pandigital was a digital photo-frame manufacturer founded in 1998 that around 2010 began to expand its product line to include e-reader , tablets and e-books .

their tablet products included the planet , novel , star , nova , and supernova .

as of november 2012 , pandigital declared bankruptcy and went out of business .

they liquidated their stock on various daily deals websites .

pandigital ( company )

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glassdoor gives you an inside look at what it ' s like to work at pandigital , including salaries , reviews , office photos , and more . this is the pandigital company profile . all content is posted anonymously by employees working at pandigital .
the company formally went kaput in july 2012 , and i have to say that it comes as no surprise .
bad , bad , bad…… . . out of business and no where to turn . the sunglow company who now has control says to me “we are not servicing any pandigital tablets , just scanners .
this company really sees the big picture . pandigital manufactures digital photo frames and sells them at major retailers across the us . pandigital ' s frames range from a pocket - sized 1 . 8 inches to 15 inches , and some have touch - screen access , interchangeable . . .
although pandigital was never a company known for their great quality tablets , there is plenty of them out there on the market and in the hands of consumers . back in july 2012 , the company officially signed over all of their assets to a liquidator which was then to sell the assets off in order to pay pandigitals creditors . in that time , pandigital has now started sending out emails to former customers advising their warranties on products are no longer valid and if you wish to make a claim , it has to be done with the liquidator .
you are receiving this email as you have recently been shipped a warranty replacement for a pandigital product .
please be advised that pandigital , inc ( the ' company ' ) , executed a general assignment for the benefit of its creditors in favor of credit management association on july 13 , 2012 ( the ' general assignment ' ) . a general assignment is a common law means of concluding the affairs of an insolvent debtor as an alternative to the chapter 7 bankruptcy process . pandigital is currently in the process of liquidation by the assignee .
you are receiving this email as you have recently been shipped a warranty replacement for a pandigital product . please be advised that pandigital , inc ( the ‘company’ ) , executed a general assignment for the benefit of its creditors in favor of credit management association on july 13 , 2012 ( the ‘general assignment’ ) . a general assignment is a common law means of concluding the affairs of an insolvent debtor as an alternative to the chapter 7 bankruptcy process . pandigital is currently in the process of liquidation by the assignee . due to this liquidation process any further requests for warranty replacements cannot be honored .
i cannot download nothig at all . i have reset , erased sd / card , this pandigital tablet has no customer support .
pandigital , one of the more visible smaller tablet makers that sprang up following the launch of the ipad , filed for bankruptcy shut down earlier this year .
pandigital manufactures digital photo frames and other consumer electronics such as its kitchen technology center , which includes a digital cookbook , hdtv , and wi - fi connectivity .
anyway to get an app on the pandigital so you can still purchase and use the reader . im trying to sign into my barnes and noble acc’t and it says network error .
i also have a pandigital printer and cannot fine 4x5 inkless printer paper . the printer was great but i have had to printer less than one year and now no paper . everywhere i . . .
pandigital is leaving behind quite a few different gadgets , including a 6
ereader , a couple 9
android tablets , an 8
android tablet , and a half dozen different 7
android tablets . and given that pandigital was also involved in selling other consumer electronics before they jumped into tablets , you might also encounter their internet radios , digital cameras , digital picture frames , and portable scanners .
velocity micro is certainly a possibility . they are a lot like pandigital in that they are a device maker who branched into tablets , only in the case of vm they came from custom built pcs .
my wife has a pandigital novel and gets an error message when she tries to go to barnes & noble { service unavailable - dns failure } who can i to talk to about fixing it . thank you
hey mizzbee i have an android pandigital that i ordered 3 months ago . i got for a christmes present for my 4 year old daughter . i started trying to set it up using my hotspot and i cant get it to connect let alone anything else .
there is a surprising number of their tablets still available in retail channels ; you would not believe how many views my old posts still get on hacking the various pandigital devices . i expect to have new readers show up with these old tablets for some years to come .
so , that ' s that . you ' re likely better off just forgetting the whole thing happened then trying to reach out for a warranty replacement or refund . chances are , you ' ve already tried to scrub the experience of using a pandigital device out of your memory banks any how .
okay , i get it i am stupid . i bought a pandigital off ebay for next to nothing . but the user guides have been wiped from it , ande the website no longer exists . how can i get the user guides ? i simply wanted an ereader for books , that was it .
good morning , i have read instruction in gaining connection via my wifi on my pandigital novel . as i been surfing on my browser . i keep getting a security warning . that states the name of the site does not match the on the certificate . i am unable to clear it . it give . . .
it is still fresh in my mind . i still get upset when anyone asked me about my tablet . i understand that the company liquidate their assets to pay creditors but this is after they outright stole from me . they were no more than common thieves . if i still had my device , chances are i might have been able to get it replaced by qvc or even get it repaired myself . pandigital stole my tablet when they asked me to send it to them for warranty replacement and never mailed it back to me . no compensation , just like that my hard earn cash gone . i am a single parent i made the sacrifice to purchase the tablet from qvc as a christmas gift for my kids and i , i was only able to purchase 1 tablet for the 3 of us , we would take turns using it and six months later i lost it to the manufacturer , who stole of from me . i have not been able to afford another since . i have a stomach ache every time i remembered .
i have tried registering it and i can ' t because web says that pandigital no longer exist . you cant do anything on it . i cant pull up the web , i cant down load books . it will let me go to barnes and noble but i cant down load . so what am i suppose to do with this now . . .
