Appeal No. 98-2735
Application No. 90004386
with launders defining fluid passageways from one furnace to
another, or equivalents thereof".
We also observe that the specification defines “blister
copper launder means” as follows (Column 4, lines 17-68,
column 5, lines 26-30 and column 6, lines 4-9):
The launder means 11, through which the blister
copper produced in the converting furnace 3 is
transferred to the anode furnaces 4, includes an
upstream main launder 11A connected at its one end
to the outlet of the converting furnace 3 and
sloping downwardly in a direction away from the
converting furnace 3, and a pair of downstream
branch launders 11B and 11B branched off from the
main launder 11A so as to be inclined downwardly in
a direction away from the main launder 11A and
connected at their ends to the anode furnaces 4 and
4, respectively.
Furthermore, means 12 for selectively bringing the
main launder 11A into fluid communication with one of
the branch launders 11B is provided at the
junction between the main launder 11A and the
branch launders 11B. This means 12 may be of
any structure. In the simplest form, that
portion of each branch launder 11B adjacent to
the junction with the main launder 11A may be
formed such that its-bottom is somewhat shallow,
and a castable or a lump or refractory material
may be cast into the shallow portion of the
branch launder 11B which is not be utilized.
Instead of the means of the above structure, the
change of the blister copper passageway may be
carried out by a suitable selecting device attached
to the blister copper launder means 11. FIGS. 13
and 14 depict an example of such a selecting
assembly. In this illustrated example, the inclined
main launder 11A has an open downstream end, and a
11
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