IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING MOULDS FOR CASTING CERTAIN ARTICLES IN METALS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Gillies, of the City of Glasgow, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING MOULDS FOR
CASTING CERTAIN ARTICLES IN METALS,"
Sealed the 3rd September 1872, and dated the 22nd March 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Gillies at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd March 1872.
I, JAMES GILLIES, of the City of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING
MOULDS FOR CASTING CERTAIN ARTICLES IN METALS," to be as follows, that is
to say :-
This said Invention has reference to the forming of moulds for the
casting of internal and external screw threaded metal articles, such
as screw bushes and stoppers for casks or other vessels, of a new or
improved construction, for which Letters Patent were granted to the

page_text: petitioner, No. 2653, dated 9th September 1869, but also applicable
for making the moulds for other screw bushes and plugs and other
screwed apparatus requiring such screws cast on them without fins.
"
And the nature of this Invention consists, first, when applied to the
forming of moulds for bushes for casks with screws on their outsides,
in ranging a number of vertical revolving screw spindles in a circle
or "spray" within a frame or stand below the "ramming and parting'
plate upon which each duplicate part of the mould and box is formed or
rammed, having the screws formed in them by screwing the pattern
down out of the mould through the plate. Each spindle is carried
by a screw on its lower end, working down through a corresponding
screw bush in a sole or step plate, while its upper end works up through
a journal bush in a plate above, but sufficiently below the ramming
moulding plate to allow them all to turn and rise clear of each other
with their actuating toothed pinions above, working into and driven
by a large correspondingly "pitched spur wheel on a central spindle
working in a footstep bearing in the under plate and a journal bearing
in the said carrying plate below the moulding plate, this central
spindle is actuated by a small crank handle on the outer end of a
short horizontal shaft carried in bearing brackets attached to one of
these carrying plates, and through a bevel pinion on its inner end
working into a corresponding or large bevel wheel on the central part
of the central actuating spindle of all the screw spindles, the pitch
of the screws on the lower ends of which are the same as that on the
parts of the pattern with the screw formed on them (by preference
formed of turned brass), projecting above the ramming plate, and all
screwed down out of the rammed sand or mould by and along with the
screw spindles carrying them on their top end, one on each, by a stem
and socket joint and a pinching screw, each fitting a bored hole or
collar inserted in the plate to suit every particular size of pattern
by its neck or collar piece, which may have a packing and groove
round it to prevent the sand passing down through the plate at the
joint.
:
Each spindle may have a weight or a spring or lever acting on it
to prevent any shake or vibration of the screw spindle on end (although
the thread in the nut might wear so as to permit of such motion)
to insure the screw patterns being all simultaneously screwed down
out of the mould without breaking the sand, however fine the thread

page_text: may be.
When the screw patterns are thus screwed out of each top
box or mould, previously rammed on the mould making plate formed
with an ordinary gate in the centre, the pattern of which is then
removed and the box released, removed, and fixed on to each lower
part and box of the mould, all ready for casting. All the boxes, are.
made to fit each other and the ramming table plate by the usual
steadying pins and holes.
The "drag" or lower parts of the moulds may be formed much
as heretofore on a ramming plate with centre gate and thin conducting
gutter gates leading to the flange part of the pattern formed on the
hollow boxes or patterns for making or forming the projecting cores,
in this case ranged and sunk into the ramming plate in the exact same
concentric position to that of the hollow screws of the ramming plate
for the top moulds.
The ramming plate is turned up with the lower mould after being
rammed, when the plate is loosened and removed, leaving the lower
part with its spray of cores ready for putting on the top part of the
mould, all the hollow screw parts passing. truly down over their re-
spective cores, steadied by the pins and holes in the snugs of the boxes.
This improvement has the great advantage of forming the top parts
with sets of screwed moulds ready for casting without the great loss of
time required to turn over the boxes and remove the pattern screws
individually and then return the hole for removing and fixing them
on their under moulds.
Another improvement consists in casting these sets of core box
patterns for forming the under parts of the moulds (of the different
sizes to suit the corresponding sized screw patterns and bushes) within
turned and polished metallic moulds, so that they shall all be very
smooth and of one exact size to suit the holes in the ramming plate,
and having a cast screw on them so as to be fixed on the under
side of the plate by a thin nut in preference to any other fixture;
by this means sets of these patterns or core boxes can be quickly
and accurately made to make up for the great wear these are subject
to from the knocking and turning up of the ramming plate with every
mould formed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Gillies in the Great Seal Patent Office
1
0001 2
1
1000
on the 20th September 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
GILLIES, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Gillies, Her special licence
that I, the said James Gillies, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James Gillies, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING MOULDS FOR CASTING CERTAIN ARTICLES
IN METAL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Gillies, 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 I, the said James Gillies, 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 in writing, reference being had to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings, and to the several Figures and respective
reference letters and numerals marked thereon, which as far as possible
are made to represent the same or like parts in all the Figures, all
which I have hereunto appended for the purpose of showing the best
modifications and arrangements for practically performing or carrying