hi . . my cousin gifted me a 7″ pandigital tablet . . i started using the tablet yesterday , and the tablet stopped working yesterday . there is some complaint with its display . its all grains . . i am very upset . have no idea about what to do . tried contacting their webpage , it says “webpage under construction” . . i’ll be happy if you can help me… please…
pandigital was pretty good at coming up with gadgets sold at a price slightly cheaper than name brand devices , and once they got past the initial quality issues with the first novel android tablet , their hardware wasn ' t half bad . the tablets which they released in 2010 and 2011 had decent specs and price for the time , though they of course are underpowered , overpriced , and antiquated by today ' s standard .
but their service department sucked , and if they ran the rest of the business as poorly as the service dept then the only surprise today is that the bankruptcy didn ' t happen sooner . my first and last encounter with pandigital ' s service dept happened at the beginning of 2011 , and based on the readers who kept showing up over the past 2 years i would say that the service dept maintained their usual standards of abysmal customer satisfaction .
actually , pandigital didn’t exactly spring - up after the ipad . they were a pre - existing vendor of ( rather nice ) digital fotoframes who shifted their focus to marketting android tablets . the surprise isn’t so much where they ended but that they actually had a bit of extended success before reality set in . they were relevant for about a year , no ? more blood - letting to come . the android tablet space is going to be shedding a lot of brands by spring…
to be completely fair , pandigital officially called it quits back in july of this year , when it handed the remaining of its assets to a liquidator in order to comply with the don ' t - call - it - a - bankruptcy process . now , however , the creator of that 7 - inch novel slate has been contacting former customers - - that are experiencing tablet woes - - to let them know it will no longer be able to offer such customer service , noting that
due to this liquidation process any further requests for warranty replacements cannot be honored .
given its earlier filing with the credit management association , the notice doesn ' t exactly strike us a surprise , but it does tell us not to expect the supernova maker to splash a comeback any time soon . you ' ll find the original email sent to troubled customers right after the break .
due to this liquidation process any further requests for warranty replacements cannot be honored .
hidden code for a ' visual search ' feature hints at snap ' s next move .
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tapping into the same creative well as ' minecraft ' could be the key to long - term success .
pan digital business system sdn bhd , established since 1983 , is one of the top panasonic office automation product distributor in malaysia .
starting as olivetti computer dealer in 1983 , in house development & marketing accounting & custom declaration system software for forwarding agents take up panasonic dealership in 1985 and start to import vcd player under hannsonic logo from 1998 . in year 2000 , we start to import cctv products .
the banker is united overseas bank , branch in jalan meru , klang , selangor , providing us with rm500 , 000 . 00 overdraft and rm1 , 000 , 000 . 00 banker’s acceptance facility etc . and group facilities of up to 2 . 8millions .
pan digital is man by 30 staff of which 20 of them are supporting & technical staff with annual turn over of around rm6millions .
44 , jalan pasar , pan digital building , 41400 klang , selangor darul ehsan , malaysia .
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the people i worked with were some of the best people i have ever met . hardworking , talented , energetic and talented .
it was a very high pressure environment where we were constantly putting out fires . we should have been more proactive rather than reactive .
it doesn ' t really matter anymore but sometime the leading edge is the bleeding edge .
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i couldn ' t get through to anyone to talk about my problem . if i had been a
pissed consumer
before , i would be more upset now . i wan ' t pissed , just had a question about internal battery / memory . probably will just take this frame and throw it out now . { { redacted } }
i have never had a problem returning anything . until now i purchased a digital picture frame from walmart , it didn ' t have a remote , they won ' t return it for me . i ' ve tried contacting your office countless times no response . i need contacted asap or yes i will contact . . .
got this thing can ' t get it to work * * * thing can ' t seem to contact them about it . . . right now so pissed off , i wish they were in arms length right now * * *
product was advertised as able to scan photos at 300 , 600 and 1200 dpi . you can scan 300 and 600 through the autofeeder , but 1200 has to be hand scanned and the scanner has to be out of the cradle ( and that wipes the battery out ) after 2 or 3 scans . really ? you . . .
no sooner the store warranty expired , the charger connection broke i ' ve tried getting through to customer service and sending e - mails before they suddenly went out of business . it is nothing more than a paper weight . it was my very first tablet and i feel they took . . .
we notice you ' re visiting us from a region where we have a local version of inc . com .
he used to sing in a boy band . now he ' s making millions by tweeting ( a lot )
pack your bags - - these u . s . cities are growing like crazy in 2017
rather than file for bankruptcy , their assets were signed over to a liquidator to be sold off , with the proceeds going to pay creditors .
to past customers . all existing warranties are cancelled , and if you wish to try to make a warranty claim you will need to file it with the liquidator .
nate hoffelder is the founder and editor of the digital reader :
i ' ve been into reading ebooks since forever , but i only got my first ereader in july 2007 . everything quickly spiraled out of control from there . before i started this blog in january 2010 i covered ebooks , ebook readers , and digital publishing for about 2 years as a part of mobileread forums . it ' s a great community , and being a member is a joy . but i thought i could make something out of how i covered the news for mobileread , so i started this blog .
they certainly didn’t have as high of a profile back before they got into tablets .
nope . but they have a lot lower one after chasing off after the tablet pot of gold , aren’t they ? “this has happened before . it will happen again . ” they never learn…
mr . nate , i own the black novel from qvc . it is 4gb and purple color . i got a case , included stylus , ac adapter and usb connector . i also got the 9″ from big lots last black friday . both work great . i bought a nextbook 3 from hsn and had to get a replacement . it turns on and then , most of the time it forecloses . i have not tried to use it in about 4 months . nextbook needs to go out of business , at least pandigitals work . before all the yakking starts from the peanut gallery , i mean that my pandigitals both work doing what they are supposed to do . my nextbook 3 is useless .
on the other hand there is a lot of money in custom pcs , so if they were careful they might pull through .
as far as i can see , no one has picked up their fake ipad mini , the t508 . not best buy , not j & r . if no one will sell their shit , it’s curtains right there .
there are a number of possible causes for this issue . first , do you have the time and date set correctly ?
i suspect that your novel is trying to access a version of the nook store which isn’t supported anymore , but you would have to check with b & n tech support to confirm this . i don’t have any current technical info on that tablet , sorry .
for now , i would suggest that you download the nook app from 1mobile app market and install it . i doubt that you will have any trouble accessing the nook store from inside the app .
