Pressure casting apparatus with two-part moulds for sanitary appliances

Abstract: An apparatus for pressure casting sanitary appliances, comprising an outer framework (1), at least one block (8) slidable within said framework (1) and comprising a male mould part (102) and a female mould (101) part, a fixed endpiece (2) of said framework (1) being provided with that male part (102) which is to be inserted into the female part (101) of said at least one block (8), a movable head (130) of said framework (1) being provided with that female mould part (101) which is to receive the male part (102) of said at least one block (8), means (13) for thrusting said movable head (130) in the direction of said fixed endpiece (2), and means for feeding pressurized slip into the cavities which form when said blocks (8) are positioned one against the other, at least that mould portion comprising the cavity of the female mould part (101) being surrounded by at least one frame (81), between which and said portion there being defined a space occupied by at least one inflatable element (12) fed with pressurized fluid.

Description: This invention relates to pressure casting lines for sanitary appliances, in particular lines for forming sanitary appliances with moulds comprising only two parts, known, for instance, from EP-A-0 332 896. Sanitary appliances are formed by casting slip in hygroscopic and/or permeable moulds, which can comprise two or more parts depending on the complexity of the appliance to be formed. Plaster moulds have been traditionally used, the absorbent power of the plaster being utilized to dehydrate the ceramic slip. However the use of this type of mould involves very lengthy forming cycles. Moreover plaster moulds last for only a small number of forming cycles. For these reasons manufacturers have devised porous resin moulds possessing much better mechanical characteristics than plaster moulds, with the result that pressure casting techniques can be used, in which the slip is fed generally at a pressure of between 3 and 15 bar. To counteract the forces generated by the pressurized slip in a direction perpendicular to the contact surfaces between the various mould parts, resin moulds have to be clamped by special sophisticated closure devices of high cost. For this purpose, machines are known which exert a mould clamping force, in the mould closure direction, which is sufficient to counteract the force exerted by the internal mould pressure at any time. These moulds are stressed not only in their closure direction but also in directions perpendicular to the closure direction, hence they have to comprise lateral reinforcement structures the purpose of which is to limit their outward deformation. Said structures generally comprise adjustable means enabling the mould sides to be precompressed. This enables mould deformation to be reduced with consequent increase in its strength, both because resin withstands compression better than tension, and because the deformation imposed on the mould, being opposite to that caused by the slip pressure, at least partly nullifies the effects, so limiting the tensions within the mould during casting. Notwithstanding said adjustable means in the form of lateral reinforcements, the maximum usable casing pressure remains limited, in the known art, by the deformation which the mould undergoes as a result of the stresses to which it is subjected. The deformation induced by the casting pressure also depends on the shape of the piece to be formed. In this respect, for certain types of appliances the mould is subjected, in certain parts, to very high stresses which on the one hand can cause premature mould fracture and on the other hand produce considerable tensions within the appliance being formed. These tensions result in fracture of the appliance either during its removal from the mould or during one of the subsequent processing stages, ie drying and firing. Consequently, in forming the aforesaid types of appliances, the casting pressure used must not be too high, so increasing the forming time. To increase the casting pressure, manufacturers have provided increasingly rigid lateral containment structures, in order to limit the outward deformation of the mould. However, even if a theoretically (infinitely) rigid lateral containment structure were possible, it would not completely solve the problem because of the compressibility of the resin with which the moulds are made. In this respect, even if outward deformation of the mould were completely prevented, the forming cavity would expand because of the casting pressure, so elastically contracting the resin forming the mould walls. Elastic contraction of the mould walls results in substantial problems on removing the appliance from the mould, in that when the casting pressure ceases, the walls return to their original volume to consequently clamp the appliance within the forming cavity. An object of this invention is to overcome the aforesaid drawbacks within the framework of a rational, reliable and relatively low-cost solution. This and further objects are attained by providing an apparatus for pressure casting sanitary appliances according to claim 1 by moulds comprising only two parts, namely a male part and a female part penetrated by this latter. In the casting apparatus of the invention, the moulds are positioned in series, and formed into blocks composed of the female part of one mould and that male part which is to be inserted into the female part of the adjacent block. When the male part of one block is inserted into the female part of the next block, the mould closure forces are compensated between one mould and the next along the forming line which has therefore to counteract only the closure force of a single mould, whatever the number of its constituent moulds. The line construction is therefore light and economical, practically without limitation on the number of moulds present therein. Those forces directed perpendicular to the mould closure direction are compensated, according to the invention, by an external frame comprising means able to exert from the outside a pressure on the mould which is close, moment by moment, to that which the slip exerts on it from the inside, so as to prevent, moment by moment, any deformation thereof. The pressure exerted by said means can be conveniently controlled to above or below the casting pressure, to allow small deformations of desired extent, convenient in forming the piece and removing it from the mould. Said means able to exert a pressure on the outer lateral surface of the mould are at least one element, which surrounds at least that lateral surface of the block corresponding to the forming cavity, and can be inflated by a suitable fluid. The special characteristics of the Invention are defined in the claims. The invention will be more apparent from the ensuing description of a preferred embodiment thereof described with the aid of the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 is a partly sectional side view of the invention. Figure 2 is a section on the plane II-II of Figure 1. Figure 3 is a section through a variant of the invention, taken on a plane parallel to the plane II-II. Figures 2 show the apparatus 1, comprising two endpieces 2 and 3, each of which comprises in an upper central position a flange 4 for fixing it to a beam 5 of I cross-section. The two endpieces 2 and 3 are connected together by four identical parallel bars 6 positioned at the vertices of a quadrilateral as shown in Figure 2. The beam 5 is arranged to support the blocks 100, each composed of the female part 101 of one mould, on the rear of which there is fixed by usual flanges 7 the male part 102 of the adjacent mould. In detail, each block 100 is supported by the beam 5 via a carriage 8, which is suspended from the beam 5 by wheels 9 which enable it to traverse in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the beam 5. Each carriage 8 comprises an upper plate 80 to which the wheels 9 are fixed, arid which lowerly supports a rectangular frame 81. The purpose of the frame 81 is to contain the female part 101 of the block 100, an inflatable element 12 being interposed between the outer wall of the female part 101 and the inner wall of the frame 81. The inflatable element 12 is fed with a liquid or gaseous fluid from a usual system, not shown, which maintains the fluid pressure in the element 12 equal, moment by moment, to the pressure exerted by the slip inside the cavity which forms when two blocks 100 are brought into contact to copenetrate. The endpiece 2 carries a male mould part 102 aligned with the suspended blocks 100, whereas the endpiece 3 supports a cylinder-piston unit 13 connected to a slidable thrust head 130 carrying a female mould part 101, and arranged to maintain the blocks 100 in contact with each other and with said male part 102. Figure 3 shows a variant of the invention which differs from the preceding with regard to the shape of the frame, indicated in Figure 3 by the reference number 810, surrounding the female part 101 of the block 100. In this case the frame 810 is circular instead of rectangular. This enables the frame to be constructed with a very small thickness, preferably of between 4 and 50 mm, as the frame has to support only tensile stresses and not bending stresses. The invention operates as follows. With reference to Figure 1, the operator moves the first carriage 8 on the left against the male part 102 fixed to the endpiece 2, so that this becomes inserted into the female part 101 of the block. The operator proceeds in the same manner with all the remaining blocks, and finally operates the cylinder-piston unit 13 to urge the movable head 130 to axially lock all the blocks 100 against each other and against the endpiece 2. Having thus closed the moulds, he injects the pressurized slip into the various moulds and inflates the elements 12 to a pressure equal to the pressure of the slip inside the moulds. In this manner, the forces due to the casting pressure in directions parallel to the mould closure plane are nullified. It should be noted that for some appliances, the pressure introduced into the interior of the inflatable element could be different from the instantaneous pressure of the slip in order to introduce into the mould controlled deformations which, on disappearing when the pressure ceases, facilitate removal of the appliance from the mould. On termination of the forming operation, all the aforelisted operations are effected in the reverse order, to enable the pieces to be removed from the moulds. From the description it is apparent that the frames 81 and 810 are dimensioned not for rigidity but to withstand the pressure exerted by the inflatable elements 12. This means that frames can be constructed which are much lighter for equal efficiency. The invention can also be usefully applied if a single sanitary appliance is to be formed at a time. In this case the blocks 100 are dispensed with, and the thrust head 130 carries fixed to it the mould part 101 which, on receiving the mould part 102 rigid with the endpiece 2, creates the single forming cavity. In this latter case it could be convenient to arrange the apparatus in a vertical position with the movable head 130 positioned at the top, the remainder remaining unchanged. Finally, instead of a single frame 81 or 810, several frames could be used side by side.

