Simple Solutions That Work! Issue 14

6 Doubling the lining thickness would skim off a significant percentage of the working capacity. So, we talked to various refractory companies to find out how much allowance was needed to be built into the ladle shell to accommodate the new castable refractories and maintain safety. We also instigated a procedure, that we still do today, in which we state the working capacity for a given shell size, lining allowance, freeboard and molten metal density. So if anything doesn’t meet with the foundry’s requirements it’s there on paper and can be changed. This change of lining type had a knock on effect to the ladle spouts and ultimately the whole ladle design, with detachable base sections becoming a popular option. Detachable base sections greatly reduce the work required to remove linings and can assist in combating white vibration finger. By the mid 1980’s no ladles were made “standard”. Moving away from the constraints of the standards gave foundries more flexibility over the ladle design, and is something that we’ve been happy to do as long as it obviously doesn’t compromise safety. One relatively recent development, with respect to teapot spout ladles are the “open back” type. The open back teapot spout has the ladle shell behind Contact: STEVEN HARKER steven.harker@acetarc.co.uk the teapot removed and the teapot is created by inserting a refractory board into this gap. This removes the refractory/steel/ refractory sandwich. Significantly reducing the amount of refractory in the spout area. It makes the ladle better suited to having a cast refractory lining fitted and makes cleaning of the spout easier. The board can be removed without the need to wreck out the whole ladle lining. Then, after cleaning, a new board is fitted. This open back design lends itself to the use of one piece pre-cast liners. From the ladle design perspective, we are removing a significant part of the ladle shell to have to make sure that the shell integrity is maintained. As you can see, ladle design has moved far ahead of the standards, which may have been applicable in 1951 or 1960, but are less so now. This clearly doesn’t remove the need to ensure that the ladles are both designed and built with safety paramount. In fact I’d say that, if anything, it places the responsibility on both the foundry and the ladle manufacturer to ask the right questions, to make sure that the ladle is both safe in operation and fit for purpose. Acetarc Ladles Maggoteaux: non-standard “standard ladles, incorporating a number of features specifically requested by the foundry Acetarc Ladle Fork Pockets Coun- terweights: another non-standard, standard ladle