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hainaut-sambre was a belgian group of steel companies based in the charleroi region , it was founded in 1955 by the merger of usine métallurgiques du hainaut ( based in couillet , charleroi ) , and the metal making division of sambre et moselle ( based in montignies-sur-sambre , charleroi ) .

the company absorbed another charleroi based steel group thy-marcinelle et providence in 1980 before being merged with the liege based steel group cockerill in 1981 to form cockerill-sambre .

a predecessor company sa marchinelle & couillet built locomotives at the usines métallurgiques du hainaut which were used on industrial railways , and exported around the world .

the locomotive builder was commonly known as couillet .

hainaut - sambre

the other main grouping of firms in the surrounding area became the hainaut - sambre company in 1955 , hainaut being the name of the province in which charleroi is situated . the two companies involved in the first merger were the usines métallurgiques de hainaut , founded in 1829 , and sambre - et - moselle , founded in 1835 . the merger between hainaut - sambre and thy - marcinelle et providence took place in 1979 , not long after the transfer of providence to tmm by cockerill .
hainaut - sambre has merged entirely with cockerill . in belgian steel , this equity infusion was determined to be countervailable because the gob paid more per share than the market price of the stock at that time and , hence , its investment was inconsistent with commercial considerations . lacking any information on the nature of the merger between hainaut - sambre and cockerill , we presume that the benefits to hainaut - sambre are now conferred on cockerill as well .
b . snsn capital for cockerill sambre ' s liege cold - rolling mill .
the cockerill sambre group of the late 20th century resulted from the 1981 merger of the two major iron and steel groupings of the walloon region of belgium . from its beginnings , the cockerill group had been based at seraing on the river meuse a few miles upstream from liège , while the company hainaut - sambre was based at the town of charleroi , some 65 miles east of liège on the banks of the river sambre . the sambre flows into the meuse and provides a geographical link between these two regions , formerly rich in coal . in both areas , iron and steel production dates back before the 18th century , based on the coal mines of the areas , but the majority of the companies that have been absorbed gradually into the group were originally founded between 1800 and 1838 .
cockerill sambre entered 1998 as a majority state - owned company , 79 percent - owned by the regional government of wallonia ( the french - speaking southern half of belgium ) - - the remainder was publicly traded . in october 1998 french steelmaking giant usinor s . a . reached an agreement with the government to acquire a 75 percent stake in cockerill sambre , with the government retaining 25 percent .
the number of blast furnaces operating in wallonia declined from their peak of 30 during the postwar period up to 1963 : only a third of these were in use by the late 1970s , and by 1988 only four remained at cockerill sambre .
1 . cash grants and interest subsidies under the economic expansion law of 1970 2 . government funding of early retirement pensions 3 . ecological incentives 4 . assumption of debt a . assumption of debt related to closing of valfil plant b . assumption of financing costs c . forgiveness of societe nationale de credite a l ' industrie (
snci
) loans 5 . debt conversions a . 1984 conversion of sidmar debt ( not countervailable ) b . conversion of clabecq debt into ordinary and non - voting shares c . conversion of clabecq debt into parts and beneficiaries d . conversion of cockerill sambre debt to equity under the claes plan e . conversion of cockerill sambre debt held by the fund pour la restructuration des secteurs nationaux en region walloon (
fsnw
) into equity f . conversion of cockerill debt to equity under the gandois plan 6 . equity infusions a . equity infusions for hainaut - sambre b . the societe nationale pour des reconstruction des secteurs nationaux (
snsn
) capital for cockerill sambre ' s liege cold - rolling mill c . 1981 equity infusion into cockerill sambre d . clabecq infusion from sococlabecq 7 . snci loans 8 . belgian industrial finance company (
belfin
) loans 9 . the
invests
a . sidinvest b . boelinvest c . clabecqlease 10 . snsn loans 11 . fsnw loans 12 . government guaranteed loans 13 . exemption of corporate taxes for grants received under the 1970 law 14 . accelerated depreciation 15 . exemption from real estate taxes 16 . exemption from the capital registration tax 17 . european coal and steel community (
ecsc
) article 54 loans and loan guarantees 18 . ecsc redeployment aid 19 . european social fund 20 . water purification subsidies
a chronological perspective provides a clearer overview of the complexities of all these mergers and regroupings . beginning with the rise of the 19th - century companies , there were , to start with , four principal companies in each of the two regions of liège and charleroi . the first significant mergers did not take place until 1955 , following reorganization plans initiated after the formation of the european commission for coal and steel in 1952 . these resulted in the formation of hainaut - sambre in the charleroi region , and cockerill - ougrée at liège . another ten years passed before the mid - 1960s witnessed two further rationalizations : the incorporation of providence to form cockerill - ougrée - providence at liège , and the coming together of some of the earliest charleroi - based companies to form thy - marcinelle et monceau .
in 1997 , while still seeking out potential partners , cockerill sambre reached the decision to focus its operations on three core areas : integrated steelmaking , steel distribution , and the manufacture of steel - based construction products . the company subsequently exited from the manufacture of automotive components with the 1997 disposal of ymos . by the beginning of 1998 cockerill had largely divested its environmental management services sector .
cockerill sambre posted losses of bfr 1 . 39 billion in 1992 and bfr 6 . 5 billion in 1993 before recovering somewhat in 1994 , when it recorded net income of bfr 807 million . in early 1995 cockerill paid dm 150 million ( us $ 100 million ) for a 60 percent stake in gmbh eko stahl , which had run the largest steel plant in east germany prior to german reunification .
one of the largest industrial groups in belgium , the cockerill sambre group is a medium - sized integrated steelmaking concern . the group has three core activities : integrated steel manufacturing , particularly coated steel sheets ; steel distribution , operating primarily in france and the netherlands in addition to belgium ; and manufacturing of steel - based products for the construction industry . the group is also involved in several noncore areas , with these activities stemming from the historical development of the group and from a program of diversification embarked upon in the early 1990s . these include mechanical engineering and various services operations .