page_text: the several improvements contained in my said Invention into effect or
practice, that is to say :—
Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings are a sectional side
elevation and an end elevation, and Figures 3 and 4 are a plan and a
horizontal section taken on the line 1---1 in Figure 2, all respectively
of one modification or construction and arrangement of the parts of a
machine for forming or making the screwed surfaces or recessed parts 61
of the moulds of a set or "spray" of six of my said improved screw
bushes A (shown in full sized elevation and corresponding section at
Figures 12 and 13 respectively) within one-half I and i of a completé
mould and moulding box, shown in sectional elevation at Figure 9, as
formed or closed all ready for pouring in the molten brass or malleable
cast iron, steel, or other metal.
Figures 5 and 6 are each a sectional elevation and plan of two different
constructions of ramming plates or sets of angled rings Z, z, respectively,
the first, Z, for laying into the lower half I of the moulding box i, after it
is laid on the ramming plate E, and so as to rest on it with an angled
ring Z¹ around each screw pattern a (Figures 1 to 3), all so that when a
portion of the sand is filled into the box and rammed down in a usual
manner, it will by this improved angled ring (as indicated by the red
screw and arrows at Z, Z', in Figure 5) be forced into the deep recess or
thread of the screw pattern a, which is of great importance to be
properly formed for casting so thin and deep a screw; and this plate Z
may then either be lifted out or left in, and the box completely filled
and rammed, as indicated in Figure 1, when the handle g" would be
turned so as to screw down the spindles D, and patterns a, out of the
mould I, when each half I, i, of a mould would be thus finished and
turned over ready for the top half I being placed over it, as indicated
at Figure 9. Otherwise the said first layer of riddled sand might be
rammed in to rather above the patterns a, and then have the ramming
plate Z of the construction shown in Figure 6 inserted and pressed
down, which having the bevelled or wedge acting rings ¹ inverted,
would compress the partially rammed sand into the screw, as indicated
in red lines at Figure 6, this ramming plate z would then be lifted out
and the mould I filled, rammed, and finished otherwise, as described in
the former case.
T

page_text: plate H, and set of six core boxes K (all set exactly to correspond to
that of the screw patterns a, in Figures 1 to 3) for ramming or forming
the
upper
half I of the mould and gates J, J', in the upper half of
the moulding box ready for being closed over the "drag" or under
part of the complete mould, shown in sectional elevation ready for
casting at Figure 9.
Figure 10 is a full sized sectional elevation of one of the portable core
boxes K, detached from its ramming plate H to show its particular con-
struction and mode of attaching it thereto for forming the core parts k
of the bush mould.
Figure 11 is a full sized side elevation of the smoothly turned metal
screw pattern a, for forming the outer perimeter or screw part 6¹ of the
mould of the bush.
Figures 12 and 13, are a full sized side elevation and corresponding
section of one of my improved constructions of deep thin threaded screw
bushes A, as cast by these improvements and sizes of patterns shown in
the other Figures.
Figure 14 is a sectional elevation of one spindle D, and screw bush
pattern a, of a slightly different modification of these improvements from
that shown in Figures 1 to 6 and 11, in which each pattern a is screwed
into the mould or rammed sand I, as well as out by its spindle D, to
compress the sand I into the screw 6 and form the screw surface of the
mould without the necessity of compressing the sand into the screw,
either by the hand, or by the angled ring plates, shown at Figures 5
and 6.
My said Invention consists in new or improved modes and means of or
mechanism for forming the moulds for casting internal and external
screw-threaded metal articles, such as screw bushes and stoppers for
casks or other vessels, especially of the new or improved construction of
the former, for which Letters Patent were granted to me, No. 2653,
dated 9 September 1869, and as shown at A, B, C, in elevation and
section in Figures 12 and 13 respectively, but also applicable for making
the moulds for other screw bushes and plugs, and other screw apparatus
requiring such screws cast on them without cross "partings" or "fins."
And referring to Figures 1 to 4, the nature and mode of performing
my Invention (when applied to the forming of moulds for the said bushes,

