Continuous casting of metals

Claim 1

In a method of continuously casting metal like steel, wherein the liquid metal is poured into a mould having a circular cross section and a substantially vertical axis, the wall of the mould is continuously cooled, the liquid metal is rotated in the mould by an electromagnetic field, and the solidified bar is continuously withdrawn at the bottom of the mould, the improvement comprising, the steps of, supplying the mould with a liquid metal stream which is inclined and eccentric with respect to the mould axis, directing said stream so that when it strikes the surface of the liquid metal in the mould, it has a component substantially tangential to a geometrical circle extending through the point of impact and centered on the mould axis, thus producing at the surface of the liquid metal a meniscus which causes a uniform peripheral skin to form at the top of the bar, and simultaneously rotating the liquid metal in the mould in the same direction as said tangential component by directing the electromagnetic field into the liquid metal below said meniscus without directing any substantial electromagnetic field into the metal of the meniscus or the skin forming at the top of the mould to thereby improve wetting of the surface of the mould by the liquid metal at the region of the meniscus.