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call us : ( 03 ) 9757 0700 ( intl . + 61 3 9757 0700 )
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the other key company from the liège area was esperance - longdoz . its origins can be traced back to the dothée family , which was already trading in ironmongery , copper ware , zinc objects and utensils , sheet metal , and hardware during the early 18th century . esperance - longdoz was formed in 1836 , based on coal mines at esperance , near seraing , and with the involvement of john cockerill . the first blast furnace opened there in 1838 , followed in 1846 by a tin - plate works in the longdoz district of liège . the company was involved in joint ventures with cockerill to exploit mineral rights , and became a major coke producer of this period . esperance - longdoz proved to be one of the most dynamic companies in the history of the group , surviving as a separate entity for 135 years until one of the penultimate mergers in 1970 ; as late as 1963 a brand new steelworks was built by esperance - longdoz on a greenfield site at chertal , to the north of liège .
within a few years of the implementation of the gandois plan , the success of the measures had become evident , with the company being given a new lease of life , and diversification into other steel - based products taking place . the mid - 1980s were a relatively stable period , culminating in further internal rationalizations , such as the decision to specialize in thin flat products on the steel production side ; the development of new products such as coated steel roof tiles by the french - based construction products division ; and concentration on heavy engineering in the mechanical engineering division . in 1990 came the acquisition of a majority holding in ymos a . g . , a major german manufacturer of metal and plastic parts for automobiles . other diversification moves included ventures into financial and data processing services as well as environmental management services .
in the early 1990s , the entire european steel industry , largely state - owned at the time , was in crisis . international competition , most notably from japanese and korean steelmakers , kept prices chronically depressed . only a us $ 8 . 5 billion 1993 bailout from the european union saved the industry . privatization , restructuring , and consolidation were the watchwords of the decade , and mergers created three dominating european steel giants : arbed of luxembourg , usinor of france , and thyssen - krupp stahl ag of germany .
in september 1996 the still struggling cockerill said that it would seek an alliance with another european steelmaker . the company also announced the launch of the
horizon 2000
plan , a restructuring aimed at significantly reducing costs at one of europe ' s most inefficient steelmakers by the turn of the century . to implement the plan , the company expected to cut more than 2 , 200 jobs from its 10 , 000 - person workforce in belgium . in late 1996 merger discussions with privately owned belgian steelmaker usines gustave boël led nowhere . for fiscal 1996 , cockerill posted a net loss of bfr 8 . 97 billion , including exceptional costs of bfr 7 . 7 billion related to
horizon 2000 .
principal divisions : integrated steel division ; distribution division ; construction division ; mechanical engineering division ; services division .
alleur - liège , belgium : editions du perron , 1992 , p . 207 . smith , michael ,
usinor to acquire majority stake in cockerill ,
450 ans d ' espérance : la s . a . métallurgique d ' esperance - longdoz de 1519 a 1969 ,
alleur - liège , belgium : editions du perron , 1990 . zwick , steve ,
steelmakers swarm to cockerill ,
legal status ( the legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion . google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed . )
current assignee ( the listed assignees may be inaccurate . google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list . )
priority date ( the priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion . google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed . )
casting melt - holding vessels , e . g . ladles , tundishes , cups or the like
closures sliding - gate type , i . e . having a fixed plate and a movable plate in sliding contact with each other for selective registry of their openings
a l sl ' iding gate for metal - holding vessel - filed dec . 22 , 1967 i l se es 22 ' 25 26 25 22 / n ven toi ? . john a . @ rosko harney united states patent o 3 , 480 , 186 sliding gate for metal - holding vessel john a . grosko , whitaker township , allegheny county ,
pa . , assgnor to united states steel corporation , a corporation of delaware filed dec . 22 , 1967 , ser . no . 692 , 767 int . cl . b67d 3 / 00 ; b65d 47 / 26 ; f16k 3 / 02 u . s . cl . 222 - 512 2 claims abstract of the disclosure a metal - holding vessel with a bottom outlet has spaced beams secured therebelow , one on each side of the outlet and a closure panel slidably supported on the beams is adapted , in one position , to close said outlet . expansiblechamber motors are carried by the beams on each side of the panel and constantly urge it toward the bottom of the vessel . graphite blocks between the motors and the panel facilitate movement of the latter and protect the motors from the heat of the metal . another motor mounted on the beams actuates the panel to open or close the vessel outlet .
background of the invention this invention relates to means mounting a closure panel for sliding movement on the bottom of a metalholding vessel having a bottom outlet and , in particular , to the means for urging the panel yfirmly against the vessel bottom so it will effect a tight closure of th ' e outlet .
more specifically , my invention is an improvement on the apparatus . of shapland patent no . 3 , 352 , 465 . that patent shows a sliding closure panel urged against the vessel bottom by compression springs working through levers of the first class . these springs are located relatively close to the stream of hot metal flowing from the vessel when the panel is in . open position and may be adversely affected by the heat therefrom .
