Abstract: A method of manufacturing cements based on calcium sulfoaluminate by forming a clinker through calcining a selection of typical cement precursor raw materials to temperatures of more than 1200.degree. C. in an industrial kiln, preferably with a preheater (typically of the cascading cyclone type) and precalciner, selected in such a manner that the clinker thus produced has a high content of calcium sulfoaluminate, tricalcium silicate and dicalcium silicate with no other calcium aluminates and, preferably during or prior to the grinding thereof, adding to the clinker thus produced (with the above recited basic components), effective amounts of calcium oxide or hydroxide and calcium sulfate, in order to activate said clinker. Upon said grinding, a temperature of about 100 to 125.degree. C.

Abstract: The present invention describes a method and apparatus for the reduction into metallic iron of iron-oxides-containing particles having a broad range of sizes. Particles, preferably within a broad range of sizes smaller than about 3.2 mm, are reduced by contact with a hot reducing gas, preferably mainly composed of hydrogen and within a temperature range of 700 to 750.degree. C. The reducing gas flows through a descending moving bed of coarser particles and forms an ascending fluidized bed of fines, all in a single reduction reactor, where the particles charged to the reactor are fed into the lower portion of the fluidized bed and the reduced fines are withdrawn from the reactor from the upper portion of the fluidized bed.

Abstract: Method and simplified apparatus for manufacturing aluminum alloys castings, for example those cast aluminum parts utilized in the manufacture of automobile engines: cylinder heads, engine blocks and the like; whereby the castings are cast in a plurality of semi-permanent-type molds, said molds each being movable to a plurality of processing positions along one of a plurality of preferably straight line paths (five in the preferred embodiment), wherein the operations of cleaning, core setting, casting, and casting extraction are performed on each mold at predetermined positions along its respective path and alternating said operations among the molds in order to permit minimization of the number of robot equipment and to increase the aggregate productivity of said molds, since any one processing operation can be handled by only a few (and preferably only one) robot arm moving across a plurality of mold paths (preferably seriatim), so that a given process step is performed at any one time only at one (or at lea

Abstract: Method and apparatus for the production of prereduced iron ore, Direct Reduced Iron (DRI), or the like, in an ironmaking plant wherein the reducing gas utilized in the chemical reduction of iron oxides is generated from natural gas within the reduction reactor system by reforming the hydrocarbons with such oxidants as water and oxygen inside the reduction reactor which under steady state conditions contains metallic iron which acts as a reformation catalyst. The amount of carbon in the DRI can be reliably controlled by modifying the relative amounts of water, carbon dioxide and oxygen in the composition of the reducing gas fed to the reduction reactor. The amount of carbon in the DRI is controlled by the amount of water in the reducing gas fed to the reduction reactor while the addition of oxygen provides the energy necessary for such DRI carburization.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for simplified heat-treatment to harden aluminum castings made from heat-treatable aluminum alloys, especially with a copper content of up to 5%, such as the 300-T6 series, for example those cast aluminum parts utilized in the manufacture of automobile motors: cylinder heads, engine blocks and the like; whereby the castings are directly quenched before cooling below 400.degree. C. (and preferably immediately after demolding) without undergoing the conventional steps of natural cooling followed by a re-heating "solution" heat treatment (typically of at least 470.degree. C. for at least two hours, or for a shorter time at higher temperatures) which "solution" heat treatment requires excessive and expensive equipment, energy, and production time. This invention also has the unexpected beneficial effect of avoiding development of silicon spheroidization in the alloy matrix thereby resulting in improved machining properties.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for the production of prereduced iron ore, Direct Reduced Iron (DRI), or the like, in an ironmaking plant wherein the reducing gas utilized in the chemical reduction of iron oxides is generated from natural gas within the reduction reactor system by reforming the hydrocarbons with such oxidants as water and oxygen inside the reduction reactor which under steady state conditions contains metallic iron which acts as a reformation catalyst. The amount of carbon in the DRI can be reliably controlled by modifyng the relative amounts of water, carbon dioxide and oxygen in the composition of the reducing gas fed to the reduction reactor. The amount of carbon in the DRI is controlled by the amount of water in the reducing gas fed to the reduction reactor while the addition of oxygen provides the energy necessary for such DRI carburization.