Patents Represented by Attorney Herbert M. Hanegan
  • Patent number: 4036450
    Abstract: This disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for paying-out wire from a horizontally disposed coil. The wire is disposed in a stemless wire pack container and payed-out therefrom substantially vertically overhead. The wire is guided about a sheave disposed a substantial distance above the stemless pack at a point disposed on the vertical axis of the coil for substantially reducing the magnitude of the inward component of force acting along the wire as it is withdrawn from the container. A substantially frictionless plastic dish-shaped element rides downwardly and is freely movable on the top of the coil as the wire is payed-out therefrom. The dish-shaped element functions to break up each loop of wire from the remainder of the coil as it is payed-out therefrom without exerting any substantial friction force thereagainst which would tend to mar the finish of the wire.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 1975
    Date of Patent: July 19, 1977
    Assignee: Southwire Company
    Inventors: James O. Lowery, Jimmy D. Blackmon, W. Carl Jones, Lee K. Brewton
  • Patent number: 4035322
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for preparing curable pellets of polyethylene and copolymers thereof for subsequent use in an extrusion coating process by mixing polyethylene pellets with a liquid curing agent at a temperature below the decomposition temperature of the curing agent and below the softening point of polyethylene and copolymers thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 1975
    Date of Patent: July 12, 1977
    Assignee: Southwire Company
    Inventors: Stanley L. Tate, Bobby A. Rowland, Herbert M. Jacobs
  • Patent number: 4033842
    Abstract: A continuous process for the production by electrodialysis of monobasic potassium phosphate from phosphoric acid produced by the wet process and potassium sulfate produced as a by-product in processes for the recovery of aluminum from alunite.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 1976
    Date of Patent: July 5, 1977
    Assignees: Southwire Company, National Steel Corporation, Earth Sciences, Inc.
    Inventors: Kent W. Loest, John T. Schaefer
  • Patent number: 4030537
    Abstract: A method of and apparatus for continuously casting molten metal are disclosed wherein the flexible band element used to enclose the peripheral groove of the casting wheel of a wheel-band type machine is relatively untensioned and supported along at least a portion of its path of travel by a highly flexible porous support belt through which a coolant may be directed to impinge upon the external surface of the flexible band. The flexible band element, in cooperation with the support belt, provides improved cooling efficiency and a longer life expectancy for the band.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 1975
    Date of Patent: June 21, 1977
    Assignee: Southwire Company
    Inventor: George C. Ward
  • Patent number: 4031182
    Abstract: A process for recovering aluminum from alunite ore directed to providing a residue for the Bayer leach step substantially free of impurities so that a high A/C ratio Bayer leach liquor is produced, which comprises roasting the ore in particulate form to drive off water and sulfur as SO.sub.2 and to convert aluminum sulfate to alumina, leaching the residue containing aluminum values with water and filtering to remove potassium sulfate and other soluble sulfates, hot leaching the residue with sulfuric acid to convert the alumina therein to soluble aluminum sulfate followed by filtering to remove silicon dioxide and other solid impurities, crystallizing the aluminum sulfate to further remove impurities, heating the residue to convert the aluminum sulfate to alumina and drive off any remaining sulfur as SO.sub.2, and digesting the alumina calcine with sodium hydroxide under standard Bayer conditions at a high A/C ratio to provide a high A/C ratio solution from which a "sandy" aluminum hydroxide is precipitated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 1976
    Date of Patent: June 21, 1977
    Assignees: Southwire Company, National Steel Corporation, Earth Sciences, Inc.
    Inventor: Kent W. Loest
  • Patent number: 4029737
    Abstract: This invention relates to a method for recovering aluminum hydroxide from alunite ore by roasting the ore to remove water of hydration, roasting it again in a reducing atmosphere to remove sulfate, roasting a third time in an oxidizing atmosphere to convert any sulfides formed in the second roast, leaching with a weak base, leaching with water to remove potassium and sulfate, extracting the aluminum content with a mixture of sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide, removing contaminant silica from the leach solution, and precipitating aluminum hydroxide by cooling and seeding the solution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 1976
    Date of Patent: June 14, 1977
    Assignees: Southwire Company, National Steel Corporation, Earth Sciences, Inc.