summary of the invention according to my invention , i provide a plurality of expansible chamber motors on each side of the path of the closure panel , disposed and arranged to exert a direct upward force thereon tending to seat the panel firmly against the bottom outlet of the vessel . i further provide graphite bearing blocks between the motors and the panel to facilitate movement of the latter and protect the former from excessive heat .
brief description of the drawings a complete understanding of the invention may be obtained from the following detailed description and explanation which refer to the accompanying drawings illustrating the present preferred embodiment . in the drawings :
3 , 480 , 186 patented nov . 25 , 1969 figure 3 is a partial cross section taken along the plane of line iii - iii . of figure 1 .
detailed description of the
preferred embodiment referring now in detail to the drawings , a refractorylined vessel 10 adapted to hold molten metal , such as a ladle or the like , has a bottom outlet defined by a nozzle block 11 , controlled by a conventional stopper rod ( not shown ) . a plate 12 is secured by bolts 13 to the bottom of the vessel with a layer of thermal insulating board 14 therebetween . this plate has a central hole therein to accommodate the projecting lower end of nozzle block 11 . angle beams 15 are secured to plate 12 , one on ecah side of the nozzle block , by screws 16 . a nozzle - block support plate 17 having a central hole adapted to register with that through block 11 is secured to plate 12 by screws 18 . beams 15 are connected by upper cross plates 19 and 20 welded thereto .
a cylinder and piston 21 mounted on plate 19 effect sliding movement of a closure panel 22 along ways 23 on the inner faces of beams 15 , from the chain - line tothe solid - line position shown in figure 2 . when the panel is in registry with plate 17 , it blocks iiow of metal through nozzle block 11 . the panel has lateral flanges 24 riding on ways 23 .
lower cross plates 25 extending between beams 15 ` support motor - housing blocks 26 , one on each side of the path of panel 22 . as shown in figure 3 the panel has shoulders or flanges 27 overhanging blocks 26 . while made principally of refractory material , the panel is metal clad on its lower surfaces . blocks 26 are bored to receive a plurality of expansible - chambcr motors 28 , such as bellows , and connections 29 extend therefrom to manifolds 30 connected to a suitable source of uid under pressure through a control valve ( not shown ) . graphite blocks 31 are disposed between motors 28 and shoulders 27 , the upper surfaces of blocks 26 being recessed to accommodate them . blocks 31 have their edges beveled , as shown in figure 2 , ` so that shoulders 27 will not be obstructed as panel 22 is pushed into place .
it will be evident that motors 28 , acting through iblocks 31 , exert a constant upward pressure on panel 22 , tending to hold it closely against the plate 17 . this pressure - may be increased , if necessary , by opening the control valve and relieved , if excessive , by a conventional safety valve .
when it is desired to permit metal iiow through block 11 , a panel 22 having a hole therethrough is placed on loading shelf 32 and motor 21 is operated ' to push it into registering position , such action , of course , also effecting removal lof closed panel 22 previously in position . to terminate iiow , panel 22 is replaced in the position shown .
although i have disclosed herein the preferred embodiment of my invention , i intend to cover as well any change or modification therein which may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .
1 . the combination , with a metal - holding vessel having a bottom outlet and a flow - control panel slidable thereover , of support means for said panel comprising a pair lof spaced parallel beams secured to the bottom of said vessel , ways on the adjacent faces of said beams , said panel having laterally extending anges along its sides slidable on said ways , a block carried by each of said beams extending along oneside of said panel , and a plurality of expansible - charnber motors spaced along each block adapted to exert pressure urging said panel toward the vessel bottom .
2 . an apparatus as defined in claim 1 , characterized by individual graphite blocks between said motors and said panel .
references cited united states patents 2 , 654 , 924 10 / 1953 wood et al . 222 - 512 x 2 , 998 , 220 8 / 1961 grieselhuber 251 - 175 x 5 3 , 352 , 465 11 / 1967 shapland 222 - - 512 stanley h . tollberg , | primary examiner u . s . c1e x . r .
soldering or unsoldering ; welding ; cladding or plating by soldering or welding ; cutting by applying heat locally , e . g . flame cutting ; working by laser beam
a machine for forming at least a metal mesh comprising longitudinal wires and transverse wires , comprising at least a welding unit provided with a plurality of welders by means of which the longitudinal wires are welded to corresponding transverse wires , each of the welders comprising at least two electrodes , respectively upper and lower , selectively movable between a first feed position , in which at least a first electrode is distant from the transverse and longitudinal wires , and a second welding position , in which both the electrodes contact and weld the wires by means of a passage of current . the welding unit is electrically fed by a three - phase type system .
the present invention concerns a machine for forming one or more metal meshes , by means of welding . in particular , the invention is applied , preferably but not exclusively , to making electro - welded metal meshes used as reinforcements in reinforced concrete structures . for this reason , in the following description , specific reference will be made to this application , even though the invention can also be used for forming meshes of other types .
machines for producing electro - welded metal meshes are known , which meshes are made from a plurality of longitudinal metal wires or round pieces , distanced with respect to each other . corresponding metal transverse wires or round pieces are welded perpendicularly to the longitudinal wires , according to a predefined interaxis .
such machines generally comprise a welding unit provided with a plurality of welders , at least one for every longitudinal wire , and a unit to feed the transverse wires .
in particular , each welder comprises two electrodes , an upper and a lower one , able to be brought selectively nearer to each other so as to be moved between a first position for feeding the wires to be welded , in which at least one of the two electrodes is moved away from the two wires so as to allow them to be positioned , and a second welding position in which the electrodes are brought into contact with and grip the two wires in correspondence with one of their join sections . in the second position the two electrodes close the electric circuit , thus welding the two wires .
