Improvements in Apparatus for Casting Metals.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Feb., 1897-Accepted, 27th Mar., 1897
[Communicated from abroad by THE PENNSYLVANIA SALT MANUFACTURING
COMPANY, of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, one of the United
States of America.]
Improvements in Apparatus for Casting Metals.
I, WILLIAM BURGELAND JOHNSON of 4 Clayton Square Liverpool in the
County of Lancaster Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to the casting of metals, more especially those, such as
copper, which are ladled or dipped out of the furnace and poured into the ingot
molds, and is designed to greatly lessen the amount of time and labor required in
such operation, to prevent waste of the molten metal, and make the work of the
attendant much easier.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved plant. Figure 2 is a plan view of
the same.
Figure 3 is a perspective view of a portion of the plant.
Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken through the furnace and molds.
Figure 5 is a plan view of another form of plant.
Figure 6 is a cross-section of a water-tank showing a turning device for heavy
molds; Figure 7 being a front elevation of the turning device.
Figure 8 is a top plan view of a second form of mold for heavy ingots.
Figure 9 is a perspective view showing a third form of mold in place upon the
carrying truck.
In the drawings, in which similar numerals indicate corresponding parts,
2 represents a melting furnace and 3 a ladle, arranged to dip the molten metal
therefrom and pour it into the molds. This ladle is supported from an overhead
trolley 4 by a chain 5, to the lower end of which is secured a sliding clutch
consisting of two bars 6 and 7, the bar 6 having a swinging loop which engages
suitable ratchet teeth upon the other bar and holds the bars together in their
adjusted position; to the bar 7 is secured the swivel 8, the lower element of which
is provided with a ring 9 taking about the ladle handle 10, this ring being held in
place by two collars 11 adjustably secured to the handle. The end of the ladle-
handle is forked, as shown, to make easy its operation, and, if desired, two
additional handles 10 may be used for turning it where a heavy cast is made.
The trolley 4 rides upon an overhead track 12, which may be of any suitable
form, but preferably encloses an oblong space in front of the furnace, as shown in
Figs. 2 and 3. The molds are disposed along this track at such points that the
ladle may be moved over them as the trolley moves along the track, and I prefer to
arrange them upon wheeled trucks 13, which may be moved along above a water
tank 14, which may be continous or arranged in separated sections in line as
desired. The rear wheels 15 of the trucks are grooved and rest upon the rim of
the trough or bosh, while the front wheels are plain-faced and travel upon a ledge
or rim 16.
The end bars 17 of the trucks are provided with upper slots 18 arranged in

page_text: pairs, and in which rest the shafts 19 upon which are loosely pivoted the mold-
supporting plates 20. These plates 20 swing independently of each other, and
where a series of small molds is employed, as in Figure 3, the molds 21 are
preferably dovetailed endwise into longitudinal grooves in the plates 20, they being
held in place by suitable bolts 22.
The shaft is so arranged relatively to the molds that it passes in the rear of
their centres, and their forward portions rest upon a connecting tie-rod 23 between
the end bars. Where the molds are arranged in front of the oblong space enclosed
by the overhead track, as in Figure 1, I prefer to use a cut-out or track 24
extending from the furnace directly across the oblong space to the molds, which
are moved along over the tank to a point adjacent to the ladle, where they are
filled and then pushed along the tank to cool and be dumped. Beneath the point
in the length of the tank when the metal is solidified, I place therein a crate or
pan 25, arranged to receive several ingots, this crate being connected by a suitable
block and tackle to a traveller 26 moving on an overhead track 27, which leads to
a storage room 28 as shown in Figures 1 and 2.
Where large bar-moulds are used, as shown in Figure 8, which require consider-
able power to tip them, I employ the device shown in Figures 6, 7, and 8, a trolley 29
moving on an overhead track 30 located as shown in Figure 4, having depending
forked arms, between which are pivotted the winding drum 31, having operating
bandles 32, and from which extends a chain 33 having two lower branches of
different length secured to an arc-shaped end portion 34 of the mould. 35 is a brake
which is applied to the drum, and the chains are so arranged that one is loose while
the other is tight, one tipping the mold and the other returning it to its original
position as the drum is turned. Thus when the mold is in position to be filled, as
shown in Figure 6, the shorter branch is taut. When it is desired to dump the
cooled metal, the drum being rotated clockwise the shorter branch tips the mold
until its centre of gravity passes a point above the pivot, when the drum being
allowed to turn backwardly the weight of the mold carries it on to its inverted
position, the longer branch wrapping about the arc-shaped end portion of the mold
as its swings around. This wrapping of the longer branch converts it into the
shorter branch when the mold is in its inverted position, so that when the drum is
again rotated clockwise, this longer branch throws the mold up to a point where,
when again released, it will tilt back by gravity to its normal position.
In Figure 9 I show another form of mold 37 for forming cakes, each mold being
secured to its swinging mold-plate by bolts 38, the construction being otherwise as
in the smaller ingot molds.
When the plant is large and considerable power is necessary to move the molds,
I prefer to use a motor therefor, as in Figure 5, wherein 39 is a reversing engine
arranged to drive a drum 40, around which passes a cable 41 which extends over
the tank and beneath rails extending in line therewith to a pulley or wheel 42.
With this arrangement, the molds being poured at A beyond the end of the
bosh, so that no liability of explosion can occur, consequent on the molten metal
dropping into the water, the molds which are clamped to the cable are moved over
the tank and emptied thereinto and the molds then moved on beyond the other end
of the bosh.
The operation of my improved plant is as follows:-
A ladleful of metal being dipped from the furnace, the ladle is moved along the
oblong track or the cut out to bring it over the molds, which are then filled
therefrom, each series being moved along and replaced by another as fast as filled.
When solidified, the ingots or bars are dropped into the water in the bosh by
tipping the molds and the trucks pushed along further. The ingots then being
removed by the crate shown, or by tongs, the molds are run back to place and the
operation repeated.
The advantages of the plant result from the small amount of manual labor
necessary, the rapidity with which the operation can be carried out and the
simplicity and cheapness of the parts employed.

page_text: Many changes may be made in the form and arrangement of the various parts
by those skilled in the art without departure from my invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
First. The combination with a track, of a water tank beneath a portion only of
the same, a wheeled truck movable upon the track, and a tipping mold carried
upon the truck; substantially as described.
Second. The combination with a track, of a water tank beneath a portion only
of the same, separate wheeled trucks movable upon the track, and tipping molds
carried upon the trucks; substantially as described.
Third. The combination with a tank, of tipping molds moving horizontally over
the same, an overhead track, and a band-controlled tipping device for the molds
suspended from and movable along said track; substantially as described.
Fourth. The combination with a tank, of a cage therein, a tipping mold movable
over the cage, and an overhead track having movable thereon a trolley from which
the cage is suspended; substantially as described.
Fifth. The combination with a tank, of a cable passing thereover, molds
supported independently of the cable but having detachable clamps arranged to
grip the same, and means for moving the cable longitudinally; substantially as
described.
Sixth. The combination with a track, of a water tank beneath a portion only
of the same, a wheeled truck movable upon the track and having a longitudinal
shaft, and a mold loosely pivoted upon the shaft; substantially as described.
Seventh. The combination with a furnace having a side opening, of a dipping
ladle suspended from an overhead track and arranged to enter the opening and dip
metal from the molten bath, a horizontal track adjacent to the overhead track and
having molds movable thereon, and a water tank beneath a portion only of the
track; substantially as described.
Dated this Fifteenth day of February 1897.