IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND CONSTRUC TION OF CORES AND CORE BARS USED IN THE PRODUCTION OF HOLLOW: CASTINGS IN IRON AND OTHER METALS."
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Archibald Slate, of. Woodside Iron Works,
near Dudley, in the County of Worcester, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND CONSTRUC
TION OF CORES AND CORE BARS USED IN THE PRODUCTION OF HOLLOW:
CASTINGS IN IRON AND OTHER METALS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Archibald Slate
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd October 1852..
I, ARCHIBALD SLATE, of Dudley, in the County of Worcester, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND CONSTRUCTION OF CORES
AND CORE BARS USED IN THE PRODUCTION OF HOLLOW CASTINGS IN IRON AND
OTHER METALS" to be as follows:-
A méthod or methods of constructing core bars of iron or other
metal, capable of being expanded and contracted, so as to dispense
with the necessity for the use of liay bands or other similar materials.
To construct a core bar with the above properties of a small length,
I make a cylinder or ring of metal of unequal thickness, similar to
a piston ring, and from the side I project an arm to the centre;
through the centre of this arm the spindle passes. Attached to the said
arm or spindle are certain mechanical contrivances, whereby the ring

page_text: is expanded, and a V piece or make up piece inserted between the
separated ends of the expanded ring, making the bar complete and fit
for its coating of loam. When the pipe or other article is cast and the
the bar requires to be withdrawn the same mechanical contrivances
above mentioned retire the V piece and contract the bar or ring.
If the bar is required to be of greater length than is convenient to be
used in one ring, then I employ two or more rings, and fix to them
longitudinal plates or bars (three or more), like barrel staves, the said
plates or staves forming the exterior of the bar to receive the loam and
the V piece being as long as the plates or staves.
In cases where it is necessary to have greater expansion or contrac-
tion of the rings than can be conveniently obtained within the elastic
limit of the metal employed, then in such case I make the rings in
several pieces (three or more) and join them with hinge joints, so con-
structed that they will not allow the ring to expand to the full size
required, but will allow it to expand to a point within the elastic limit
of the metal of the rings, or so much further as it may be considered
expedient, in order to diminish the use of the elastic element in the
rings, the mechanical contrivances for contraction and expansion
remaining as before, or being varied in detail, to be shewn in a
complete Specification.
A second method is as follows:-Having made the spindle of the core
bar, I fix thercon two or more conical drums or centres, each conical
centre having an independent adjustment for regulating its position on
the spindle; and I also place on the bottom end of the spindle a plate or
cross having two bars attached to it, which reach to the top end of the
spindle, to which they are secured by a cotter or screws. I then take.
three or more plates or staves with half check or overlap joints of such
width as is required; these plates form the exterior of the core bar, and
have on their interior surface the segments of cones corresponding to
the cones or drunis on the spindle, also capable of independent adjust-
ment. I place these plates or staves on the cross at the bottom of the
spindle, and attach them to the spindle by certain mechanical means,
whereby they are retained from expanding or being pressed out by the
action of the cones beyond the size required for the core bar, and also
contracted when required. I then apply the cotter or screws above-

page_text: named, which draw the cross up the spindle, carrying the plates with it,
and the cones on the spindle and segments on the plates coming in con-
tact, the plates are expanded as far as the above-named mechanical
means will allow. When the casting is made and the core bar requires
to be withdrawn, the cotter or screws are loosened, and the crane being
applied to the end of the spindle draws up the cones fixed thereon and
allows the plates to contract so as to come out of the casting.
A third method is as follows:-Having prepared the spindle, cones,
crop, &c. as before, in place of using half check or overlap joints in the
plates or staves, I connect the plates with hinge joints or elastic mate
rial, such as steel, except at one joint, where they are not connected, so
that the action of the cones in expanding the bar causes all the opening
at the one joint above-named; and I make this joint half check or
overlap, or I fill up the opening with a V piece, as named in the first
method, or by a hinged piece. The detail and various relative mecha-
nical arrangements for carrying into effect the said several methods I
will more fully illustrate and explain in a complete Specification.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Archibald Slate in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 20th April 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ARCHIBALD SLATE, of Woodside Iron Works, near Dudley, in the
County of. Worcester, Civil Engineer, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-second day of
October, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Archibald Slate, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege, and autho-
rity, that I, the said Archibald Slate, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Archibald Slate, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years