the functioning of such machines provides that a transverse wire , in some cases several transverse wires at the same time , is fed and disposed in an attachment position in which it is welded to the longitudinal wires by means of a relative welding unit .
subsequently , the longitudinal wires are simultaneously made to move forward by a pitch equivalent to the interaxis according to specifications between the transverse wires , so that a new transverse wire can be fed and disposed in the attachment position .
there is an ever - growing need to make production lots of metal meshes having different pitches , and therefore it may be required , even during the course of the same day , to re - equip the machine in order to modify the pitch between the longitudinal wires .
to vary the pitch , so as to obtain a greater diversification of the types of mesh that can be made , the welders having a distance equal to the pitch required are electrically connected in pairs to each other by means of electric bridges . in this way , when the electrodes of each of said pairs are in the welding position , a closed electric circuit which allows the passage of the current needed for welding is formed for each of them . the pitch is therefore made either by means of a single welder , that is , a pair of an upper and a lower electrode , or by means of a plurality of welded pairs connected to each other for the passage of the current .
one disadvantage of the known machine is that this variation in pitch between the longitudinal wires entails complex and laborious operations to equip and calibrate the machines , which are typically carried out manually and mainly derive from the need to disconnect the pre - existing electric bridges and make new electric bridges , depending on the new pitch required for the longitudinal wires . this inevitably increases the times required for setting the machine , proportionally to the frequency with which this operation to modify the pitch has to be performed .
document u . s . pat . no . 3 , 053 , 972 describes a feeding system for electrodes of the three - phase type , in which two upper electrodes are connected to two distinct phases of the three - phase system , while the third phase feeds a copper bar which acts as a lower electrode . document gb - a - 1 . 056 . 005 also shows a three - phase feeding system in which pairs of electrodes are fed in distinct phases of the three - phase system , but no indication is provided for the possibility of modifying the pitch of the mesh , that is , of varying the activation of at least some of the electrodes , thus guaranteeing that a balanced electric feed is maintained in any case .
purpose of the present invention is to make a machine for forming a metal mesh which does not need complex and laborious operations of equipping and calibrating the machine , and allows to make meshes substantially of any shape and size quickly , easily and substantially automatically , considerably reducing the setting times .
in particular , purpose of the invention is to reduce drastically the re - equipping times of the machine in the steps of modifying the pitch between the longitudinal wires , thus eliminating in practice the need to intervene with operations to assemble / disassemble mechanical parts in order to make the electric connection between specific welding units activated , and in any case keeping the electric feed perfectly balanced .
the applicant has devised , tested and embodied the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of the state of the art and to obtain these and other purposes and advantages .
the present invention is set forth and characterized in the independent claims , while the dependent claims describe other characteristics of the invention or variants to the main inventive idea .
in accordance with said purposes , a machine according to the present invention is used , advantageously but not exclusively , to make a metal mesh of the electro - welded type comprising longitudinal and transverse wires .
the machine comprises a plurality of welding units , each consisting of a pair of electrodes , by means of which the longitudinal wires are attached by welding , with a pre - defined or pre - definable pitch , to corresponding transverse wires of the metal mesh .
the two electrodes , respectively upper and lower , of each pair are selectively and reciprocally movable between a first distanced position in order to feed the wires to be welded , in which at least one of the electrodes is distant from the two wires to be welded , and a second welding position in which both the electrodes contact and weld the two wires by means of the passage of current .
in the following description , for the sake of simplicity , reference will be made to the case in which the lower electrodes are fixed in a welding position in contact with the wires to be welded , while the upper electrodes are selectively movable from said distanced position , not in contact with the wires to be welded , to the welding position .
it obviously comes within the scope of the present invention that the upper electrodes are fixed and the lower electrodes are movable , or also that both electrodes are movable to be reciprocally closer / distanced with respect to each other .
the upper and lower electrodes are disposed in pairs respectively facing each other , and longitudinally distanced according to a regular interaxis equal to the minimum pitch of the mesh to be obtained .
according to a characteristic feature of the present invention , the welding unit is electrically fed by a three - phase system , in which at least the lower electrodes of the welders are each individually connected to a specific phase of the three - phase system .
according to the invention , the feed configuration of the lower electrodes is such that , as the required pitch of the mesh varies , and therefore that of the upper electrodes activated and brought into contact with the wires to be welded , the electric circuit between the upper electrode , the wires to be welded and the lower electrode of a triad of lower electrodes longitudinally adjacent is closed in such a manner that all three phases of the three - phase system to which the lower electrodes are connected are present , so as to guarantee a balanced electric feed .
in other words , the upper electrode involved in the welding , even as the pitch varies , always forms with another two adjacent upper electrodes and with the relative and corresponding lower electrodes , sequential triads in which all three phases of the three - phase system of electric feed are present .
in this way , as the pitch required by the mesh varies , it is not necessary to carry out any operation to mechanically re - configure the welding elements , but it is enough to selectively activate the upper electrodes involved , that is , to lower them onto the wires to be welded , thus always maintaining a balanced electric feed condition , and therefore optimal welding conditions .
according to one formulation of the present invention , the connection of the lower and upper electrodes follows a configuration of the star type of the three - phase system .
according to another variant , the upper electrodes of the welders are all connected to the centre of said star , and the star is in any case formed by triads that vary as the electrodes involved vary , depending on the desired pitch of the mesh to be made .
