PURPOSE: To make the sintering speed in the transverse direction of a pallet uniform. and to improve the quality of products over the entire part thereof by heating raw materials to be sintered in a surge hopper to a specific temp. only in the side wall parts thereof, packing the raw materials into the pallet in such a manner that the heated parts exist near the side walls of the pallet and igniting the raw materials.

CONSTITUTION: The raw materials 1 which are to be heated and exist in the side wall parts 2a in the surge hopper 2 are heated to 50°C to 100°C (heating width 12 is about 0.3m) by blowing hot air from a hot air pipe 13 into the surge hopper at the time of charging the raw materials 1 to be sintered into the sintering pallet 8 of a lower suction type sintering machine. The raw materials 1 to be sintered are charged via a chute 3 by a drum feeder 2b into the sintering pallet 8 to form a packed bed 6 consisting of a packed bed 6d heated near the side wall parts 8a and a packed bed 6e not heated in the central part. The sintering is executed by igniting the coke in the surface layer part of the packed bed 6, by which the sintering speed of the transverse direction of the pallet is made uniform, the sintering time is shortened and the yield is improved.