Abstract: The invention concerns a method for iron reduction to make sponge iron which consists in: depositing a feed of iron ore on a grate and moving the grate so as to cause the feed to pass in at least three different zones; inputting gases, called input gases into one or several zones, including a hot gaseous carbonaceous reducing agent, and forcing said input gases through the ore located on the grate; and capturing the gases resulting from said forced passage, called output gases. The passage of the input gases brings the ore to a temperature ranging between 850° C. and 1300° C.; maintaining said feed at said temperature until an iron ore metallizing rate ranging between 60% and 100% is obtained. The feed deposited on the grate consists of either iron ore calibrated between 5 mm and 40 mm, or iron ore pellets having a diameter ranging between 5 mm and 20 mm, or iron ore granules of size between 2 mm and 10 mm, and the thickness of the deposited layer ranges between 150 mm and 600 mm.

Abstract: A process of manufacturing a sponge iron with low sulphur content by depositing a charge made up of superposed layers of finely divided material on a moving hearth, at least one of the layers being substantially made up of iron oxides and at least another of the layers being made up of a mix of a solid reducing agent containing carbon and a desulphurizing agent, heating the charge to cause at least partial gasification of the solid reducing agent containing carbon in the form of gaseous compounds of carbon and sulphur, reducing the iron oxides by at least part of carbon monoxide (CO) contained in the gaseous carbon compounds, fixing at least part of the sulphur of the gaseous sulphur compounds by the desulphurizing agent, and separating the reduced iron oxides from the material containing the residues of the solid reducing agent containing carbon and the desulphurizing agent.

Abstract: At least one lateral face (for instance 5) has a female assembly means (8) designed to coact with an assembly stud (7) provided on another element and comprising a body (71) ending with a head (72) which is wider than said body, the female assembly means (8) consisting in a hollow zone having a first part (81) which is wider than the head (72) of the assembly stud and a second part (82) having a lesser width than that of the head of the assembly stud (7). The second part (82) of the female assembly means (8) has a housing (72) in its interior designed to receive tightly the head (72) of the assembly stud. In an advantageous example of the embodiment, said housing (83) is comprised by two internal ribs (84).