AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN CASTING METALS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Reeves, junior, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Manufacturer, and William Wells, of Sutton Cold-
field, near Birmingham, aforesaid, Carpenter, for the Invention of "An
Sealed the 2nd May 1854, and dated the 26th January 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Reeves and
William Wells at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 26th January 1854.
WC, CHARLES REEVES, junior, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, and WILLIAM WELLS, of Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham
aforesaid, Carpenter, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN CASTING METALS " to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists of a method or methods of casting metals whereby
a sounder and more uniform casting is obtained than by the ordinary method.
The Drawing represents our Invention applied to the casting of hollow
cylinders for making tubes or for other purposes; a is the mould having a
central metallic core b. A slot or groove c extends from the top to the bottom
of the mould a; d is a metallic bar of such a size as to fill the slot c. When
casting in the said mould we raise the same until the bottom end is brought

page_text: to or near to the top of the bar d, the stream of melted metal is delivered over
the top of the bar d, at d', and as the mould fills up to the level of the top d',
of the said bar d, the mould a, is depressed and is made to slide downwards as
the melted metal enters it so as to keep the surface of the metal in the mould
at or about the same height, as the stream delivered over the top d', of the
bar d. Instead of the bar d, and stream of metal licing kept at the same
height, and the mould a depressed, the mould may be kept stationary, and the
bar d, and stream of metal raised, but we prefer the method first described.
The core b, consists of three parts connected by dovetail joints as represented.
Our method is applicable to the casting of bodies of various shapes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Reeves and William Wells in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 25th July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CHARLES
REEVES, Junior, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
and WILLIAM WELLS, of Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham aforesaid, Car-
penter, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Charles Reeves and William Wells, Her special licence that we, the said
Charles Reeves and William Wells, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Charles Reeves and William Wells, our exécu-
tors, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN CASTING METALS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Charles Reeves and William
Wells, or one of us. by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or
under the hand and seal of one of us, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Reeves, junior, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say:-
Our said Invention consists of methods herein-after particularly described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing of casting metals and metallic
alloys, whereby a sounder and more uniform casting is obtained than is obtained
by the ordinary method of casting. Figure 1 represents in elevation a mould
constructed for casting hollow cylinders for tubes or other purposes according
to our Invention; Figure represents a vertical or longitudinal section of
the same; and Figure 3 represents a horizontal or transverse section of the
same. a is the mould; b, the hollow cylindrical space in which the metal is
to be cast, the said space being enclosed externally by the mould a, and
internally by the core c; the said core c may be fixed in the mould a in any
convenient manner. The mould a may be formed in two or more pieces
bolted together by flanges as shewn at d, Figures 1 and 3, or fastened to-
gether in any other convenient manner; a slot or groove e extends from top
to bottom of the mould a; f is a metallic bar of a size such as to fill the slote,
the said bar f being capable of an easy sliding motion in the said slot e.
When the melted metal is poured into the said mould a, the said mould is
raised, or the bar f is depressed, until the bottom of the said mould is brought
to or near the top f¹ of the bar f; the stream of melted metal is then poured
from the crucible or vessel containing it, over the top f' of the bar f, and as
the mould a becomes filled up to the level, or nearly to the level, of the top f¹
of the bar f, the said mould is depressed and made to slide downwards on the
bar f, so that the level of the metal in the mould a may be kept at or near
the level of the top f¹ of the bar f. By thus keeping the level of the melted
metal in the mould near the level of the metal in the crucible or other vessel
containing it, the stream of metal runs smoothly into the mould, and does not
carry with it bubbles of air. In the ordinary mode of casting where the
stream of melted metal descends from a considerable height the velocity of
the said stream is such in its lower part that it divides itself into several
streams or into drops, whereby air is carried down into the liquid metal in the
mould and the soundness of the casting impaired. Besides the inconvenience
which arises in the ordinary mode of casting from bubbles of air being carried
lown into the metal in the mould, the force with which the stream of metal
descends from a considerable height disturbs that portion of the metal which is
solidifying, and thereby produces unsoundness in the casting..

page_text: Instead of the bar f and the stream of metal being kept at the same height,
and the inould a depressed, the mould may be kept stationary, and the bar f
and stream of metal raised; but we prefer to keep the bar f and stream of
metal stationary, and depress the mould. The core may consist of three
pieces connected together by dovetail joints, as illustrated in Figure 4; or the
said core may consist of a metallic tube having a slit made in its whole length,
and one edge made to overlap the other to permit of contraction as illustrated
in the section, Figure 5. The mould a may be depressed by a rack and
pinion, or by any other suitable mechanical contrivance, or the bar f may be
raised by a rack and pinion or otherwise.
:
Although we have described our Invention as applied to the casting of a
hollow cylinder, yet our Invention is applicable to the casting of bodies of
various forms; for example, if the core c were removed from the mould a, a
solid cylinder may be cast therein, and the mould inay be made of a conical
figure instead of a cylindrical figure as represented.
Where bodies of an
irregular figure are to be cast according to our Invention it is necessary so to
construct the mould that there shall be in addition to the article to be cast, a
waste piece or "get," as it is technically called, cast on the said article, the
said "get" having for its object the making of the casting of a plane or
rectilinear figure on that side where the metal is poured into the mould. The
said "get" may be removed from the article after it has been removed from
the mould.
:
Although we have described our Invention with reference to a hollow
cylinder, in which case it is desirable that a vertical motion shall be given to
the mould or to the crucible from which the metal is poured, yet our Invention
may be applied to the casting of cylinders or other bodies placed nearly
horizontally, in which case the metal is poured in at one end of the mould and
the said mould gradually carried along till its other end is brought to the
crucible. This method of carrying our Invention into effect will be under-
stood if Figures 1 and 2 be supposed to be situated nearly horizontally instead
of vertically.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that we do not limit
ourselves to the precise methods herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of our said Invention. But we claim as
our Invention, the method or methods of casting metals herein described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, keeping the level or
surface of the metal in the mould as near as is practicable to the level of the

page_text: melted metal in the crucible or other vessel from which it is poured by giving
motion either to the mould or the vessel from which the melted metal is being
poured.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Reeves, junior, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
CHARLES REEVES, JUN*.
(L.S.)
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT.