IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED WHEN MAKING MOULDS FOR CASTING. METALS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Canham, of Ray Street, Clerkenwell, in the
County of Middlesex, Ironfounder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED WHEN MAKING MOULDS FOR CASTING.
METALS."
Sealed the 26th November 1866, and dated the 28th May 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Canham at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
May 1866.
I, RICHARD CANHAM, of Ray Street, Clerkenwell, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Ironfounder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED WHEN MAKING MOULDS
FOR CASTING METALS," to be as follows:-
The Invention has for its object improvements. in machinery or apparatus
employed when making moulds for casting metals, by which facility is afforded
for turning over the flasks or mould boxes, and for removing them from the
pattern plate. For these purposes I employ apparatus consisting of forks or

page_text: supports in which the flask or mould box is supported, such forks or supports
being formed on or affixed to the ends of axes, to which rotary motion may be
given when it is desired to turn over or reverse the flask or mould box, but
which at other times are held from rotating by a stop or stops taking into
suitable recesses formed in a wheel fixed to one of such axes, or by other
suitable means. The pattern plate is brought into position under the lower
half of the flask or mould box, to which it is then secured by suitable catches
or fastenings, and after filling the mould box with loam or sand, which is
pressed down or rammed in the usual manner, the lower half of the mould
box and the pattern plate fixed thereto are reversed or turned over by being
partially rotated on the axes carrying the forks or supports to which the
mould box is secured; a table is then raised until it comes against the under
side of the mould box, and in doing so the table, being provided with a
suitable universal motion, becomes adjusted exactly to the plane of the mould
box; the table is then fixed by screws or other suitable means in position, so
that when the frame to which the table is fixed is lowered, the lower half of
the mould box after having been disconnected from the pattern plate by the
withdrawal of the catches or fastenings will leave the pattern in a direction
parallel thereto, thereby greatly facilitating the production of a clean mould.
The pattern plate is supported whilst the mould box is being removed there-
from by being secured to the upper half of the mould box, as previously
described with reference to the lower half thereof. The table is then slided
forward on suitable guides in position for the mould box to be readily removed
by the workmen, after which the table is returned to its original position in
readiness for another operation. When the upper half of the mould box,
which is carried on the same axes and in a similar manner to that described
for the lower half thereof, has been filled with loam or sand, pressed or
rammed therein as usual, it is reversed or turned over, and the mould box is
lowered away from the pattern plate, as previously described, for the lower
half of the mould box.
The apparatus which I prefer to employ to carry the forks or supports in
which the flask or mould box is supported, and the table on which the
mould box is received after the ramming has been effected, consists of a modi-
fication of a previous Patent granted to me, and dated April 21st, 1865,
No. 1122. The arms carrying the forks or supports for the mould box are
carried by a cylinder, in the interior of which is a rod or chain which is
attached to the frame carrying the table for receiving the flask or mould box
after the ramming has been effected, such frame being guided on the exterior

page_text: of the cylinder. The arms carrying the forks or supports for the mould box
may, however, be capable of rising upon the cylinder away from the table,
and the table may be a fixture upon the cylinder.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Canham in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th November 1866.
.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
CANHAM, of Ray Street, Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, Iron-
founder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Canban, Her special licence that I, the said Richard Canham,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Richard Canham, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term 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, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED WHEN MAKING MOULDS FOR CASTING
METALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard
Canham, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said Richard Canham, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
The Invention has for its object improvements in machinery or apparatus
employed when making moulds for casting metals, by which facility is afforded
for turning over the flasks or mould boxes, and for removing them from the

page_text: pattern plate.
For these purposes I employ apparatus consisting of forks or
supports in which the flask or mould box is supported, such forks or supports
being formed on or affixed to, the ends of axes to which rotary motion may be
given when it is desired to turn over or reverse the flask or mould box, but which
at other times are held from rotating by a stop or stops taking into suitable
recesses formed in a wheel fixed to one of such axes, or by other suitable
means. The pattern plate is brought into position under the lower half of the
flask or mould box, to which it is then secured by suitable catches or fastenings,
and after filling the mould box with loam or sand which is pressed down or
rammed in the usual manner the lower half of the mould box and the
pattern plate fixed thereto are reversed or turned over by being partially
rotated on the axes carrying the forks or supports to which the mould box is
secured; a table is then raised until it comes against the under side of the
mould box, and in doing so the table being provided with a suitable universal
motion becomes adjusted exactly to the plane of the mould box; the table is
then fixed by screws or other suitable means in position, so that when the
frame to which the table is fixed is lowered the lower half of the mould box
after having been disconnected from the pattern plate by the withdrawal of
the catches or fastenings will leave the pattern in a direction parallel thereto,
thereby greatly facilitating the production of a clean mould. The pattern
plate is supported whilst the mould box is being removed therefrom by being
secured to the upper half of the mould box, as previously described with
reference to the lower half thereof. The table is then slided forward on
suitable guides in position for the mould box to be readily removed by the
workmen, after which the table is returned to its original position in readiness
for another operation. When the upper half of the mould box, which is
carried on the same axes and in a similar mauner to that described for the
lower half thereof, has been filled with loam or sand, pressed or rammed
therein as usual, it is reversed or turned over, and the mould box is lowered
away from the pattern plate, as previously described, for the lower half of the
mould box.
The apparatus which I prefer to employ to carry the forks or supports in
which the flask or mould box is supported, and the table on which the mould
box is received after the ramming has been effected, consists of a modification
of a previous Patent granted to me, and dated April 21, 1865, No. 1122.
The arms carrying the forks or supports for the mould box are carried by a
cylinder, in the interior of which is a rod or chain which is attached to the
frame carrying the table for receiving the flask or mould box after the

