Melting kettle and apparatus and method for eliminating objectionable emissions therefrom

Claim 1

In a self-contained portable melting kettle for bituminous material of the type comprising: a. a wheel supported chassis; b. a kettle carried by the chassis, said kettle having a closed top with an opening therein through which bituminous material may be introduced into the kettle and a cover associated with the top to selectively close the opening to confine vapors within the kettle; c. a longitudinally extending combustion pipe carried by said chassis and extending within the interior of the kettle to effect the heating of bituminous material contained within the kettle, said pipe having an inlet end and an outlet end; d. a burner carried by said chassis and disposed at the inlet end of said combustion pipe to direct flame longitudinally into the pipe; and, e. at least one flue pipe carried by said chassis and communicating with the outlet end of the combustion pipe, said pipe extending directly from the interior of the kettle through an opening therefor in the closed top of the kettle to an open exhaust end disposed above the kettle; the improvement comprising an apparatus carried by the chassis to remove fumes from the interior of the kettle and effect combustion thereof, said apparatus comprising: 1. a stack disposed at the open exhaust end of the flue pipe in generally concentric spaced apart relationship thereto whereby the exhaust of flue gas from the flue pipe creates a low pressure area within the stack; 2. a duct communicating the gas space of the interior of the kettle with the low pressure area within the stack whereby the low pressure within said area functions to induct vapors from the kettle into the stack; and, 3. an afterburner disposed within the stack to ignite bituminous vapor inducted into the stack from the kettle, said afterburner including a pair of confronting jet burners and further comprising an inverted conical flame deflector and mixing baffle carried within the stack at the intersection of the fumes inducted into the stack and the gas exhausted from the flue pipe and wherein the afterburner directs flames against the deflector to thoroughly mix the gas exhausted From the flue pipe and vapors drawn into the stack from the kettle.