fig . 3 is a front view of the machine in fig . 1 in a second operating condition ; and
fig . 4 is a front view of the machine in fig . 1 in a third operating condition ;
figs . 5 a , 5 b , 5 c and 5 d schematically show different configurations of use of the machine according to the invention , respectively with the upper electrodes raised to feed the wires to be welded , with all the upper electrodes lowered to obtain the mesh with minimum pitch , and with some of the upper electrodes lowered to obtain , respectively , a double pitch ( fig . 5 c ) and triple pitch ( fig . 5 d ) of the minimum pitch .
with reference to the attached drawings , number 10 indicates in its entirety a machine for forming electro - welded meshes according to the present invention .
in this case , the electro - welded meshes formed with the machine 10 comprise a plurality of longitudinal metal wires 12 distanced from each other and welded to corresponding transverse metal wires 13 , also distanced by a pre - defined interaxis .
the machine 10 substantially comprises a frame 11 and at least a welding unit 17 , mounted on the frame 11 . in this case a welding unit 17 is shown comprising a plurality of welders 14 , one adjacent to the other . the welders 14 can also be moved in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of feed of the transverse wires 13 . the machine 10 also comprises a longitudinal feed unit and a transverse feed unit , not shown , respectively able to feed the longitudinal wires 12 and the transverse wires 13 , to dispose them in cooperation with the welders 14 .
each welder 14 is disposed in correspondence with the join zone between the respective longitudinal wire 12 and the relative transverse wire 13 , and comprises a first upper electrode 15 and a second lower electrode 16 . the electrodes 15 , 16 , electrically fed , allow to close , as will be described more fully hereafter , an electric circuit and therefore the passage of a current in correspondence with the wires 12 and 13 , thus determining the welding thereof .
each upper electrode 15 is selectively movable vertically in the direction of the second electrode 16 , which is fixed , and the transverse wire 13 and the longitudinal wire 12 are able to be positioned on the latter in their join position .
as we said before , the invention is also applied in the case where the upper electrode 15 is fixed and the lower electrode 16 is selectively movable .
in particular , the first electrode 15 is selectively movable between a first feed position ( see for example the position of the upper electrodes in fig . 5 a ) , in which it is raised and distanced from the second electrode 16 and allows the free feed both of the transverse wire 13 and also of the longitudinal wire 12 , and a second welding position , in which it is near to the second electrode 16 and with the latter contacts the two wires 12 and 13 ( see figs . 5 b , 5 c and 5 d discussed in detail hereafter ) .
the welding unit 17 is fed electrically by means of a three - phase system in the known star type configuration , in which all the upper electrodes 15 of the welders 14 are connected to the star ' s centre and the lower electrodes 16 of the welders 14 are connected to different phases , indicated in the drawings with the letters r , s , t of the three - phase system .
as can be seen better in figs . 5 a - d , each lower electrode 16 is connected to a respective phase r , s , t of the three - phase feed system .
the welders 14 of each triad 18 are distanced longitudinally with respect to each other by a quantity equal to the minimum pitch desired between the longitudinal wires 12 .
in particular , as can be seen for example in fig . 5 b , when all the upper electrodes 15 are activated , that is lowered on the wires 12 , 13 to be welded , the minimum pitch of the metal mesh is obtained , which can correspond , for example , to 50 mm .
the machine 10 can however assume different operating conditions , each corresponding to the production of meshes having different pitches between the longitudinal wires 12 and the transverse wires 13 . as can be seen from the drawings , in each of said operating conditions , corresponding in the case of fig . 5 c to the double pitch with respect to that of fig . 5 b , and in the case of fig . 5 d to a triple pitch , the lower electrodes 16 of the welders 14 continue to form triads of adjacent electrodes , in relation to the respective upper electrodes 15 activated , which comprise all the three phases r , s , t ( even if not in the same order ) , thus ensuring the closure of the circuit in balanced feed conditions .
as can be seen starting from fig . 5 b , in which all the upper electrodes 15 are activated in closing the respective electric circuits , the first three lower electrodes 16 form in sequence a triad r , s , t , the second three electrodes form a triad t , s , r , the third three electrodes 16 form a triad s , r , t , and so on , that is , adjacent triads of lower electrodes 16 always and in every case comprise all the phases of a triad .
looking at the situation in fig . 5 c , in which the upper electrodes 15 are activated alternately in order to double the pitch , the first three lower electrodes 16 form the triad r , t , s , the second three lower electrodes 16 form the triad s , t , r , the third form the triad t , r , s , and so on .
finally , in fig . 5 d , in which an upper electrode 15 of every three is activated in order to triple the pitch , the triads r , t , s ; s , t , r and so on are formed .
in this way , as the chosen pitch varies , each triad 18 of adjacent lower electrodes 16 , associated with the upper electrodes 15 activated , always comprises all the three phases r , s , and t .
in particular the machine 10 according to the present invention as described heretofore functions as follows .
once the desired pitch between the longitudinal wires 12 has been selected , starting from the end 19 of the mesh to be made , the upper electrodes 15 are moved into a welding position having a reciprocal distance equal to said pitch .
thus the triads 18 of welders 14 are formed , contiguous ( fig . 4 ) or not contiguous ( figs . 1 , 3 ) in which each lower electrode 16 of each welder 14 of said triads 18 is connected to a different phase r , s , t of the three - phase system .
in this welding position , the upper electrodes 15 of the triads 18 are electrically connected to the respective lower electrodes 16 . therefore the upper electrodes 15 of said triads 18 are in short circuit with the respective lower electrodes 16 . this corresponds to short circuit each phase of the three phase system with the star centre . the three - phase system of each triad 18 is therefore short circuited . consequently , for each of said triads 18 , a closed circuit is formed through which the current needed to weld the wires 12 , 13 flows .
it is clear that modifications and / or additions of parts may be made to the machine for forming a metal mesh as described heretofore , without departing from the field and scope of the present invention .
for example , it comes within the scope of the present invention to provide to use two welding units 17 for each machine 10 , disposed in a specular manner with respect to each other in order to make at least two metal meshes in parallel . this solution therefore provides to use two star type configurations of the three - phase system disposed parallel with respect to each other .
it is also clear that , although in the course of the description specific reference was made to a three - phase system , the present invention also refers to systems having phases with a different number , other than three .
the feed configuration of the lower or upper electrodes is such that , as the upper or lower electrodes activated and brought into contact with the wires to be welded vary , according to the welding pitch to be obtained , the electric circuit between the lower electrode , the wires to be welded and the upper electrode of a triad of longitudinally adjacent electrodes is closed in such a way that all three phases of the three - phase system to which the lower and the upper electrodes are connected are always present .