    Inventors: Douglas Stevens, Helge O. Forberg, Larry D. Jennings, David L. Thompson, Julian V. Copenhaver
  • Patent number: 4028141
    Abstract: Disclosed in the appended specification and claims are a heat resistant aluminum alloy having a minimum conductivity of 61 percent IACS and high elongation, tensile strength and yield strength consisting of from about 0.04 to about 0.85 weight percent silicon, from about 0.30 to about 0.95 weight percent iron and from about 98.20 to about 99.66 weight percent aluminum and a method for producing said alloy comprising the steps of alloying the recited elements, continuously casting the alloy into a bar, hot-rolling the bar substantially as cast into a continuous rod, cold-drawing the continuous rod into a wire without intermediate anneals and annealing or partially annealing the wire.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 1975
    Date of Patent: June 7, 1977
    Assignee: Southwire Company
    Inventors: E. Henry Chia, Frank M. Powers, Kenneth E. Chadwick
  • Patent number: 4021905
    Abstract: A method of prolonging the life of a carbon anode ring furnace is disclosed wherein portions of the confronting refractory brick flue walls of the furnace which have partly collapsed can be readily straightened. The refractory bricks of the collapsed portion of a flue wall are urged back into the plane of the wall by interposing a hydraulic jack between the closely spaced flue walls and actuating the jack to apply opposing forces to the wall. The jack is positioned and actuated in a number of locations corresponding to a predetermined circular pattern about a deformation zone to successively reduce the deviation of the bricks of the deformation zone. A tie brick is thereafter inserted between the walls to maintain them in their normal spaced relation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 1976
    Date of Patent: May 10, 1977
    Assignees: Southwire Company, National Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Charles M. Benton, Paul Cox, Jr., Paul M. Sprinkle, Frank John Nowak
  • Patent number: 4017569
    Abstract: This disclosure relates to method for forming a carbon anode block using apparatus comprising a movable mold, a feedbox extendable to a position where it is directly above the movable mold, a stationary bolster encompassed by the movable mold, a vibration means attached to the stationary bolster, and a movable press ram mounted for motion in the vertical plane above the stationary bolster and having protrusions extending from the face thereof. Aggregate used in forming carbon anodes is discharged into the feedbox and the feedbox and mold then move upwardly leaving the aggregate contained within the mold. The feedbox is then removed and the vibration means activated to compact the aggregate by expelling the air therefrom.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 1975
    Date of Patent: April 12, 1977
    Assignees: Southwire Company, National Steel Corporation
    Inventor: Wynn M. Hass
  • Patent number: 4007923
    Abstract: A method of and apparatus for treating molten aluminum and aluminum alloys to remove solid and gaseous impurities therefrom are disclosed. Molten metal is flowed through an integrated series of successively arranged purification stages including a deslagging stage wherein relatively large particulate impurities are removed from the molten metal by filtering the same through a woven refractory filter, a fluxing stage for removing entrapped and dissolved hydrogen from the molten metal, an adsorption stage wherein the molten metal is passed over a plurality of impurity-adsorbing refractory plates and a final filtration stage wherein the finer particulate impurities are removed by filtering the molten metal through a rigid, porous refractory filter medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 1975
    Date of Patent: February 15, 1977
    Assignee: Southwire Company
    Inventor: Enrique C. Chia
  • Patent number: 4008307
    Abstract: A process for the production of monobasic potassium phosphate from wet process phosphoric acid and potassium sulfate by ion exchange. The application of the process is the production of monobasic potassium phosphate by ion exchange from wet phosphoric acid produced by the reaction of sulfuric acid on apatite rock and by-product potassium sulfate from processes for the recovery of aluminum from alunite.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 1975
    Date of Patent: February 15, 1977
    Assignees: Southwire Company, National Steel Corporation, Earth Sciences, Inc.
    Inventors: Kent W. Loest, Vernon R. Ewing
  • Patent number: 4005744
    Abstract: A system for continuously quench-pickling cast rod from a continuous casting machine wherein molten metal is poured into a mold of a casting device and cooled and solidified into a continuous solid bar, the bar is elongated and reduced in its cross-sectional area to form continuous rod, and the rod is arranged in a coil. The surface of the hot rod from the rolling mill is contacted with a pickling fluid, such as a citric acid solution, after the rod leaves the rolling mill and before the rod is arranged in a coil, to simultaneously quench and pickle the rod.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 1975
    Date of Patent: February 1, 1977
    Assignee: Southwire Company
    Inventors: Daniel B. Cofer, Enrique Calixta Chia, John E. Burnitt, Theodor W. Kaltenberg
  • Patent number: 4004543
    Abstract: A manually operated propelling apparatus for a boat comprising a clamp for attaching the propelling apparatus to the transom of the boat, a propeller shaft housing attached to the clamp, a driving gear device attached to one end of the propeller shaft housing and a flexible propeller shaft within the propeller shaft housing attached to the driving gear means at one end and to a propeller at the other end.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 1975
    Date of Patent: January 25, 1977
    Inventor: Zesely B. T. Cox
  • Patent number: 4000008
    Abstract: A method of treating metal stock to lower the recrystallization temperature thereof comprising casting the metal into a continuous bar in a moving mold formed by a groove in the periphery of a casting wheel and an endless belt lying adjacent the groove along a portion of the periphery of the wheel, hot-working the bar substantially immediately after casting while the bar is in substantially that condition as cast by rolling the bar in closed roll passes to obtain a continuous metal rod, and allowing the rod to cool from the elevated rolling temperature to about 400.degree. F in a minimum of 30 seconds and from about 400.degree. F to ambient temperature at a maximum cooling rate of 300.degree. F per minute. A metal rod processed in this fashion has a lower recrystallization temperature than one which is quenched or quickly cooled after rolling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 1975
    Date of Patent: December 28, 1976
    Assignee: Southwire Company
    Inventor: Enrique Henry Chia
  • Patent number: 3996993
    Abstract: This disclosure relates to a method of and apparatus for continuously casting molten metal in a wheel-band type continuous casting machine, wherein the machine includes a casting mold the length of which may be changed with equal facility either when the machine is shut down or during the actual casting operation. The machine includes a plurality of guide wheels disposed at predetermined angular positions with resepct to the casting wheel for guiding the casting band about the casting wheel. The mold length is varied by synchronously moving at least two of the guide wheels into angular positions different from their initial angular positions, thereby varying the position of the mold outlet and thus changing the length of the mold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 1974
    Date of Patent: December 14, 1976
    Assignee: Southwire Company
    Inventor: Yves Bernard Bonnamour
  • Patent number: 3996333
    Abstract: A method for dehydrating alunite ore prior to further processing to recover metals therefrom, comprising exposing the ore in particulate form to burning coal as the heat supply in a fluidized bed fluidized with an oxygen containing gas. The invention is illustrated by the removal of water from alunite ore prior to further processing the ore to recover aluminum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 1975
    Date of Patent: December 7, 1976
    Assignees: Southwire Company, National Steel Corporation, Earth Sciences, Inc.
