Patent GB-190708606-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Apparatus for Casting, Cooling and Trimming Curved Stereotypes.
Inventor: LOCK WILLIAM HENRY
Filed: 1907-04-13
Granted: 1908-04-09
Abstract: 8606. Lock, W. H., and Harris, J. J. B. April 13. Stereotype.-A manuallyoperated apparatus for casting, cooling, and trimming curved stereotype plates comprises a central metal pot 1, in this case square, having on each of its faces a drag or shell 3, each of which is adapted to cooperate successively with a series of copes 5 secured to a turret 4 turning on ball bearings about a column 7. Each column 7 engages flanged guides 16 along which it is moved, to insert the cope 5 in the drag 3, by an arm 20, which engages a rod 21 in the centre of the column, shaft 19, and hand-lever 18. Each turret 4 is rotated by handles 11 and is locked in successive positions by a spring stud 12. The matrix 23 is preferably provided on one side with two bolsters 43, 46, and is secured in the drag by a clamp comprising two angle. bars 24, 25, the former of which is pivoted on a stud 26 and is provided with a spring 27 with bends to turn the clamp into the dotted position of Fig. 4. The clamp is secured to the drag for the purpose of setting the matrix by a latch 29. The clamping-bar 25 is formed with a groove 44 which fits over the bolster 46 and is actuated to clamp the matrix by eccentrics 35 on two studs 36, suitably linked together and operated by handles 41. After the matrix has properly adjusted itself after the first cast, it is further clamped up and the clamp bar 25 secured by a pin passed into a hole 38. The matrix is further secured by an incline on the cope, which, when the latter is in the casting position, bears on the clamp bar 25. The clamps are returned from the dotted position of Fig. 4 to the casting position by projections on the cope. Each mould is closed at the bottom by a rib 50 formed on the cope and a toothed plate of hard metal 52, between which molten metal flows into the mould. The mould is closed at the top by a semicircle 53 provided with lugs 55 which engage in vertical dovetail slots 56 in the face of the cope, and provided with ports for the escape of air. The position of the semicircle 53 is determined by screws 58<a> which pass through the lugs 55. The metal is conveyed from the pot 1 by a pipe which projects up from the bottom thereof, thus avoiding the hottest metal and the consequent charring of the matrix. After a plate has been cast, the turret is moved along the ways 16 away from the drag, the pivoted clamps stripping the matrix from the plate, and is unlocked and rotated to bring the new plate to the trimming mechanism and the next cope into co-operation with the drag. The trimming mechanism comprises two knives 63, respectively for severing the riser and valve slug, mounted in hand-operated blocks 64 which slide in curved guides 65 carried by a frame 66 movable to and away from the turret by means of a hand-lever 68, shaft 69, and arm 70, or by cams on the turret. The knives are double edged to cut in both directions. The thickness of the upper block is equal to the width of a news column, and the knife may be secured either to the top or the bottom. The turret is then further rotated to bring the trimmed plate to the front, in which position the semicircle 53 is raised to release the plate by a hand-lever 77 pivoted at 76 on a lever 72 which engages the head of a bolt 58<a>. The plate is simultaneously pushed off the cope by fingers 78, and is prevented from falling by a spring strap 81. Each drag is cooled by a stream of water at a temperature of about 173‹ F., a cock being provided to regulate the flow. All the copes on one turret are cooled by circulation of water at a temperature of about 68‹ F., as shown in Fig. 15. The water is forced by a pump through flexible piping 93 into a chamber 91 and through pipes 84 to the bottom of each cope, from which it is discharged by pipes 85 provided with cocks 88 into a chamber inside the turret. It thence passes up through a pipe 87 back to the tank, suitable stuffing-boxes 92 being provided to allow of the rotation of the turret.