IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING STEEL INGOTS
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Henry Osborne Taylor and
John Wailes at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th
September 1878.
WILLIAM HENRY OSBORNE TAYLOR, of Panteg, in the County of Monmouth,
Mechanical Engineer, and JOHN WAILES, of the same Place, Engineer.
" IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING STEEL INGOTS."
The chief object of this Invention is to economize the labour at present required
in producing steel ingots.
We also propose to improve the quality of the ingot by avoiding the tendency of
the metal to boil when run into the moulds.
This
In carrying out this Invention we use horizontal moulds, as described in the
Provisional Specification filed by one of us on the 27th August 1878. These moulds,
which consist of metal troughs, we place side by side or parallel to one another,
and in rear thereof we fit ways on which a travelling trough or gutter runs.
travelling trough is bent at right angles, at its forward end to form a spout
parallel to the moulds, and it serves to deliver into the moulds the molten metal,
which is conducted to it from an inclined stationary gutter or gutters in connection
with the furnace. The stationary gutter is so situated with respect to the
travelling gutter that the latter will be free to run under the fixed gutter, and
receive therefrom a continuous supply of the molten metal while it is presenting its
discharging mouth to the several moulds in succession. This arrangement not only
facilitates the filling of the moulds, but by filling them from the top in a broad
stream will remove all tendency which the metal has to boil in the moulds, and
will also prevent the cutting of the moulds by the falling metal.
The moulds, which will consist of open metallic troughs, may be made of any
suitable length, and by an arched block or tile inserted in the moulds the metal
poured therein will be divided up to form two ingots. For facilitating the discharge
of these ingots from the moulds we propose to place, transversely of these moulds
and near their opposite ends, cross bars of iron fitted with rough hooks or studs at
equal distances apart, and so arranged as to enter the several moulds and bed into
I Paino 077

page_text: the molten metal. These bars will be connected at their opposite ends to a
travelling crane, which, when the metal is sufficiently set to secure the connection
of the bars with the ingots will be caused to lift the bars, and thereby draw out the
ingots from the moulds. The strain thus put on the opposite ends of the castings
will cause them to break in the line of the block or tile, and the ingots will
then hang perpendicularly in the air, and may be delivered on to any suitable
receptacle.
In some cases we place a rectangular metal lifting strap with eyes at its
extremities inside the moulds, and at such position that it will embrace the ingot
to be cast at about the middle of its length. This strap fits close to the inside of
the mould, and is covered over with clay, loam, brick, or other substance to prevent
the fusion of the metal; this permits of the lifting out of the ingot horizontally by
connecting lifting chains with the strap, and when the strap is disengaged from the
chain it may readily be separated from. the ingot.
In order to prevent any irregularity in the form of the ingot the ingot mould
may be recessed to admit the strap, and the joints may be made good by clay
loam.
In some cases we propose to make the moulds of the length of the ingot desired,
and to set two of such moulds end to end, making good the butt joints by means of
clay puddle. The metal cast in such jointed moulds will when lifted out of the
moulds by the means above described break at the middle of their length or at a
point coincident with the line of junction with the moulds, and the ingots will then
hang from the lifting bars as explained. This mode of clearing the moulds of the
ingots will greatly economize the labour at present required for performing such
duty, as the handling of the moulds and the ingots for this purpose is entirely
avoided.