page_text: as A, B, C, Figures 12 and 13, with deep thin screws B on their outer
perimeter for fixing them into casks or other wood vessels) consists first,
in ranging a number of vertical revolving screw spindles D in a circle
or "spray" within a frame or stand F, F¹, F¹¹, below the ramming and
parting plate E, upon which each duplicate part I, i, of the mould I, I',
is formed or rammed within the lower part i of the moulding boxes i, i¹,
having the screws B formed in them by screwing the pattern a (Figure 11)
down out of the mould through the plate E. Each spindle D is carried
by a screw d on its lower end, which works down through a corresponding
screw nut or bush d¹ in a sole or step plate F¹, and its upper end works
up through a journal bush fin a plate F above the plate F, but suffi-
ciently below the ramming moulding plate E to allow them all to turn
and rise clear of each other with their actuating toothed pinions G above
working into and driven by a large corresponding pitched spur wheel G'
on a central spindle G³ working into a footstep bearing g in the under
plate F¹, and a journal bearing g¹ in the said carrying plate F below the
ramming or moulding plate E. This central spindle is actuated by a
small crank handle g" on the outer end of the short horizontal shaft g³,
carried in bearing brackets. g¹¹ attached to the carrying plate F, and
through a bevel pinion g³ on its inner end working into a corresponding
or large bevel wheel G³ on the central part of the central actuating
spindle G of all the screw spindles D. The pitch of the screws d on the
lower ends of these spindles D are the same as that on the parts of the
pattern a with the screw 6 formed on them (by preference formed of
turned brass) projecting above the ramming plate E as shown in Figure 1
are all screwed down out of the rammed sand or mould I by and along
with the screw spindles D, carrying the screw patterns a on their top
ends, one on each, secured by the stem and socket joint c, c³, and a
pinching screw c", each fitting a bored hole, collar, or bush e, inserted in
the plate E to suit every particular size of pattern a by its neck or collar
piece a', which may have a packing and groove a" round it to prevent
the sand passing down through the plate or bush e at the joint e¹. Each
spindle D may have a weight D¹ (or it might be a spring or lever) acting
on it to prevent any shake or vibration of the screw spindle D on end
(although the thread d in the nut d¹ might wear so as to permit of such
motion), all so as to insure the set of screw patterns a being steadily and.
simultaneously screwed down out of the mould I, Figure 1, by the
turning of the handle g without breaking the sand I, however fine the
thread 6 may be.

page_text: When the screw patterns a are thus screwed out of each lower, or it
might be top box and mould i, I, or ", I', previously rammed on the
mould making plate E, and formed with an ordinary gate in the centre
of this or the other half I¹ of the mould, as may be considered best, the
pattern J* of this gate being removed, the box i is then released from its
steadying pins E¹, and removed and fixed to each upper or lower part i
or i of the box of the mould I, I, as the case may be, according to which-
ever part of the gate J is formed in, all ready for casting, as indicated at
Figure 9. All the parts i of the boxes are each made to fit their other
half, and also the ramming table E or plate H, by the usual steadying
pins E, E, and holes E" in the ears of the boxes being the handles.
Referring to Figures 7 to 9, the other parts of the mould I may be
formed much as heretofore on a ramming plate H, with a centre gate J,
and thin radiating conducting gutter J', J', leading to the flange part C¹
of the pattern formed on the upper edge (above the plate H) of hollow
core boxes or patterns K for making or forming the projecting cores k,
in this case ranged and sunk into the ramming plate H in the exact
same concentric position and distance apart to that of the patterns a
and hollow or recessed screws b¹ formed by them over the ramming
plate E of the other moulds I, whether these may be formed in the top or
bottom half of the boxes i or i¹. The ramming plate H is turned up
with this mould I after being rammed, when the plate H is then
loosened and removed from the pins E2 of the box 2, leaving the mould
with its set or spray" of cores k ready for putting on the top part I of
the mould when the box is made the lower box, all the hollow screw
parts b¹ passing truly down over their respective cores k, steadied by the
pins E² and holes E" in the snugs
"
of the two halves of the boxes i, i;
or otherwise this half of the mould and box I', ', (when made the top
box with the gate J in it, as shown at. Figure 9) is turned over again
and lowered on to the lower mould and box I, i, so that the cores k are
lowered into the hollow screw parts 6¹ of the mould formed by the
patterns a, so as to rest and be supported concentrically at the bottom,
all ready for casting, as seen at Figure 9. This latter improvement has
the advantage of forming the whole set or
ready for casting without the loss of time
parts of the boxes, and remove the pattern screws a individually,
involving the returning, removing, and fixing of them on their under
moulds, and setting the screws and patterns a individually again for
forming the next mould, as has been the case heretofore.
"
spray" of screwed moulds
required to turn over the

