AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR CASTING STEEL INGOTS
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Henry Osborne Taylor at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th August 1878.
WILLIAM HENRY OSBORNE TAYLOR, of Panteg, in the County of Monmouth,
Mechanical Engineer.
"AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR CASTING
STEEL INGOTS."
Steel ingots are ordinarily cast in vertical or nearly vertical moulds, open at the
lower end, and of larger sectional area at the bottom than at the top, so that the
moulds may be lifted off when the ingots have become solid. Or the moulds are
made in two or more parts, clamped or otherwise fastened together, so that they
may be readily taken apart to allow of taking the ingots out. This mode of casting
steel ingots requires much manual labour, and a considerable amount of space. It
is also open to other objections, which it is the object of my Invention to avoid.
This I do by casting the ingots in a horizontal position, in either closed or open
moulds, so constructed and mounted that the steel ingots when cast may be
removed therefrom with much greater facility than when cast in single vertical
moulds in the ordinary manner.
In carrying out my Invention I treat the liquid metal (before casting or running
it into the moulds) by the addition to it of manganese or of manganese and silicon,
or otherwise, as is well known, so that when cast in an open flat mould it will not
boil up at the moment of setting or becoming unsound and full of blow holes.
In some cases in order to slightly cool the metal so as to render it less lively (that
is to say, less liable to boil or bubble up) and thereby form rough or unsound ingots,
full of blow holes or air bubbles, I run it through a long trough or gutter into the
horizontal moulds, which may be either open at top or provided with a lid or cover.
These moulds (of which any convenient number may be used in combination) may
be of any suitable size and shape so as to form ingots or pigs such as those into
which pig iron, copper, tin, lead, and spelter are ordinarily or frequently cast, the
size and shape of the ingot depending upon the character of the manufactured
article intended to be produced therefrom by the subsequent processes of rolling,
hammering, or forging.

page_text: In carrying out my Invention a convenient number of moulds may be arranged
parallel to each other in a frame provided with trunnions, so that it may be turned
over in order to tip out the ingots when they are sufficiently solid or set to admit
of being handled and rolled or hammered in the usual way.
Or, if preferred, the moulds may be constructed in the form of a long trough,
made of cast iron, and lined, if desired, with baked or burnt clay.
Or the trough may consist of a wrought-iron or other strong frame, and the
inoulds formed therein of tiles or slabs made of baked or burned clay, and provided
or not as may be preferred with lids or covers.
These long troughs may be either of a triangular or V shape in cross section, or
of a quadrangular shape, but rather wider at top than at bottom. The lids or
covers may either be loosely fitted to the moulds or they may be firmly secured in
place by clamping or other suitable devices, so that the moulds may be turned
bottom side uppermost without the lids or covers falling off. The object of thus
temporarily securing the lids in place on the moulds is that they may be placed lid
downwards on trucks or trollies. The moulds with the steel ingots in them may
then be transported to any parts of the works, or by unclamping the lid the body
of the mould may be lifted off, leaving the ingot on the inverted lid or cover.
In these cases of long trough moulds the moulds will be arranged in a long line,
ond to end, and the separate moulds are made by placing cross tiles or blocks across
the trough so as to form the ends of the ingots and divide up the space into separato
compartments. As these cross tiles or blocks are movable they may be placed at
any part of the trough so as to produce ingots of any desired length or weight. A
passage or opening is made through the lower or some other convenient part of
these transverse tiles or blocks for the purpose of allowing the molten steel to run
into and through all the moulds so that they may be filled simultaneously or from
one running. These long troughs or frames are provided at each end with a
trunnion so that they can be turned over and the ingots tipped out as in the former
instance.
In order to produce ingots of peculiar shape so as to form various articles by
hammering or forging, moulds may be made of suitable shape in sand with the aid
of wooden or other patterns, as when ordinary iron castings are required. By this
means a considerable part of the labour of fashioning the articlo into the proper
shape will be avoided.