page_text: therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
"THE MANUFACTURE AND CONSTRUCTION OF CORES AND CORE BARS, USED IN
THE PRODUCTION OF HOLLOW CASTINGS IN IRON AND OTHER METALS," in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Archi-
bald Slate, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
'instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her
"said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
"Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.
i
NOW KNOW YE, 'that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Archibald Slate; do hereby declare that the nature of my Inven-
tion, and the manner of performing the same, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and Figures
marked thereon (that is to say):
My Invention consists of certain methods of constructing cores or
core bars of iron or other metal, which, on the application of power to
an internal shaft or spindle, may be turned on the pivot of such shaft
or spindle, and contracted and expanded within the mould, so as to be
placed in and taken out of the mould as readily as an ordinary core
bar, the use of hay bands or other consumable materials being thus
rendered unnecessary. And in order that my Invention may be fully
understood, I will proceed to describe the arrangements which I
employ.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1, shews a vertical section of a core bar.
Figure 2, a plan of the upper end, and
Figure 3, a plan of the lower end of the same core bar.
Figures 4, 5, and 6, shew plans of variations of gear applied to the
same core bars.
Having prepared a centre bar, Figure 1, a, a, I fix on the bar the
three rings b, b, b, having projecting arms c, c, c, through which the

page_text: FL
centre bar passes; on the bottom of the same bar I fix the base plate
or ring d; through holes bored in the three arms c, c, c, I pass the shaft
e, e, and on this shaft I fix three cranks fff; to these cranks I attach
the connecting rods 9, 9, 9; these connecting rods are also attached to
the V piece h,h, and to the stretching bars h, k,k. This connection
may be made in three different ways, as shewn in Plans 2, 5, and 6.
Outside the 3 rings I place a covering or casing of iron having an
opening opposite the V piece or filling up pièce; this covering
casing may either be a homogenious ring or in several pieces, con-
nected, as may be desirable, as indicated in Figures 2, 5, and 6. The
core bar, Figure 1, is shewn in a state of expansion, ready to be coated
with loam; when coated with loam in the usual way it is placed in the
inould, and after the inetal has been poured it is contracted and drawn
out as follows:Having disengaged the catch 1, from the top of the
shaft e, e, I apply a lever to the top of the shaft and turn it with its
three cranks f, ff, which act upon the connecting rods g, 9, 9, and
through them withdraw the V or filling up piece from its position in
the ring, and at the same time acting upon the expanding bars k, k, l,
causes them to contract the ring till the vacancy or space left by the
withdrawal of the V or filling up piece is closed and the diameter
reduced in a proportionate ratio. The core bar is then in a condition
to be withdrawn from the mould, and it becomes again ready for
coating with loam on the V or filling up piece being replaced by turning
the shaft E, E, in the opposite direction. .
.
Figure 4, shows in plan a method by which the expansion and con-
traction of the bar may be effected by a inovement of the centre-shaft
or spindle. In this case three eccentrics are required to be used oppo-
site each ring, in place of the one crank in Figure 1; on the other hand.
one shaft or spindle is all that is required.
Figure 7, shews another plan by which the expansion and contrac-
tion of the bar may be effected by one eccentric on the centre spindle
or shaft opposite each ring; this plan dispenses with the V or filling up
pièce. When the centre shaft a, is turned the eccentric b, acts through
the connecting rod d, upon the folding pieces or bars c, c, in the peri-
phery of the ring, and at the same time through the joints e, e, on the
other side of the shaft upon the expanding bars f,f, attached to the