page_text: Referring to Figure 14, the improvements in this construction and
arrangement consists in turning out the patterns a hollow at the top, and
making their holding stem c and socket c³, or the top part of the spindles D
hollow, and fitting the stem of a boss pattern piece 7 down into these
and fixed stationary, as shown with boss part 7 above the plate E up into
the mould I, by the cotter 7 passed through each spindle 1, and a
collar & held between the plate F, and the flanged ring m secured to it
by the screw pins m³, slots / being cut through the hollow part of the
spindle D to allow. it to screw up and down as before with the pattern a
on it, when the handle 9" and pinion G are turned all so as to screw
the part a, b, of the pattern a up into the previously rammed sand or
mould I around the boss 7, pressing the sand out from it in between the
threads 6 of the screw, the stop collars d", d², being set and fixed on the
spindle D so as to determine the rise and fall of these and the patterns a
into or out of the mould respectively, as desired, all so as to form a good
mould by the simple screwing of the patterns a into and out of the plain
filled and rammed box or mould i, I, which would then (as before stated
in reference to the former arrangement) be lifted off the ramming plate E
and fixed to the other corresponding half of the mould ", I', ready for
casting, as shown at Figure 9. The supporting frames F, F¹ (Figures 1
to 4) are secured to each other by the standards F" and the ramming
plate E above by the side flanges and screw bolts E* to the upper carry-
ing plate F, the space and gearing between these plates E and F being
closed in by the sheet iron ends f¹ to prevent sand or dust getting at the
working parts and journal bushes f, and the whole moulding frame is
secured to the wooden rails L of the moulding trough or bench by the

page_text: this.
Another improvement consists in casting these sets of core box
patterns K and bushes e for forming the upper or under parts I¹, I, of
the moulds (of the different sizes to suit the corresponding sized screw
patterns a and bushes A, Figures 11 to 13) within turned and polished
metallic moulds, so that they shall all be very smooth and of one exact
size to suit the holes K³, e², in the ramming plates H and E, and having
a cast screw on those K, Figure 10, so as to be fixed on the under side
of the plate H, by a thin nut K", in preference to any other fixture. By
this means sets of these patterns or core boxes K or bushes e, can be
quickly and accurately made to make up for the wear these are subject
to from the knocking and turning over of the ramming plate H with
every mould formed.
Although only the screw patterns a of screw bushes A, and their core
boxes K have been described and shown as fitted to these improved
mould making machines and their ramming tables E, H, it will be
evident that the screw patterns of plugs and other such screwed stoppers
and articles, and their core boxes, when these are made hollow, might
be fitted to these machines and tables to form the moulds for these
articles, all substantially as described in reference to the forming of the
moulds of the said screw bushes A.
Having thus described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine or
restrict myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had
occasion to describe and delineate, as many variations may be made
therefrom without departing from the main or essential features thereof;
neither, on the other hand, do I claim the forming of the moulds of
screw bushes by merely screwing the patterns individually out of the
mould by screwed spindles, as I believe this has heretofore been done,
but what I consider novel and original, and therefore claim as the In-
vention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,―
First. The construction and arrangement of the parts of machinery
and apparatus for forming the moulds of screw bushes and other such
like articles with screws on them, all substantially in the new or

page_text: improved manner herein described and shown in the accompanying
Drawings.
Second. The forming of the moulds of screw bushes and such like
screw articles in sets within one mould or moulding box, by the simul-
taneous turning of the spindles and screwing of the patterns out of the
mould, or into and out of the mould, substantially in the new or improved
manner herein described and shown in the accompanying Drawings.
Third. The casting of the core boxes and bushes for the patterns of
screw bushes and such like screw articles in smooth turned metal moulds,
SO as to fit and be easily secured with the ramming plate for
forming such moulds, all substantially as herein described and shown
in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Gillies, have hereunto sct
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.
Witness,
.
W. R. M. THOMSON,
Patent Agent,
62, Buchanan Street,
Glasgow.
JAMES GILLIES. (L.S.)