Abstract: A charging device, especially for supplying aluminum in the form of wire to a steel melt for quieting the melt, in which a frame positioned adjacent the melt vessel has an inclined wall on the side facing the melt and a boom slidable along the inclined wall contains feed rollers for feeding a wire through a feed tube toward the melt. The wire is derived from a reel supported in the frame with the reel being driven in payout direction. The wire is cut off at the lower end of the feed tube and is dropped into the melt together with a combustible guide sleeve which is releasably clamped to the feed tube.

Abstract: A device for gripping bundles of control bars or rods for extracting the control bars from and introducing the control bars into fuel cells of nuclear reactors in which the control bars are in bundles connected by a spider-like head at the top and the gripping device includes a plate with a perforation through which the head can pass. When the head is released from the fuel cell and lifted upwardly through the plate, the plate provides lateral guidance for the control rods thereby facilitating replacement of the control rods into a fuel cell. The gripping device includes a reciprocable gripper body in a gripper tool detachably connectable thereto and to said head and guided on said plate by guide members projecting from the plate.

Abstract: A hollow tubular guiding mast made up of interconnected axial sections and adapted for reciprocably guiding the gripper or charging body for a core reactor. The mast includes reinforcing spars extending axially therein in the form of interconnected flat plates which diverge in the outward direction of the mast. Guide means, such as rollers, are adjustably mounted on the plates and engage angularly related regions of the body to be guided in the mast.

Abstract: A device, including a gripper, for manipulation of fuel elements and control bars, or rods, in a core reactor in which a vertical mast is provided in which the gripper is nonrotatably reciprocable. The mast is rotatable on a work platform and latch elements are provided to halt the mast in selected rotated positions on the platform. Abutment means are also provided to limit the rotary movement of the mast on the platform to 360.degree..

Abstract: A gripping device for gripping and moving control bars and fuel elements in core reactors in which a pair of grippers are mounted on one end of a gripper housing with independent actuators for the grippers in the housing. A lost motion connection between the housing and a lifting device is employed to lock the gripper in gripping position during raising and lowering movements of said housing while permitting selective operation of said grippers in lowered position of said housing.

Abstract: A device for changing the location of fuel elements and control rods in a core reactor with a guiding mast which is mounted on a movable working platform for rotation about a vertical axis and which is provided with a gripping body for grasping the fuel elements and control rods, said gripping body being suspended on a lifting mechanism and being displaceable in vertical direction within the guiding mast while being prevented from rotating relative to the guiding mast. The device furthermore comprises winding means for storing supply lines which are introduced at the top into the guiding mast and the gripper body.The device also includes power operated means for actuating the lifting mechanism. The winding means and lifting mechanism rotate with the mast and are so arranged in the mast that any water dripping therefrom runs down the inside of the mast. Supply conduits leading to the mast are connected thereby by slack loops which permit 360.degree. of rotation of the mast.

Abstract: A device for the placement of rod shaped fuel elements and control bars especially in a nuclear reactor, in which a gripper body is adapted for being connected to gripper tools and which gripper tools are engageable with the elements to be placed. The gripper tools are carried in a frame and are moveable in the frame laterally to the axis of the gripper body so as to selectively be engageable therewith. A single power operated device in the gripper body is provided for actuating the gripper elements carried by the gripping tools.

Abstract: An apparatus for inserting and removing both control rods and fuel elements from holes in a nuclear reactor has a vertically and horizontally displaceable support pivotally carrying a head which has a pair of grabs on its opposite ends, one of which is formed as a pair of pawls adapted to lock on the collar at the end of a fuel element and lift this element and the other of which is adapted to engage within a group of control rods to unlock them from their respective fuel elements and grip them so that they can be lifted from the respective fuel element. To this end the housing having the two grabs is provided with a small pneumatic cylinder whose piston is displaceable against spring force in one direction and is connected to both of the grabs so that on displacement in this direction it opens both of the grabs, the spring therefore serving to hold these grabs closed should pneumatic pressure fail.

Abstract: A gripping device, especially for use for depositing and withdrawing fuel elements and control rods in a nuclear reactor, in which the gripping device has an upper body part connected to a hoisting and transporting mechanism and a lower part reciprocably suspended on the upper part. The lower part at the bottom has gripping means for engaging a gripping tool which, in turn, has gripping means for engaging a fuel element or a control rod. The lower part of the body has a power operable device for each of the gripping means and each power operable device is spring urged toward coupling position. A locking device pivotally mounted in the lower part of the body is actuated into locking position by upward movement of the upper part on the lower part and when in locking position locks the power operable device in coupling position.