page_text: ramming bas been effected, such frame being guided on the exterior of the
cylinder. The arms carrying the forks or supports for the mould box may,
however, be capable of rising upon the cylinder away from the table, and the
table may be a fixture upon the cylinder.
And in order that my Invention may be more fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed, aided by the accompanying Drawings, more
fully to describe the same.
fully to describe the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a sectional side view; Figure 2 is a front view; and
Figure 3 is a sectional plan shewing apparatus constructed according to my
Invention.
a, a, are axes mounted in bearings carried by brackets 6 fixed to a cross
bar or girder c secured to the cylinder d, by which facility of adjustment is
afforded to different sizes of boxes. If desired the brackets and cross bar or
girder c may be formed in one, and the axes a may then be capable of sliding
through their bearings in order to afford facility for adjustment to different
sizes of boxes. The axes a are provided with forks a', a', to receive the,
bandles of the mould boxes; or when employing small mould boxes, as shewn
in the Drawings, they may be supported on the projections a', a³, and securely
fastened thereto by books or catches a³, as, acting upon the handles e', e¹, uf,
the mould boxes e, e, or upon other suitable part thereof. When a half box
(say the lower half) has been placed in position and connected to the
axes a, a, the pattern platef having a part of the pattern mounted on each
side thereof, as is now well understood, is brought under the half mould box,
and by catches or turnbuttons f' fixed thereto it is connected to the mould
box; the mould is then formed by ramming the mould box with loam or sand.
in the usual manner; when the half mould box is turned half round, so as to be
reversed in position, the other half box is then connected to the axes a and,
to the pattern plate f in a similar manner to that described with respect
to the first half box. The table g is now raised until its surface touches the
under side of the lower half of the mould box, and becomes correctly adjusted
to the plane of the mould box, the universal joint g' allowing the table to
swivel in any direction for that purpose; the table g is then fixed in the
desired position by turning the hand wheel h, on the axis of which is a worin
or screw taking into the screw wheel i, the interior of which is formed into a
nut which works upon the rod or bolt j to tighten it, and thereby prevent
motion to the table g. The pattern platef is then disconnected from the

page_text: lower half of the mould box which is now supported on the table
and the
table g is lowered away from the pattern plate in any suitable manner. The
mode shewn in the Drawings is one which I have found to answer, and
consists of a modification of an arrangement shewn and described in tho
Specification of a Patent granted to me, and dated April 21st, 1865,
No. 1122.
In this arrangement the table 9 is mounted in a bracket k working upou
guides, 1, fixed to a suitable foundation plate upon which the column or
cylinder d is also fixed. A chain is attached to the bracket k, as shewn in
the Drawings by dotted lines, the chain passes over a pulley m mounted in
bearings at the top of the cylinder or column d, and on the other end of the
chain is fixed a counterbalance weight n, on the axis of the pulley m is a
wheel m³, which is taken into by a toothed pinion o' on the axis o, and motion
is given to such axis o thereby to raise or lower the table g by means of
chains p passing around pulleys o' fixed on the axis o. Instead, however, of
the chain passing exterior of the cylinder or column d it may pass down
the interior thereof and be connected to a projection from the bracket k.
carrying the table g, suitable counterbalance weights being applied to preve..t
undue strain upon the guides 1, 1. In order to retain the axes a, a, in the
desired position, and prevent their rotating except at the times desired, I
mount on one of such axes a disc a', having suitable openings therein into
which a stop a drops, and thereby prevents rotation thereto until such stop a
is raised.
The axes a, a, may if desired receive further support by standards 9, 9,
shewn in the Drawings by dotted lines.
Figures 4 and 5 shew two views of an arrangement in which the table g is
provided with slides g*, in such manner that after receiving the mould box
the table g may be slided forward in position for the mould box to be readily
removed by the workmen, after which the table is returned to its original
position in readiness for another operation. If desired the table g may be
raised and lowered by means of a hydraulic cylinder arranged in a similar
manner to one shewn and described in the Specification of my Patent before
referred to; in this case the axes a would be supported in bearings carried
by suitable standards or frames. Instead, however, of employing hooks or
catches a and turnbuttons f¹, spring or screw catches or other suitable
catches may be employed.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same may be carried into effect, I would have it understood that I.

page_text: do not confine myself to the precise details herein shewn and described, as
such may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but
what I do claim is, the arrangements or combinations of machinery or appa-
ratus employed when making moulds for casting metals, affording facility for
turning over or reversing the flasks or mould boxes, and for adjusting the
table g to the plane of the mould boxes or flasks for the purpose of facilitating
the removal of the pattern from the mould in a parallel direction, substantially
as herein shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Canham, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
RICHARD CANHAM. (L.s.)
B. J. B. MILLS,
Patent Agent,.
85, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane.