Method and apparatus for melting metal ingots

An apparatus for melting metal ingots, comprising:

• a pre-heating chamber having a first end and a second end and extending substantially horizontally for accomodating a plurality of piles of elongate metal ingots each of said piles having a generally rectangular shape, each of said plurality of piles consisting of a plurality of horizontal arrays of the metal ingots superposed on each other, said plurality of piles being pre-heated in said pre-heating chamber while said piles are moved from said first end of said pre-heating chamber toward said second end;
• a melting chamber comprising a shaft portion having a generally oblong transverse cross sectional shape, said shaft portion having an opening at an upper first end thereof, said opening communicating with said second end of said pre-heating chamber, said melting chamber extending vertically downwardly from said second end of the pre-heating chamber and a burner means located at a lower second end of said vertically extending melting chamber, wherein, a dimension of said generally oblong transverse cross sectional shape of the shaft portion in a direction along a line of extension of said pre-heating chamber is greater than a dimension in a direction perpendicular to said line of extension, whereby when said plurality of piles of metal ingots approach said second end of the pre-heating chamber, the piles turn substantially sideways before falling down into said lower second end of the melting chamber, wherein the piles are melted by said burner means;
• and
• a reservoir chamber communicating with said lower second end of said melting chamber and extending therefrom substantially horizontally, said reservoir chamber storing a mass of molten metal obtained by melting said metal ingots in said melting chamber with said burner means.

An apparatus for melting a mass of metallic material substantially in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped, comprising:

• a pre-heating chamber having a first end and a second end and extending substantially horizontally, and through which said mass of metallic material is moved from said first end toward said second end;
• a melting chamber for melting said mass of metallic material directly by a burner means, said burner means producing high-temperature exhaust gases which flow from said melting chamber into said pre-heating chamber to pre-heat said mass of metallic material to a predetermined temperature prior to melting thereof by said burner means;
• and
• damper means having at least one damper member which is movable between a retracted position in an inner wall surface of the pre-heating chamber, and an operative position extending from said inner wall surface toward an opposite inner wall surface, wherein when the damper member is in its operative position, it directs the flow of exhaust gases in the pre-heating chamber toward said mass of metallic material.