Abstract: The disclosure relates to a machine for thermal treatment of bulk material, comprising: a stationary furnace which presents a support structure, and a plurality of pallet cars traveling through the furnace, said plurality of pallet cars together defining, at a lateral side thereof, a common engagement surface which extends through the furnace, wherein a gap is defined between the support structure of the furnace and the common engagement surface, said gap having a gap length, the machine further comprising: a sealing system comprising a series of leaf members which are partially overlapping, wherein each leaf member of the series of leaf members is connected to the support structure at a first end thereof, and self-biased into engagement with the engagement surface at a second, opposite, end thereof such that the series of leaf members, together, cover the gap over at least part of the gap length.

Abstract: The disclosure relates to a machine for thermal treatment of bulk material, comprising, a stationary furnace which presents a support structure, and a plurality of pallet cars traveling through the furnace, said plurality of pallet cars together defining, at a lateral side thereof, a common engagement surface which extends through the furnace, wherein a gap is defined between the support structure of the furnace and the common engagement surface, said gap having a gap length, the machine further comprising: a sealing system comprising: one or more drop bars, wherein each drop bar of the one or more drop bars includes a brush arranged on the drop bar such that the brush is configured to be in engagement with the common engagement surface such that the one or more drop bars covers the gap over at least parts of the gap length.

Abstract: A method for charging pallet cars of a traveling grate for the thermal treatment of bulk material includes in a first step a first layer is applied as a hearth layer on a grate surface of the pallet car. In at least one second step a second layer at the same time or successively is applied as a side layer on two opposed side walls of the pallet car and a third layer is applied as green pellet layer between the side layers and on the hearth layer. The pellets used for the grate and the side layer differ in terms of their diameter and size distribution.

Abstract: A workpiece positioning system integrated with a fume extraction device is provided. The system comprises a movable work surface assembly and a manifold. The work surface assembly includes a plurality of work surfaces and a plurality of ventilation ports. Each of the plurality of ventilation ports is disposed on each of the plurality of work surfaces to ventilate the corresponding work zone. The manifold is disposed below the work surface assembly and coupled to a duct system through which fumes produced during welding or cutting are to be transported to the fume extraction device. When a workpiece placed on a work surface is positioned for welding or cutting, the manifold is aligned and in fluid communication with the ventilation port corresponding to the work surface.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for producing direct reduced iron from dry compacts composed of iron oxide and carbonaceous material by feeding compacts no more than two layers deep onto a hearth and removing all the volatiles and metallizing the compacts by exposing said compacts to a radiant heat source at a temperature of from about 2400.degree. to about 2600.degree. F. (1316.degree.-1427.degree. C.) for a total time period of about four to ten minutes and partially cooling the compacts while discharging them from the hearth.

Abstract: A method of and an apparatus for drying/curing a dry material such as a mat of fibrous or powder material as may be used for building purpose as well as a non-dry material such as a thermosetting resin are disclosed. The disclosure relates to the sealing function during the drying/curing step. The apparatus comprises a heating and blowing mechanism for drying/curing a mat as it is being conveyed by a conveyor mechanism including pair of upper and lower conveyors, and shield mechanism for shielding between the conveyor mechanism and the heating and blowing mechanism. The shield mechanism includes wire brushes on blowing boxes of the heating and blowing mechanism for abutment against caterpillar plates of forward runs of respective conveyors to seal between the caterpillar plates of the forward runs and the blowing boxes.

Abstract: Reduction roasting of manganese ore is the first step in the extraction of the metal, production of manganese based chemicals and benefaction of ferruginous manganese ores. In comparison to the conventional processes, the invented process replaces the expensive petroleum based reductant injected with air by cheap solid carbonaceous material and sealing of air entry. In the invented process the manganese ore, solid carbonaceous reductant and water are mixed. The mixture is formed into a bed on a grate. The top surface is ignited to incandescence while maintaining suction below the grate and then the top surface is sealed against entry of air while continuing the suction. The combustion of the solid reductant proceeds drawing the oxygen from the ore itself, resulting in high reduction. The product is cooled either by direct water quenching or by indirect means. The equipment employed is either a batch type pot or a continuous strand with sealing devices and material handling systems.

Abstract: A sintering machine having a train of grate cars containing grates for supporting material to be sintered, rails along which the grate cars travel, a plurality of suction boxes arranged beneath the travel path of the grate cars and connected to suction means so as to create a partial vacuum beneath the grates, and sealing means for sealing the suction boxes to the grate cars. To reduce air leakage, the sealing means comprises, at atleast one side of said grate cars, a casing structure enclosing the rail and provided with at least one flexible air seal to the grate cars.