page_text: ring. The action of expanding and contracting the bar is the same as
described as to Figure 1.
Figure 8, shews another plan of effecting the same object by turning
the centre shaft or spindle; in this method the outside casing may be in
one piece or hinged, and from this casing arms a, a, are projecting as
from the rings in Figure 1. In the end of these arms is a centre,
through which the shaft or spindle passes, having a provision so as to
allow the centre to shift in the expanding and contracting of the bar.
On this centre spindle are placed two or more rings b, b, and on these
rings are three or more arms c, c, c, which act on an equal number of
projections d, d, d, fixed on the inside of the casing; on the top of this
shaft is fixed an arm e, having a swivel joint in its end f, in which is
fixed a rivett through which passes a screw g, the other end of which
screw is fixed on a swivel bearing h, on the arm a, projecting from the
casing. The Drawing shews the bar expanded, ready to be coated with
loam, the retaining link i, preventing the action of the screw from
forcing it beyond the proper point. When the contraction is desired,
the screw 9, is caused to revolve, so as to separate the swivel joints f,
and h; this causes the centre shaft to revolve in such a direction that the
cams c, c, c, cease to be in contact with the projecting parts d, d, d, and
the support being thereby withdrawn from the interior of the casing
no obstacle is presented, the casing overlapping at the point K, and
contracting so far as to allow of its being withdrawn from the mould.
Figure 9, shews in section a method for causing the core bar to
expand and contract by a vertical movement of the centre spindle or
shaft. The outside casing is made in one piece, or in several pieces
joined into one, as shewn in Figures 12, and 16, and having one overlap
joint. This casing rests on a plate or cross a, fixed on the bottom of the
spindle b, this plate or cross being the same size as the core bar when
contracted. Fixed into this plate or cross are two rods C, C, which pass
up to a cross bar d, on the other end of the core bar. In the centre of
the plate or cross at the one end and the cross bar at the other end of
the spindle are bored centres, through which the spindle passes. On
the spindle are placed two or more drums or cones c, e, e, having inde-
pendant adjusting screws and springs, so as properly to regulate the
pressure upon the projecting pieces f,f,f,f, on the internal surface of

page_text: the casing when the core is expanded, and when in this position the
spindle carrying the cones is retained in its place by a cotter g, driven
through the cross bar attached to the two rods at the upper end of the
spindle. The core bar in Figure 9, is shewn in a state of expansion;
when it is required to contract, the bars drive out the cotter g, and attach
the crane to the eye h, on the top of the spindle; the action of withdraw-
ing it causes the centre spindle b, to slide upwards through the centres
in the cross plate a, and cross bar d, carrying with it the conical rings or
drums e, e, e, thereby removing them from contact with the projecting
pieces fff, inside the case; while at the same time the rollers i, i, i, in
the arms of the rings or drums, acting upon the bars k, k, k, fixed to the
internal part of the casing, cause the core bar to contract and overlap.
at the joint, so that it can be easily withdrawn from the moulds.
Figure 10, shews in section a method which, so far as regards the
case is concerned, is the same as shown in the plan in Figure 8, having
a cross plate at the bottom, as in Figure 9. The expansion and contrac-
tion of this core bar is produced by a vertical motion of a case placed
round the spindle, carrying cones with adjustments, as in Figure 9,
which act in the same manner on projecting pieces placed inside the
casing; the case is retained from opening too far by a link, as in
Figure S.
Figures 13, and 17, show a top and bottom plan of the same core
bar. When it is desired to contract this bar the spindle is caused to
revolve in the box screw at the top connected with the casing carrying
the cones, and in its centre in the cross bar at the bottom; this action
of the centre bar causes the box screw or nutt with the casing to rise,
carrying with it the spindle casing and cones, which action removes the
cones from contact with the projecting pieces inside the case or bar, and
allows it to overlap and contract as far as is necessary to permit the core
to be withdrawn from the mould.
Figure 11, shews a vertical section; Figures 14, and 18, a top and
bottom plan; and Figure 15, a horizontal section of another method of
expanding and contracting a core bar, being a core similar to Figures.
8, and 10, but with such arrangements as to allow the contraction to
take place without overlapping by the withdrawal of a filling up piece
from the periphery of the core; the withdrawal of this filling up piece,

page_text: as shewn in section, Figure 15, being effected by the vertical motion of
the central bar or spindle. In Figure 11, the bar is sliewn in a state of
expansion. To contract the bar turn the box screw or nutt a, working.
on the centre spindle b, and secured in the frame c; this will cause the
spindle to descend and the frame with the casing to rise, by which action
the rollers d, d, d, in the filling up piece e, will move to the end of the.
curved grooves ff, f, nearer to the centre of the bar, and so cause the:
filling up pièce to retire from the periphery of the case and leave a space
which will allow of sufficient contraction for the purpose described.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner.
of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim
as my Invention is, the manufacture or construction of cores or core
bars for the production of hollow castings in iron and other metals, in
the manner herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Archibald Slate, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-three..