US PATENT CLASS 266
Class Notes
Current as of: June, 1999
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DEFINITION
Classification: 266/
This class provides for apparatus for: a) enriching metal bearing ores, b) extracting metals from their source materials, c) refining, purifying or otherwise treating molten or liquefied metals where such treatment is not elsewhere provided for, d) melting metals and e) establishing desired physical or chemical properties in solid metal objects, and for subcombinations peculiar to such apparatus. This class also provides for methods of operating such apparatus where not elsewhere provided for.
(1) Note. Patents issued prior to 1945 have not in all instances been classified by their claimed disclosure so the placement of these older patents does not necessarily indicate lines of classification.
LINES WITH OTHER CLASSES
While Class 266 provides for certain methods of operating metallurgical apparatus, those patents which recite a step of treating an ore or molten metal or of altering the parameters effecting such a treatment, e.g., temperature, oxygen content, will not be found in Class 266, unless such a method is less comprehensive than the apparatus. The methods provided for in Class 266 are merely of an operational nature
and contain no treatment steps. The order of superiority among various metal, alloy, and metal stock areas and methods of manufacture involving them is as follows:
(1) Class 419, Powder Metallurgy Processes.
(2) Class 148, Metal Treatment, subclasses 22+, compositions for treatment of solid metal.
(3) Class 75, Specialized Metallurgical Processes, Compositions for Use Therein, Consolidated Metal Powder Compositions, and Loose Metal Particulate Mixtures, subclasses 300, 301, and 303+, gaseous, liquid or solid treating compositions for liquid metal or charges, and subclass 302, welding rod defined by composition.
(4) Class 75, Specialized Metallurgical Processes, Compositions for Use Therein, Consolidated Metal Powder Compositions, and Loose Metal Particulate Mixtures, subclasses 228+, consolidated metal powder compositions and subclasses 255+, loose metal particulate mixtures. (5) Class 420, Alloys or Metallic Compositions, claimed as products.
(6) Class 148, Metal Treatment, subclasses 95-122, 194-287, and 500-714, in class schedule order, providing for certain processes of treating solid or semi-solid metal by modifying or maintaining the internal physical structure (i.e., microstructure) or chemical properties of metal, processes of reactive coating of metal or processes of chemical-heat removing (e.g., flame-cutting etc.) or burning of metal. However, if metal casting, fusion bonding, machining, or working is involved, there is a requirement of significant heat treatment as described in the Class 148 class definition.
(7) Class 148, Metal Treatment, subclasses 33+, barrier layer stock material and subclasses 400+, stock.
(8) Class 75, subclasses 331+, processes of making solid particulate alloys directly from liquid metal and subclasses 343+, processes of producing or purifying alloys in powder form.
(9) Class 75, subclasses 10.1+ and 10.67, processes of making alloys by electrothermic, electromagnetic, or electrostatic processes.
(10) Class 420, Alloys or Metallic Compositions, processes of manufacture.
(11) Class 75, subclasses 330+, processes of making metal and processes of treating liquid metals and liquid alloys and consolidating metalliferous material.
(12) Class 204, Chemistry: Electrical and Wave Energy,
processes.
(13) Class 164, Metal Founding, subclasses 1+, processes.
(14) Class 266, Metallurgical Apparatus, subclasses 44+, processes of operating metallurgical apparatus.
This list is not complete and may be added to as the proper relationship of other areas as determined. REFERENCES TO OTHER CLASSES
SEE OR SEARCH CLASS
29, Metal Working,
33+, for article assembly means combined with means to metallurgically treat the assembled article.
34, Drying and Gas or Vapor Contact With Solids, appropriate subclass, for apparatus for contacting a solid with a gas not elsewhere provided for: See especially
576+, for fluidized beds of granular material where the fluidizing agent is a treating gas.
65, Glass Manufacturing, appropriate subclass, for processes of or apparatus for glass working or treating.
72, Metal Deforming, appropriate subclass, for a method or an apparatus including a step of or a means for maintaining or modifying the temperature of the work subjected to the metal shaping operation where: (a) nominally recited means are provided to alter the temperature of the work in some unspecified manner, (b) specific heating means are provided which merely condition the work to perfect the shaping, or (c) nominal annealing means are provided where the annealing is for the purpose of relieving work stresses or to facilitate working.
75, Specialized Metallurgical Processes, Compositions for Use Therein, Consolidated Metal Powder Compositions, and Loose Metal Particulate Mixtures, appropriate subclasses for consolidating metalliferous material, or extracting, refining or melting metals. See Lines With Other Classes, above, for a list of superiority of this and other metal, allow, and metal stock areas. classes.
96, Gas Separation: Apparatus, for apparatus for gas separation, per se (e.g., electrostatic precipitators, etc.). Because Class 96 is subcombinational in character, the combination of a metallurgical treating apparatus with a gas separation means will be found in Class 266.
110, Furnaces, appropriate subclass, for furnaces of general utility, especially 235+, for incinerators for the disposal of waste material, which incinerators may have structure to render a molten material, including metals, disposable. Class 266 provides for furnaces specialized for extracting a desired metallic constituent from a source of such metal, which source could be waste material.
