A heavy-duty steel bucket lined with heat-resistant refractory brick or clay, used to move liquid metal from the melting furnace to the pouring floor. Ladles range in size from small hand-carried shanks used for detail work to massive crane-lifted vessels holding hundreds of tons of steel. They are designed with specialized spouts or bottom-pouring valves to control the flow and keep floating slag out of the casting.
Heard on the job
Bring the crane over, this ladle is tapped out and we need to pour the rest of these molds before the metal chills.
Insider tip
Never pour from a cold ladle. If the refractory lining is not preheated, the molten metal will boil violently and spit out of the vessel.