摘要:
To float and melt particularly small pieces of high-melting point metal continuously while making the amount of meltable liquid metal greater than the capacity of a crucible. A conductive crucible having segments (11a,12a) includes an upper cylindrical crucible (11) and a lower closed-end crucible (12). An induction coil (14) is arranged outside the upper crucible (11), whereas an induction coil (15) is arranged below the induction coil (14). The lower crucible (12) is in contact with the upper crucible (11) and located on the inside of the induction coil (15) at the initial melting stage. The lower crucible (12) is lowered as a columnar metal (19) grows and solidifies between molten metal (18) and the lower crucible (12). A continuous feeder (21) continuously feeds cold material (20). A molten metal surface thermometer (23) and a molten metal surface level gauge (24) are arranged above the crucible. The operation of the continuous feeder (21) is regulated within a desired range of values of the molten metal surface thermometer (23). On the other hand, the lower crucible (12) is successively lowered within a desired range of values of the molten metal surface level gauge (24).