Patents by Inventor Nigel P. Fitzpatrick

Nigel P. Fitzpatrick has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 4704162
    Abstract: Solid scrap metal particles are ingested into molten metal by use of a linear induction motor which establishes a strong upstream in the molten metal adjacent one boundary wall to establish a standing wave at the surface and a corresponding downstream adjacent the opposite boundary, which is preferably in the form of a baffle having a metal outlet passage beneath it. The linear induction motor is conveniently positioned at a sidewell of a melting furnace and a continuous flow of molten metal through the sidewell is established in any convenient way.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 1986
    Date of Patent: November 3, 1987
    Assignee: Alcan International Limited
    Inventors: Pervez J. F. Bamji, John F. Evans, Nigel P. Fitzpatrick
  • Patent number: 4654088
    Abstract: A method of removing organic coatings from scrap aluminum which includes passing a bed of the scrap metal supported on a gas-permeable conveyor through a pyrolysis zone and passing an oxygen-containing hot gas downwardly through the scrap metal bed, the conveyor advancing continuously through the pyrolysis zone, the hot gas being at a temperature to raise the upper surface of the bed of scrap to a temperature in the range of 500.degree.-600.degree. C.; and the temperature and rate of supply and oxygen content of such gas and the rate of travel of the bed of scrap being adjusted to ensure that a reaction front at which the organic material is pyrolysed and residual carbon is burned travels from top to bottom of the bed within the pyrolysis zone and to allow the scrap to be retained within the pyrolysis zone for up to 10 minutes after the reaction front reaches the bottom of the bed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 1982
    Date of Patent: March 31, 1987
    Assignee: Alcan International Limited
    Inventors: Nigel P. Fitzpatrick, Richard E. G. Lee
  • Patent number: 4589637
    Abstract: Solid scrap metal particles are ingested into molten metal by use of a linear induction motor which establishes a strong upstream in the molten metal adjacent one boundary wall to establish a standing wave at the surface and a corresponding downstream adjacent the opposite boundary, which is preferably in the form of a baffle having a metal outlet passage beneath it.The linear induction motor is conveniently positioned at a sidewell of a melting furnace and a continuous flow of molten metal through the sidewell is established in any convenient way.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 1984
    Date of Patent: May 20, 1986
    Assignee: Alcan International Limited
    Inventors: Pervez J. F. Bamji, John F. Evans, Nigel P. Fitzpatrick
  • Patent number: 4571258
    Abstract: In a process for recovery of aluminium metal from coated light gauge aluminium scrap the scrap fragments are first decoated and then fed substantially continuously onto the surface of a body of molten metal above a channel-type induction heater. The molten metal is stirred to produce strong down flows at the molten metal surface to submerge the decoated scrap particles. The submergence may be effected by a coreless induction heater acting on the body of molten metal or other electromagnetic device such as one or more linear induction motors which are employed to set up a strong axial down flow at the center of the metal surface or to generate a vortex at that location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 1984
    Date of Patent: February 18, 1986
    Assignee: Alcan International Limited
    Inventors: Pervez J. F. Bamji, Nigel P. Fitzpatrick