    Inventors: Philip M. Rooke, Harry B. Scott, Peter A. Angevine, Stanley A. Bunk
  • Patent number: 3996334
    Abstract: An improvement in processes for recovering aluminum from alunite ore which processes include roasting the ore to remove water of hydration, removing sulfur and potassium compounds from the roasted ore by a procedure including a final leaching step resulting in a residue and a solution containing potassium sulfate, effecting partial recovery of potassium sulfate from the solution by crystallization with some potassium sulfate being bled off from the mother liquor, converting aluminum values in the residue to alkali metal aluminates by digesting the residue with alkali metal hydroxide including a substantial amount of sodium hydroxide, removing silicon from the alkali metal aluminates leaving a waste desilication product, recovering aluminum values from the desilicated aluminates by precipitation, circulating the mother liquor from the precipitation step to digestion as contaminated sodium hydroxide is bled off, the improvement which comprises enhancing the economics of the overall process by introducing therei
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 1975
    Date of Patent: December 7, 1976
    Assignees: Southwire Company, National Steel Corporation, Earth Sciences, Inc.
    Inventors: George J. Hartman, Vernon R. Ewing
  • Patent number: 3994797
    Abstract: Apparatus for limiting the upward movement of the anodes of a computer-controlled aluminum reduction cell is disclosed. An air motor is connected with a jack for raising or lowering the superstructure supporting the cell anodes when air pressure is admitted to the motor in response to either a computer or cell-operator-initiated pilot air signal. Computer-generated pilot air signals of a time duration which could cause the air motor to raise the superstructure and create an open anode condition, are interrupted after a predetermined time period. A ball-cam valve is positioned in a fixed relation to the anode superstructure to interrupt either a computer or cell-operator-initiated "up" anode signal to the air motor when the anode superstructure reaches a predetermined upper limit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 1975
    Date of Patent: November 30, 1976
    Assignees: National Steel Corporation, Southwire Company
    Inventor: Sam L. Smith
  • Patent number: 3993118
    Abstract: This disclosure relates to a wheel-band type continuous casting machine wherein the endless flexible band is guided about the rotatably mounted casting wheel by means of a plurality of flangeless guide wheels, and is restrained from movement in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation of the casting wheel by means of band guides adapted to engage opposite edges of the endless band. The band guides comprise a plurality of rollers rotatably mounted adjacent the edges of the band with their axes of rotation arranged perpendicular to the direction of band movement therepast whereby the rollers are adapted to engage the edges of the band in rolling point contact. Means are provided for adjusting the position of the band guides with respect to the bands.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 1975
    Date of Patent: November 23, 1976
    Assignee: Southwire Company
    Inventors: John B. Moore, William F. Prater
  • Patent number: 3991814
    Abstract: Apparatus for continuously casting molten metal wherein an endless band is used to form a mold by enclosing a portion of the peripheral groove of the casting wheel of a wheel-band type casting machine. The endless band is guided about the periphery of the casting wheel by a plurality of band support wheels, at least two of which are provided with adjustable band positioning apparatus for maintaining the endless band in proper alignment over the casting wheel during casting. Each band support wheel is rotatably mounted on a shaft and is axially adjustable relative to its respective shaft for positioning the endless band laterally of the casting wheel. Each shaft is also adjustably pivotable about a point intermediate the shaft ends for skewing the band support wheel rotational axis relative to the casting wheel axis to steer the endless band into a substantially centered position over the casting wheel groove.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 1975
    Date of Patent: November 16, 1976
    Assignee: Southwire Company
    Inventor: Yves Bernard Bonnamour