A material processing system includes an oven that cooks or bakes, with electrical resistance, dough contained within containers. The oven can include a frame defining, devices mounted, in a preselected pattern, on the frame for a reciprocal movement in a vertical direction during use of the system, each device configured to connect voltage to a respective container so as to cook or bake the dough with the electrical resistance, and one or more powered members configured to move the devices in the vertical direction. Conveyors are also provided to convey a plurality of rows of containers with a plurality of containers in each row along a material conveyance path, the conveyors disposed in a series with each other and with the oven along the material conveyance path, one of the conveyors disposed within the oven so as to position a batch of the containers in an alignment with the devices.

The present invention relates to a plasma furnace which can efficiently treat various types of waste in large amounts. The plasma furnace comprises a melting chamber 101 for accommodating a melt, an upper surface forming the upper portion of the melting chamber 101 with a horizontal upper surface 111 and an inclined upper surface 112 having a slope with respect to the horizontal upper surface 111, a melt discharge portion 130 formed through a bottom surface of the melting chamber for discharging molten material therethrough, and an input apparatus 120 having a slope for inputting waste into the melting chamber 101, and the mixed type plasma torch 191, 192 provided on the inclined upper surface 112 with a slope for generating melting heat in the melting chamber 101.

A sample heating device includes: an opening/closing cover provided to be movable in a horizontal direction between a position above an opening of a mounting port and a position displaced from the position above the opening, and a cover sliding mechanism that is engaged with a part of a sample boat conveying portion when the sample boat conveying portion comes to a predetermined position in a horizontal plane and moves the opening/closing cover in the horizontal direction according to upward and downward movements of the sample boat conveying portion so that the opening/closing cover is provided at the position directly above the opening of the mounting port when the sample boat conveying portion comes to a predetermined height.

A push gate for a scrap metal furnace with a volatizing chamber and a doorway into that chamber. The push gate includes a door plate to seal against the doorway, a scoop sized to fit in the volatizing chamber, and a plunger attached to the scoop that extends through the door plate. The push gate is movable. When the push gate is positioned such that the door plate seals against the doorway, the plunger can controllably move the scoop in and out of the chamber to push scrap metal to predetermined positions in the chamber for predetermined periods of time.

The present invention relates to a plasma furnace which can efficiently treat various types of waste in large amounts. The plasma furnace comprises a melting chamber 101 for accommodating a melt, an upper surface forming the upper portion of the melting chamber 101 with a horizontal upper surface 111 and an inclined upper surface 112 having a slope with respect to the horizontal upper surface 111, a melt discharge portion 130 formed through a bottom surface of the melting chamber for discharging molten material therethrough, and an input apparatus 120 having a slope for inputting waste into the melting chamber 101, and the mixed type plasma torch 191, 192 provided on the inclined upper surface 112 with a slope for generating melting heat in the melting chamber 101.

A sample heating device includes: an opening/closing cover provided to be movable in a horizontal direction between a position above an opening of a mounting port and a position displaced from the position above the opening, and a cover sliding mechanism that is engaged with a part of a sample boat conveying portion when the sample boat conveying portion comes to a predetermined position in a horizontal plane and moves the opening/closing cover in the horizontal direction according to upward and downward movements of the sample boat conveying portion so that the opening/closing cover is provided at the position directly above the opening of the mounting port when the sample boat conveying portion comes to a predetermined height.

A material processing system includes an oven that cooks or bakes, with electrical resistance, dough contained within containers. The oven can include a frame defining, devices mounted, in a preselected pattern, on the frame for a reciprocal movement in a vertical direction during use of the system, each device configured to connect voltage to a respective container so as to cook or bake the dough with the electrical resistance, and one or more powered members configured to move the devices in the vertical direction. Conveyors are also provided to convey a plurality of rows of containers with a plurality of containers in each row along a material conveyance path, the conveyors disposed in a series with each other and with the oven along the material conveyance path, one of the conveyors disposed within the oven so as to position a batch of the containers in an alignment with the devices.

A process for heating a metal feedstock (31) fed in continuous to a smelting furnace (30) through a second horizontal heating section (34) through which hot discharge fumes collected from said furnace (30) pass, said fumes exerting a heating phase of said feedstock (31), characterized in that, immediately before entering said second heating section (34), the feedstock (31) is subjected to a preheating phase by heating means other than the discharge fumes collected from the smelting furnace (30). In a plant for the embodiment of said process, said different heating means are envisaged inside a first preheating section (33), which is operatively connected with said second heating section (34) by means of an intermediate fume evacuation section (35), the fumes coming from said sections (33) and (34) being conveyed to said section. Said sections (33, 34) preferably have a tunnel configuration.