Structures in Germanic prosody

A shaft-type direct-reduction furnace in which a descending charge in an upright furnace chamber of particulate iron oxide or like iron-oxide bodies moves countercurrent to a rising reducing-gas stream (e.g., a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen) and sponge iron is discharged at the bottom of the furnace. The discharge mechanism comprises a horizontally reciprocable discharge plate underlying the mouth of the furnace such that a conical pile of sponge iron is formed thereon and the mouth of the furnace bottom remains free from gas-distributing or discharge-mechanism obstructions.