Patent GB-190225064-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Casting Machines.
Inventor: CLINE FRED NELSON
Filed: 1902-11-14
Granted: 1903-04-16
Abstract: 25,064. Cline, F. N. Nov. 14. Casting foundry ladles; castings.-A casting- machine has a series of moulds 3 mounted upon an endless chain 2, passing round two horizontal wheels 1, above each of which is a casting-ladle 4 provided with three or other number of spouts whence the molten metal is delivered into as many moulds. The wheels 1 are driven intermittently by worm-wheels 8 and worms 7, carried by a shaft 6 provided with a friction-cintch, the members of which are normally forced apart by a spring. The clutch lever is pivoted to the ends of two links which extend from the clutch mechanism to two foot-levers situated near the casting-ladles and under the control of the operatives working near the ladles. In order to throw the clutch into operation, it is necessary that each foot-lever should be depressed. In the casting-machine shown in Figs. 1 and 4, there are three spouts to each ladle, and, after the moulds have been set in motion, it is neccessary to stop them, after the chain 2 has travelled through a distance equal to that represented by three moulds ; this is effected automatically by means of a rotary disc making one rotation for every three rotations of shaft 6, and formed with a pheripheral notch which engages with a projection on the clutch-operating shoe. The links which actuate the clutch lever are returned by the action of springs, but, to prevent the premature action of these springs, the links may be locked, until the rotation of the wheels 1 has commenced, by means of catches controlled by the rotary disc employed for stopping the moulds. The moulds are in two vertical halves hinged together and, as they approach the casting-spouts, are closed by a spring bar 116 which presses upon the outer half of each mould. During the casting process, the moulds are firmly held closed by shoes 64 carried by levers 65 pivoted at 66 and rocked by rods 73, arms 71, and sliding rods 35. Springs 75 extend between the levers 65 and nuts 76 on the rods 73. The bar 116 is preferably secured to the central shoe. The rods 35 are actuated by means of a toggle mechanism and a cam mounted on, and driven by, the clutch mechanism. After leaving the wheels 1, the chain is supported by rails 120 which serve as tracks for small pulleys 119 mounted on the moulds. Each ladle 4 is supported by a sector-shaped frame 133 pivoted about the column 130 which carries the corresponding wheel 1 and is provided with roller bearings 80 resting upon the upper surface of the wheel. Roller bearings are also fitted in brackets 77 projecting from the base-piece 10, and help to support the wheel 1. By means of a handle 81, the ladle can be oscillated so as to bring one of its spouts successively over the three contiguous funnels of a filler 84, and therefore fill three moulds from one spout only, as may be necessary if the other spouts are clogged. Each spout is provided with a graphite stopper 95 mounted on a pivoted lever 86 which can be operated separately by a loose cam 90, or operated together with the other spout levers by collars fixed on the cams. The moulds may be opened, after receiving molten metal, by means of a spring bar which presses against projections 97 on the hinged halves, and the stripping of the castings may be ensured by the action of a spring-controlled hammer-bar 100 adapted to strike the moulds as they pass. The ladles are preferably heated by means of oil or gas burners supplied with compressed air, the gases of combustion circulating through flues in the walls of the ladles. Molten metal is supplied periodically from a melting-furnace 146 situated between the wheels 1 and provided with discharge spouts which are diametrically opposite.