The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 16, 2001
Filed:
Feb. 01, 1999
Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation, Magna, UT (US);
Abstract
A metallurgical furnace, preferably a metallurgical furnace for the production of copper, is equipped with a forebay. The forebay is in open communication with the settler of the furnace by a passageway that allows for the continuous removal of both slag and metal product, e.g. matte, blister copper, etc. The slag and metal product maintain their phase-separated relationship as they enter the forebay. The forebay is equipped with a weir that divides the forebay into a slag skimming chamber and a riser chamber. The slag skimming chamber has at least one slag overflow notch on at least one sidewall. The notch is located at an elevation on the sidewall such that only slag enters and is removed from the forebay. The notch is above the top surface of the metal product, i.e. it is above the interface between the slag and metal product layers. The weir is located downstream from the slag overflow notch, and it is positioned such that it acts as a dam to the slag but not the metal product, the latter of which underflows the weir and flows into the riser chamber. The molten metal product continuously overflows the end wall of the riser chamber through at least one metal product overflow notch into any means, e.g. a launder, tundish, etc. for transfer to another vessel (e.g. a holding furnace, an anode furnace, etc.).