Claims: An apparatus for pressure casting sanitary appliances, comprising an outer framework, at least one block slidable within said framework and comprising a male mould part (102) and a female mould part (101), a fixed endpiece of said framework being provided with that male part which is to be inserted into the female part of said at least one block, a movable head of said framework being provided with that female mould part which is to receive the male part of said at least one block, means for thrusting said movable head in the direction of said fixed endpiece, and means for feeding pressurized slip into the cavities which form when said blocks are positioned one against the other, characterised in that at least that mould portion comprising the cavity of the female mould part is surrounded by at least one frame, between which and said portion there being defined a space occupied by at least one inflatable element (12) fed with pressurized fluid. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that no blocks are provided, the male part of the fixed endpiece hence being inserted into the female part of the movable head. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the pressure inside the element is adjustable. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the pressure inside said at least one inflatable element is maintained, moment by moment, equal to the slip pressure. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the pressure inside said at least one inflatable element is maintained, moment by moment, at a pressure which is predetermined on the basis of the slip pressure. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the means for thrusting the movable head are a cylinder-piston unit arranged to exert a thrust at least equal to that exerted by the slip fed into the mould. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that said frame is of polygonal section. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that said frame is cylindrical. An apparatus as claimed in claims 1 and 8, characterised in that , when assembled, the mould has a cylindrical outer shape.

Inventors: RIVOLA PIETRO, RIVOLA, PIETRO, Rivola, Pietro SACMI - Coop. Meccanici Imola -
Applicants: SACMI, SACMI COOPERATIVA MECCANICI IMOLA SOC. COOP. A R.L.
Application year: 2000
Main classification: B28B1
IPC codes: B28B1