118, Coating Apparatus,
58+, for coating apparatus combined with heating means for drying the coating or for effecting a metallurgical treatment, e.g., annealing, of a coated article or of an article which is about to be coated.
122, Liquid Heaters and Vaporizers,
6.6, for tuyeres cooled by a liquid circulating in a closed path, see subclass 270 of this class (266) for a further statement of the line, and subclass 7, for waste heat boilers, per se, or combined with a nominally recited converter and for hoods which are cooled by a liquid circulating in a closed path.
134, Cleaning and Liquid Contact With Solids, appropriate subclass, for metal quenching apparatus, per se. See the search note to 134 in
114, of this class (266) for a more complete statement of the line between the classes.
148, Metal Treatment, appropriate subclasses for processes of treating solid or semi-solid metal to modify or maintain the internal physical structure (i.e., microstructure) or chemical property of metal and appropriate subclasses for processes of chemical-heat removing (e.g., flame cutting, etc.) or burning (i.e., oxidizing) of a metal workpiece. While Class 266 provides for certain methods of operating a metallurgical apparatus, it does not provide for a combined operation that includes subject matter proper for Class 148.
164, Metal Founding, appropriate subclass, for metallurgical apparatus combined with metal casting means.
165, Heat Exchange, appropriate subclasses, especially 9.1+, for air heaters and other heat exchange devices which transfer heat in an indirect manner, that is through a body or wall that physically separates the fluids, or which employs a heat storing mass.
198, Conveyors: Power-Driven, appropriate subclass, for conveyors or for conveyors combined with nominal treating apparatus, Class 198 provides for cooling beds for metal bars, including those beds which have means to turn the bars while they are being conveyed to keep the bars straight, provided no additional treating structure is claimed in more than a nominal fashion. 202, Distillation: Apparatus, appropriate subclass, for distilling apparatus not elsewhere provided for. See the class definition of Class 202 for a statement of the line between Class 202 and Class 266.
209, Classifying, Separating, and Assorting Solids, appropriate subclass, for nonchemical types of separation employing the use of amalgams or magnet lines of force, and
11, and 182, for separating apparatus combined with heating means.
219, Electric Heating, appropriate subclass, especially
50+, for electric heaters specialized to heat metal objects. Patents which claim an electric heater combined with a quenching device are placed as an original in Class 266 and are cross-referenced into the appropriate heater subclass in Class 219.
222, Dispensing,
591+, especially subclasses 592+ for ladles or tundishes used to dispense molten metals. Such dispensing vessels may include means to treat the molten metal where such a treatment is solely ancillary to and supportive of the dispensing operation, e.g., spout heaters to prevent clogging of the vessel outlet. If other treating structure is provided, e.g., additional heater remote from the outlet, or if the vessel is a metallurgical furnace, the patent should be placed in this class (266).
239, Fluid Sprinkling, Spraying, and Diffusing, appropriate subclass, specially
132+, for lances, per se, and for nozzles of general utility.
241, Solid Material Comminution or Disintegration, appropriate subclass, especially
65+, for comminuting or disintegrating means, per se, or combined with heating means which do not effect a change in the chemical nature of the material being treated.
264, Plastic and Nonmetallic Article Shaping or Treating: Processes, 30, for methods of forming or repairing furnace linings by shaping, e.g., molding, fluent refractory material.
373, Industrial Electric Heating Furnaces, for furnaces having specific electric heating means, except as noted below, or for such furnaces combined with such additional treating structure, e.g., condensers, as is provided for in Class 373. Class 266 takes patents having claims to electric furnaces where no electric heating structure is recited and
where that structure would be useful in other types of metallurgical furnaces. Class 266 also provides for metallurgical furnaces having specific electric heating means where additional means are recited for introducing reactant materials, e.g., tuyeres.
414, Material or Article Handling,
147+, for the combination of a chamber of a type utilized for a heating function and material charging or discharging means therefor. Specific furnace structure is included there (147+) only when its sole purpose is to facilitate the movement of material to or from the furnace.
422, Chemical Apparatus and Process Disinfecting, Deodorizing, Preserving, or Sterilizing,
255+, for apparatus not elsewhere provided for, for extracting inorganic chemical elements or compounds from their source material.
425, Plastic Article or Earthenware Shaping or Treating: Apparatus, appropriate subclass, especially
222, for means to shape or agglomerate particles of ore into pellets or balls which may be combined with additional treating means to improve or complete the shaping, e.g., heaters, other than sintering or indurating means, which merely dry or harden the shaped article, and subclass 78, for means to form and sinter a mass of powdered metal.
428, Stock Material or Miscellaneous Articles,
544+, for stock material which is all metal or has adjacent metal components, especially subclasses 546+ for such material containing metal particles.
432, Heating, appropriate subclass, for heating apparatus of general utility. Class 432 also takes reheat furnaces which elevate the temperature of a metal object to facilitate some subsequent treatment of the object, e.g., bending, provided that no means for providing or circulating a treating or protecting gas is claimed. See the search note to Class 266 in the class definitions for Class 432 for a further statement of the line between the two classes.