Abstract: The invention concerns a method and an installation for minimising the local wear of a bell during a ladle treatment of a liquid metal by rotating the bell about an axis during the treatment of the liquid metal.

Abstract: A coupling device for the automatic coupling of a teeming ladle to several gas pipes is presented. The coupling device comprises a first coupling part connected to a gas supply and a second coupling part attached to the teeming ladle, with several gas outlets being arranged in the first coupling part and several gas inlets being arranged in the second coupling part. Each individual gas outlet can be closed by a closing element in the first coupling part, wherein, when being coupled to the second coupling part, this closing element is pressed inwards into the first coupling part and opens the corresponding gas outlet. To bring about self-cleaning of the coupling parts before they are coupled together, the closing elements are designed in such a way that, when the two parts of the coupling are coupled together, before the sealing union of the two coupling parts, a single gas outlet is first opened, before the other gas outlets are opened.

Abstract: A device for coupling a metallurgical carriage to a flexible conduit comprises a first half-coupling mounted on the metallurgical carriage and a second half-coupling connected to one end of the flexible conduit. A coupling station is located near a predefined coupling position for the metallurgical carriage. This coupling station comprises a supporting block designed to receive and support the second half-coupling, driving means to move the supporting block from a parked position in the direction of the first half-coupling and vice versa. The second half-coupling is equipped with a locking device which can be actuated by a control device on the coupling station. In a first position of the locking device, the second half-coupling is coupled and locked to the first half-coupling; and in a second position of the locking device, the second half-coupling is coupled and locked to its support on the coupling station.

Abstract: The present invention provides a new process and a new apparatus for the treatment of steel-mill slag in a vessel which allows a wet granulation of the slag without the risk of explosions. The slag is caused to flow through a taphole at the bottom of the vessel, and the flow rate of the slag is determined by means of a continuous check of the weight of the vessel. One or more jets of granulating water, the flow rate of which is adjusted as a function of the slag flow rate, are directed onto the stream of slag flowing from the vessel. The apparatus comprises a vessel containing molten slag. This vessel is equipped with weighing means, with a taphole, with a device for shutting off the taphole, with means for maneuvering the shut-off device between an operating position and a stored or parked position away from the taphole and with a device for opening or freeing the taphole, engageable through the latter in order to initiate the flow of slag.

Abstract: An apparatus for coupling a metallurgical ladle to a gas supply is presented wherein gas is used for the treatment of molten metal contained in the ladle. The gas is injected through the bottom of the ladle into the liquid metal. The ladle rests on a support located at a treatment station. The apparatus comprises a base mounted on the bottom of the ladle support in a manner as to be slidable in two directions at right angles to one another against the action of springs. The apparatus is provided with a male connection head which has an axial through passage that communicates with the gas supply. This apparatus also includes a foot fixed on the ladle which is provided with a female connection member for engagement on the connection head when the ladle is placed in its support.

Abstract: A method for producing colloidal mixtures, especially water-cement mixtures with or without further solid additions, comprising the steps of feeding the material for forming the colloidal mixture into a container, stirring the material fed into the container by a blade stirrer driven by a motor at a circumferential speed at the outer diameter of the blade stirrer of at least 500 and preferably 1,500 meters per minute, continuously measuring the variations in the energy take-up of the motor, and stopping stirring of the material when the continuously observed energy take-up indicates a sudden transition from a fluctuating to a substantially steady course; and an apparatus for carrying out this method.