Abstract: Sealing apparatus of wind boxes at both the ore charge and discharge sides of a Dwight-Lloyd sintering machine provides a plurality of seal members disposed in series in close contact with the bottom surface of pallets of the sintering machine, and a seal chamber communicating with a space provided between these seal members. The seal members are rotatable rolls having seal plates projectingly installed radially on the outer periphery thereof, and may be rolls with these seal plates held in close contact with the bottom surface of the pallets and the inner surface of the seal chamber, or may be flat seal plates with their flat surface firmly pressed against the bottom surface of the pallets. In the seal chamber is mounted an independent exhaust fan for the removal of air, further improving sealing performance.

Abstract: A flexible screen mounted to pneumatically seal the sides of an opposing belt conveyor system in a porous pack curing oven. Fixed to the upper belt structure and drapingly sealed to the lower belt structure, the screen impedes curing gases directed through the foraminous belts and porous pack therebetween from exiting through the edges of the pack. The draping screen provides a seal over a range of belt-to-belt spacing.

Abstract: A pallet construction for use in a circular traveling grate machine of the type having rotatable inner and outer side frames which move with the pallets on either side thereof. Various restraining and float means associated with the pallet hanger brackets and their respective axles, as well as with one of the pallet wheels and its respective axle, restrain and permit relative movement of the pallet axles in given radial and circumferential directions, whereby forces and moments are transmitted by the pallets as they mechanically couple the inner and outer side frames. The aforesaid restraining and float means also accommodate the differentials in thermal expansion and contraction between the pallets and the cooler side frames of the traveling grate. The first axles and hanger brackets include spherical antifriction means which permits the pallets to rotatably tilt during the burden discharge operation in situations where the first axles are axially misaligned due to thermal sagging.

Abstract: A pressure actuated sealing system for a travelling grate comprising at least one horizontally elongated rigid seal plate pivotally mounted below said travelling grate in sealing relationship with said travelling grate and with windbox means mounted below said travelling grate, said travelling grate including a plurality of pallets each with seal plate engaging means and cavity means provided on the underside thereof, said seal plate being pivotable in the direction of movement of said travelling grate by engagement with said seal plate engaging means, said seal plate being pivotable in the direction opposite the direction of movement of said travelling grate by the pressure differential across said seal plate formed by the pressure of the gases within said wind box means on one side of said seal plate and the ambient pressure on the other side of said seal plate, said cavity means being adapted for permitting unobstructed pivotal movement of said seal plate in said opposite direction.

Abstract: A traveling grate consisting of individual pallets each supported on four wheels and independently connected to continuous side walls so that the pallets can pivot down away from and back toward the continuous sidewalls as the rear wheels follow a depressed portion of the trackway in the discharging zone of a retort. The wheels travel in a tunnel which is isolated from the processing zone of the grate retort but is in fluid communication with the charging and discharging zones. The processing zones are also separated from the remainder of the retort by transverse seals formed by false windboxes. Gas leakage from the processing zone is minimized by the tunnel-encapsulation of the retort's processing zone.

Abstract: A process and apparatus are disclosed for purification of petroleum coke to produce an economical low sulfur product suitable for electrode production. Finely ground green coke is treated on an enclosed circular grate apparatus and subjected to sequential treatments in which hot gases are passed through a deep permeable bed of coke on the grate in a series of separate treating zones including a preheat zone, a heating and calcining zone, a desulfurizing zone in which hydrogen rich gas is passed through the heated bed, a reduction gas generation zone in which hydrocarbon and steam pass through hot coke to form hydrogen, and a cooling zone.Adequate temperatures for calcination and desulfurization are achieved and the proper heating rate is obtained without overheating the metal parts of the hearth by use of radiant and hot gas heating means in the calcining zone and in the desulfurizing zone and by introducing the air and/or fuel gas near the bottom of the coke bed.

Abstract: A seal for a bulk material circular cooler includes arcuate sections of flat, horizontally disposed rings directed inward from each upper side edge of the wind boxes. Horizontally disposed outwardly directed ring-shaped flanges depending from both arcuate bottom edges of the rotating cooler frame extend outward underneath these arcuate sections. Arcuate sealing strips mounted on the underside of the arcuate sections bear against the upper surface of the ring-shaped flanges to form a sliding seal between the wind boxes and the cooler frame. The arcuate sections are bendable in the vertical direction and the weight of these sections and the sealing strips is sufficient to overcome the overpressure of cooling air bearing against the underside of the arcuate sections to maintain the seal.

