Abstract: An apparatus for the cooling of objects comprises an upright cylindrical housing having thermally insulated walls and a helical ramp surrounding a column in the housing and along which the objects pass downwardly from an inlet to an outlet. During movement along the ramp, which may be vibrated or oscillated to promote the downward movement of the objects, the latter are chilled to embrittlement temperatures. When the objects are vehicle tires, the pitch of the helical ramp is slightly greater than the diameter of the largest tires to be processed. At the bottom of the ramp the objects may pass into a bath of liquified gas serving as the cooling medium and nozzles can be provided along the lower third of the column for directing jets of the liquefied gas at the objects to be cooled.

Abstract: A casting apparatus in which a stream of molten metal is cast into a casting mold (e.g., an ingot mold) is provided along the stream with a porous refractory body to which supplied droplets of the metal do not adhere. A protective gas, usually nitrogen, is forced through the body to form a curtain or shield around the stream of the melt.