Apparatus for rapidly coating surfaces with wet, particulate materials

Claim 3

The apparatus of claim 1 in which said feed metering and mixing means comprises a first metering zone having conveyor means for compacting and metering the dry material; a mixing zone, adjacent to said first metering zone, having means for injecting liquid into said particulate material and means for mixing the liquid and metered particulate material to form said wet, particulate material; and a second metering zone, adjacent to the mixing zone, having conveyor means for compacting, metering and discharging the wet, particulate material onto said belt; the compacted material and the conveyor means in said metering zones acting to prevent escape of liquid from the mixing zone to thereby insure that the liquid and particulate material are uniformly mixed before being discharged onto said belt.

Claim 4

The apparatus of claim 1 in which said feed metering and mixing means comprises a screw conveyor for metering dry material from said storage means to said belt, said conveyor extending from the storage means to a position over the selected area on said belt, an injector device for injecting liquid into the screw conveyor, and mixing means in said screw conveyor for mixing the liquid and dry, particulate material during the metering of said material.

Claim 5

The apparatus of claim 3 in which a distributing hood is mounted on one end of the screw conveyor for directing the wet, particulate material onto said selected area of the belt.

Claim 6

The apparatus of claim 3 in which said conveyor has a conveyor screw rotatably mounted within a cylindrical shroud and said mixing means are secured to said conveyor screw.

Claim 7

The apparatus of claim 5 in which the injector device comprises a liquid distributing manifold interconnecting a plurality of nozzles that inject liquid into the shroud, and said mixing means comprises a plurality of paddle-like members.

Claim 8

The apparatus of claim 5 in which the conveyor screw has a hollow shaft and said injector device comprises conduit means for passing liquid through said shaft and a plurality of nozzles connected to said shaft for injecting the liquid into said shroud, each of said nozzles extending from said shaft a sufficient distance into said material to act as mixing means during rotation of said shaft.

Claim 9

The apparatus of claim 4 in which said thrower means also comprise a rear drive roller, a front idler roll and a pair of spaced hold-down discs positioned therebetween, said endless belt being arranged to track over the drive roller and the idler roll and to be held in a concave curve by said holddown discs, the selected area on said belt being approximately shaped like a rectangle, two parallel sides of which are defined by the spacing between the hold-down discs and the other parallel sides of which are defined by the tangential lines of contact of the drive roller and the hold-down discs with the belt.

Claim 10

A transportable apparatus for applying wet, granular refractory material at high rates to the hot lining of a metallurgical furnace, comprising an integral unit consisting of a pallet-like frame; thrower means supported by the frame, the thrower means having an endless slinger belt capable of traveling at high speeds and of projecting wet, granular refractory material deposited thereon at a high rate for long distances; a feed hopper for storing dry, granular refractory material; a vertically extending screw conveyor for removing metered amounts of the dry, refractory material from said feed hopper, the loading end of the conveyor being positioned in the bottom of said feed hopper and the discharge end of the conveyor being positioned immediately above the endless belt; injector means for injecting water into the dry material being conveyed through said screw conveyor at a predetermined distance above the discharge end; and mixing means in said conveyor for mixing the water and the dry, refractory material during rotation of the conveyor to form a uniform mixture of wet, refractory material which is then metered by the conveyor onto the endless belt at said high rate; the screw conveyor and the hopper being supported by said frame whereby said apparatus can be transported and positioned as a unit in front of an opening in the wall of a metallurgical furnace to project the wet, refractory material through the opening onto the lining of the furnace.

Claim 11

A transportable apparatus for applying wet, granular refractory material at high rates to the hot lining of a metallurgical furnace, comprising an integral unit consisting of a pallet-like frame; thrower means supported by the frame, the thrower means having an endless slinger belt capable of traveling at high speeds and of projecting wet, granular refractory material deposited thereon at a high rate for long distances; a feed hopper for storing dry, granular refractory material; a vertically extending screw conveyor for removing metered amounts of the dry, refractory material from said feed hopper, the loading end of the conveyor being positioned in the bottom of said feed hopper and the discharge end of the conveyor being positioned immediately above the endless belt; injector means for injecting water into the dry material being conveyed through said screw conveyor at a predetermined distance above the discharge end; and mixing means in said conveyor for mixing the water and the dry, refractory material during rotation of the conveyor to form a uniform mixture of wet, refractory material which is then metered by the conveyor onto the endless belt at said high rate; the screw conveyor and the hopper being supported by said frame whereby said apparatus can be transported and positioned as a unit in front of an opening in the wall of a metallurgical furnace to project the wet, refractory material through the opening onto the lining of the furnace.

Claim 12

The apparatus of claim 9 in which said screw conveyor has a speed control means for regulating its speed of rotation; said injector means has valve control means for regulating the amount of water injected into said dry material; and said thrower means has a first directional control means for changing the lateral direction in which the material is projected from the belt, a speed control means for varying the speed of the belt, and a second directional control means for varying the trajectory of the material projected from said belt whereby said apparatus can be controlled by an operator in front of said opening to apply the wet, refractory material at varying high rates of application onto different areas of said lining.

Claim 13

The apparatus of claim 10, in combination with a fork-lift truck, said apparatus being mounted on the lift mechanism of said fork-lift truck; said second directional control means being set to project the material at a particular trajectory and the other control means of said apparatus being mounted on a master control panel located on said truck; said master control panel also including control means for actuating the lift mechanism of said truck so that said apparatus can be raised or lowered, and tilted forwards and backwards, whereby the operator of the fork-lift truck can position the apparatus in front of the opening of the furnace and can regulate said control means to apply varying high rates of material onto different surface areas on the lining of said furnace.