Method and apparatus for conveying finely-divided material

Claim 1

THE METHOD OF INJECTING POWDERED MATERIAL BENEATH THE SURFACE OF MOLTEN METAL BY MEANS OF A CONVEYING LINE AND AN INJECTION TUBE COMPRISING ESTABLISHING A MOLTEN QUANTITY OF METAL, ESTABLISHING A SMALL FLUIDIZED BED OF POWDERED MATERIAL, WITHDRAWING FLUIDIZED MATERIAL FROM SAID BED THEREBY FORMING A FLUIDIZED STREAM, DILUTING SAID STREAM BY ADDING UNIFORMLY A SECOND GASEOUS MEDIUM TO THE PERIPHERY AND IN NEAR-PARALLEL REACTION TO THE FLOWDIRECTION OF SAID FLUIDIZED STREAM WHEREBY SAID STREAM IS SURROUNDED BY A SUBSTANTIALLY NON-TURBULENT ENVELOPE OF GAS, MOVING SAID DILUTED STREAM THROUGH SAID CONVEYING LINE AND SAID INJECTION TUBE AND INJECTING IT INTO SAID MOLTEN METAL, AND MAINTAINING THE PRESSURE IN SAID INJECTION TUBE AT A VALUE SUFFICIENT TO PREVENT MOLTEN METAL FROM ENTERING SAID TUBE.