Abstract: A grate wherein several steps of alternating partly overlapping mobile and stationary grate bars are adjacent to a compensating device which expands or contracts to compensate for heat-induced variations of the width of adjacent steps. The compensating device supports or is adjacent to a sealing device having auxiliary bars which abut against the side faces of adjacent mobile grate bars and abut against the top faces of adjacent stationary grate bars. The side faces of the stationary bars are separated from the sealing device and from the compensating device by permanent clearances which are overlapped by the auxiliary bars. The auxiliary bars rest on the stationary bars and are biased against the side faces of the respective mobile bars by weights or springs of the compensating device.

Abstract: A process and apparatus are disclosed for purification of petroleum coke to produce an economical low sulfur product suitable for electrode production. Finely ground green coke is treated on an enclosed circular grate apparatus and subjected to sequential treatments in which hot gases are passed through a deep permeable bed of coke on the grate in a series of separate treating zones including a preheat zone, a heating and calcining zone, a desulfurizing zone in which hydrogen rich gas is passed through the heated bed, a reduction gas generation zone in which hydrocarbon and steam pass through hot coke to form hydrogen, and a cooling zone.Adequate temperatures for calcination and desulfurization are achieved and the proper heating rate is obtained without overheating the metal parts of the hearth by use of radiant and hot gas heating means in the calcining zone and in the desulfurizing zone and by introducing the air and/or fuel gas near the bottom of the coke bed.

Abstract: Apparatus for removing solids such as iron oxide pellets and fines from the rotating water seal trough of an annular material cooler by periodically operating an air ejector pump, which is suspended in the trough and operated at predetermined intervals and for a predetermined time; the ejector pump has associated with it a sensing apparatus both being pivotally mounted and suspended within the trough; an abnormal build-up of pellets and fines in the trough or large foreign bodies within the trough is sensed by the sensing means which actuates emergency means to override the normal pump operating cycle and maintain the pump operating and simultaneously alerting personnel to the emergency condition.

Abstract: Apparatus which compensates for thermally induced changes in the width of gaps between longitudinally extending marginal portions of grate sections in industrial furnaces has two rows of plate-like cheeks which abut against the marginal portions of neighboring sections and can swivel on fulcra defined by the webs of inverted U-shaped supporting devices whose legs are turnable about pivots mounted in a frame and extending in parallelism with the marginal portions of grate sections. The cheeks are urged away from each other and against the marginal portions of neighboring grate sections by pairs of two-armed levers mounted on a common shaft which is biased downwardly by a package of dished springs through the medium of a pull rod. The cheeks of each row are secured to plate-like carriers which are disposed between the respective rows of cheeks and the corresponding arms of the levers and are swingable on the associated fulcra.

Abstract: The gas-on pipe is supported independently of the firing hood to provide for a greater length of the gas-on pipe thereby reducing the deflection stress in the gas-on pipe to acceptable values; adjustments to the end of the gas-on pipe is facilitated during kiln operation to obtain low stress values; the location of the end of the gas-on pipe is not affected by thermal expansion of the firing hood; and cooling process air leakage into the firing hood which causes overheating or process complications is eliminated.

Abstract: A circular traveling grate machine is disclosed, which is particularly suitable for educting oil from oil shale. The machine includes generally circular inner and outer walls mounted for movement along a trackway and which carry a plurality of burden conveying pallets, hinged to the outer wall and releasably connected to the inner wall. As each pallet approaches and enters a burden discharge station, the connection between the pallet and the inner wall is released. The pallet is then guided downwardly to a discharge position by a piston and cylinder as each pallet is pivoted on its hinge under the influence of gravity. Each lowered pallet is raised by a piston and cylinder and latched in a burden carrying position to the inner wall. The pallets and walls are supported for rotation along the trackway by water cooled supporting grid to minimize differential expansion and contraction of component parts of the machine as they are subjected to differential temperatures.

Abstract: A grate chain with a plurality of chain members hingedly joined together by bolts and having lateral edge plates with outwardly directed slide lips by which they are sealingly supported in the traveling grate housing.

Abstract: A rotary hearth for the continuous treating of metallurgical material which comprises a circular stationary hearth member having as flooring a rotating platform, driven by conventional driving means positioned therebeneath. Heating, cooling and venting means are positioned at predetermined locations as said stationary member, as well as mixing rabbles therein for agitation of the material. The material, when treated, is removed either from a peripheral discharge, with the assistance of discharging baffles or the like, or from a centrally located opening with the assistance of a pair of screws which serve the purpose of advancing the feed from a peripherical initial feed-point to the centrally located discharge.