Charge preheater

A charging material preheater liar preheating charging material for metallurgical smelting plant, said charging material preheater comprising

• a shaft fixed in a frame structure and having a wall, a lower region and an internal space, and in the lower region having mutually oppositely disposed closure members each of which is pivotable by a control member.
• said closure members including parallel fingers mounted in a first rotary mounting supported on the frame structure, and
• said closure members being pivotable downwardly between
• a closed position in which the inner portion of each of said fingers projects into the internal space of the shaft to retain charging material in the shaft and
• a release position in which the inner portion of each of said fingers faces downwardly and to release the charging material from the shaft,
• wherein
• each of said fingers is mounted by its central portion in the first rotary mounting
• each of said fingers is mounted by its outer portion in a second rotary mounting on the frame structure
• said outer portion of each finger is passed outwardly through an opening in the shaft wall by way of an elbow lever mechanism having lower and upper lever arms which are connected together by a hinge joint, and
• the lower or the upper lever arms of at least two elbow lever mechanisms are connected together by a connecting member which is pivotably engaged by an control member supported in a third rotary mounting of the frame structure.