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A liquid fuel fired apparatus and method for the efficient distribution and utilization of heat in the melting of a particulate feedstock. The feedstock is preheated to an incipient softening point temperature in a vertically disposed shaft. The column of feedstock in the shaft is supported on the t

A liquid fuel fired apparatus and method for the efficient distribution and utilization of heat in the melting of a particulate feedstock. The feedstock is preheated to an incipient softening point temperature in a vertically disposed shaft. The column of feedstock in the shaft is supported on the top of a freestanding pile of feedstock disposed on the floor of a surrounding melting chamber having downwardly diverging sidewalls. Liquid fuel burners direct hot combustion products towards and around the base and intermediate portions of the feedstock pile causing the outside of the pile to be melted. Gas at a temperature below the softening point temperature of the feedstock is introduced around the top of the pile to prevent the hot gases in the lower portion of the melting chamber from prematurely melting the feedstock.

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A liquid fuel fired furnace apparatus for melting particulate material, said apparatus comprising: a vertically disposed hollow cylindrical shaft for preheating a foraminous column of flowable particulate feedstock, said shaft having an open bottom end, a concentrically aligned chamber for containin

A liquid fuel fired furnace apparatus for melting particulate material, said apparatus comprising: a vertically disposed hollow cylindrical shaft for preheating a foraminous column of flowable particulate feedstock, said shaft having an open bottom end, a concentrically aligned chamber for containing a freestanding pile of feedstock, said chamber being disposed directly below said open bottom end, said chamber having top, bottom and intermediate portions defined by refractory sidewalls and a refractory floor, said sidewalls having inner surfaces which extend downwardly and outwardly from said open bottom end to said floor, a plurality of high temperature burners firing into said intermediate and bottom portions of said chamber and a means for injecting relatively cooler gases from a remote source into said top portion of said chamber. An improved method of melting particulate material comprising the steps of: introducing particulate material into the top of a vertically disposed preheater shaft, supporting said particulate material in said preheater shaft on a freestanding pile of preheated particulate material disposed on an inclined floor of a melting chamber, enveloping a top portion of said free standing pile with cooled combustion gases from a remote source, subjecting the intermediate and base portions of said pile to intense heat capable of melting the particulate material on the outside surface of said pile, allowing the melted material to gravitate to the lower end of said slope, and collecting said melted material in a reservoir at the bottom of the slope.