2 . the machine as in claim 1 , wherein the connection of the lower and upper electrodes is performed according to a star type configuration of said three - phase system .
3 . the machine as in claim 2 , wherein , in the case where the lower electrodes are respectively connected to the phases of the three - phase system , the upper electrodes are connected to the center of said star .
4 . the machine as in claim 1 , wherein the lower electrodes are fixed and the upper electrodes are selectively movable .
5 . the machine as in claim 1 , wherein the upper electrodes are fixed and the lower electrodes are selectively movable .
to selectively move all , or only some of the upper or lower electrodes , according to the welding pitch to be obtained , so that the electric circuit between the lower electrode , the wires to be welded and upper electrode of a triad of longitudinally adjacent electrodes is closed in such a manner that all three phases of the three - phase system are always present .
casting melt - holding vessels , e . g . ladles , tundishes , cups or the like for bottom pouring
a mounting chassis , fixed by locking pivots to the base plate of a tundish in a continuous casting plant , supports an upper nozzle seated in a refractory brick . a replaceable lower nozzle coaxial with the upper nozzle is held in contact with the upper nozzle by a quick - release ring .
the present invention relates to molten steel pouring methods and apparatus , in particular ( but not solely ) for supplying continuous casting moulds .
pouring apparatus constituted by refractory nozzles fixed to the base plate of the liquid steel distribution tundishes provided in continuous casting plants is known . the utility of the nozzles , whose number corresponds to that of the casting lines , lies in the determination of the casting speed which is fixed by their diameter ; this speed may nevertheless be slightly adjusted by modifying the steel level in the distribution tundishes .
it is known that the use of the continuous casting method contributes to decreasing the final cost price of iron and steel plants . for this purpose , the design of the majority of plants enables sequential casting in which the steel ladles are changed using a rotating turret and the distribution tundishes may possibly be changed
on line
without having to reset the machine according to the
dummy billet
method .
sequential casting is a major objective and is carried out in order to achieve both a saving in costs and an increase in the rate of use of the plants . however , the service life of the nozzles of distribution tundishes is a limiting factor with respect to the required performance , and the failure of a nozzle during the sequence is detrimental to production outputs . in order to remedy this drawback
on line
replacement of the steel distribution tundishes is one solution ; however , this operation is difficult in the case of plants having more than four casting lines and is accompanied by a deterioration of production outputs of the metal .
the present invention aims to remedy this difficulty by providing a particularly advantageous solution consisting in positioning , below and against the base plate of distribution tundishes , a static liquid - steel pouring device . the problem can thus be solved by the replacement , during the sequence , of a defective detachable nozzle by a new detachable nozzle .
a detachable nozzle of this type has , in respect of existing nozzles , the advantage of a considerable increase in production and an increased efficiency , enabling the achievement of performances which are normally obtained in sequential casting , whilst ensuring that the cast product has an improved quality , as this nozzle may be changed at any time when its jet becomes prematurely defective .
the discontinued casting line may then be restarted in accordance with the
dummy billet
method .
the present invention accordingly provides a static liquid steel casting method and an apparatus for carrying out the method comprising a mounting chassis positioned below and against the base plate of a distribution tundish for liquid steel , by one or a plurality of connection points , and acting as a component for retaining a liquid steel collector nozzle , inserted in a refractory seating brick of the distribution tundish , and directly below this collector nozzle and in contact with this nozzle there is coaxially disposed a regulator nozzle which is detachable with respect to the collector nozzle and is maintained against the latter by suitable means .
at least one of the nozzles mentioned above may be of monobloc or one - piece design or may be of a compound design with an insert for example of stabilised zirconium oxide or electro - fused alumina .
preferably , at least one of the nozzles has a frusto - conical external surface . however , various shapes and conicities , and different designs of the junction surfaces of the nozzles , may my envisaged . the junction surfaces are preferably constituted by an assembly of plane and curved surface elements in such a way as to advantageously enable the centering of the lower nozzle and to obtain a high degree of leak - tightness between the nozzles during the passage of the molten steel .
the two nozzles preferably have respective frusto - conical external surfaces which are orientated in opposite directions to one another . the use of a mounting having inverted conicity for the seating brick and the upper nozzle may be envisaged in the case of a cold distribution tundish enabling the upper nozzle to be mounted from the top . the lower nozzle may be of the immersed type .
the upper nozzle may be maintained against the seating brick by means of a rapid - locking fastening ring , the ring resting on the chassis . the lower nozzle may be releasably fixed against the upper nozzle by means of a rapid locking ring . the connection between the fastening ring for the upper nozzle and the lower nozzle may be provided by means of a mounting which is fixed with respect to the lower nozzle . this design enables rotation of the lower nozzle to be prevented during locking . rapid locking means include , for example , bayonet , threaded , wedge , or guide block locking means . a refractory joint , for example of ceramic fibre , may be interposed between the holding ring of the upper nozzle and the mounting supporting the lower nozzle .