interconnects each chamber with the upstream compartment and these passageways extend along the side wall of the drum.

Abstract: A calcining installation of improved thermal efficiency comprises a long rotary tubular kiln having an upstream inlet, a downstream outlet and an air inlet at the downstream end. A burner is positioned in the upstream half of the kiln, the upstream part of the kiln constituting a calcining zone and the downstream kiln part constituting a cooling zone for the calcined material. A cyclone separator for separating dust from the kiln flue gases has an inlet and a dust outlet, and an additional cyclone separator has an inlet, a gas outlet and a material outlet connected to the upstream end of the kiln. A pipe connects the gas outlet of the additional cyclone separator to the inlet of the cyclone separator, the pipe having a vertical portion and an inlet for the raw material in the lower part of the vertical portion.

Abstract: An installation for casting molten metal into a continuous strand from an oscillatory mold comprises a mold discharge guide rack including an assembly of guide elements for the continuous metal strand and two side supports for the guide elements. A mechanism for imparting oscillations to the mold includes a guide bar and a control lever operatively associated with the guide bar. Two fluidtight housings each affixed to a respective one of the side supports encloses the guide bar which is mounted in the housing on guide rollers assuring lateral and transverse guidance of the guide bar therein.

Abstract: A ball or grindstone crusher comprises a frame including a support and a table mounted on the frame support for rotation about a vertical axis, and table having arranged thereon an annular track and the frame support extending in a plane below the annular track. Balls or grindstones are rollingly supported on the track and are pressed thereagainst. A first series of bearings supports the table on the frame support and a second series of bearings is disposed at the same level as the first series of bearings. The table has a skirt defining a cylindrical surface coaxial with the annular track and the second series of bearings bears against the cylindrical surface and thereby maintains the table in a stable lateral position with respect to the axis of rotation.

Abstract: Each heat-exchange bank consists of at least two groups of flat, adjacent compartments provided for the circulation of a second fluid and separated by spaces for the circulation of a first fluid. Each compartment has lateral extensions placed in identical and opposite manner in two adjacent groups. The extensions are connected respectively in each group to a common admission manifold and to a common discharge manifold for the second fluid.

Abstract: A vehicle unloader particularly adapted for unloading trucks and trailers used to transport sugar cane, which comprises a sloping jib, a lifting mechanism consisting of a motor, a pulley mounted at one end of the jib, a first cable passing over the pulley and attached to a hook, and a hook positioning system consisting of a second cable attached to the hook and the jib, a cylinder for varying the tension of the second cable, a three-position selector having a first position causing the cylinder to move so that the hook is brought towards the jib, a second position causing the cylinder to move so that the hook is allowed to move in the opposite direction away from the jib and a third position causing the cylinder to be isolated; a power source; and a control unit the operation of which is dependent on the amount of power absorbed by the motor of the lifting mechanism and which connects the cylinder to the power source and ensures that it is supplied with reduced power from the source when the hook is loaded an

Abstract: The plate exchanger comprises a plurality of flat parallel compartments formed between adjacent plates which are maintained in spaced relation by means of rings each having a T-shaped cross-section. The side arms of the T are welded to opposite edges of orifices formed in adjacent plates and the outwardly directed stem of the T is disposed between the plates. The interior of the array of spacer rings forms a header for the low-pressure fluid which flows through the compartments and a cylindrical tube extends through all the spacer rings in order to serve as an internal support.

Abstract: A lubricating system for bearing shoes supporting a drum of a crusher for rotation and defining a lubricating oil basin between an upstream and downstream end, in the direction of rotation, comprises a low pressure oil pump operable to deliver lubricating oil to the upstream end of the bearing shoes during rotation of the drum, a high pressure pump operable to deliver lubricating oil to the basin at the start of rotation, and thermocouples arranged to measure the temperature of the bearing shoes close to their gliding surfaces, the thermocouples controlling the high pressure pump operation in response to a temperature sensed by the thermocouples and exceeding a set value.

Abstract: Control unit for torch-cutting machines consisting of bars which grip the sides of the cast product, and at least one cutting-torch carriage, movable in a direction at right angles to the movement of the machine. This control unit consists of a first element carried by the cutting-torch carriage and a second element which combines with the first to halt the carriage when it reaches a predetermined position.This unit is characterized by the fact that the second element is kinematically linked to the grip-bar situated on the side of the cast where the cut will begin, in such a way that the movements of the grip-bar move this second element in a direction parallel to the path of the cutting-torch carriage, at a speed equal to and in the same direction as the component, parallel to the path of the cutting-torch carriage, of the speed of the end of the grip-bar which comes into contact with the cast product.The invention can be used in the field of continuous casting of metals, particularly steel.

Abstract: A major portion of raw material converted into clinker in a rotary tubular kiln is preheated by hot gases recovered from the kiln. The clinker is cooled in a cooler to which fresh air is delivered. The fresh air is heated in heat exchange contact with the clinker and fresh air thus heated to a temperature of 900.degree. C. to 1000.degree. C. is removed from the cooler and brought into heat exchange contact with a minor fraction of the raw material, thus at least partially calcining the raw material fraction and simultaneously cooling the air. The at least partially calcined raw material fraction is introduced into the kiln and at least a portion of the cooled air is delivered with the fresh air to the clinker.