Improvements in Rotary Moulds for Casting Tubular Articles.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Apr., 1897-Accepted, 5th June, 1897
[Communicated from abroad by GEORGE HEWLETT CLOWES, of Waterbury,
County of New Haven, and State of Connecticut, United States of America,
Manufacturer.]
Improvements in Rotary Moulds for Casting Tubular Articles.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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:-
It is desirable, for certain purposes, to cast metal in tubular form. This is
notably so for producing tubular or hollow ingots such as are commonly used
where tubes are to be produced by drawing.
My invention involves the use of a mold which is rotated at a rapid speed so
that metal introduced into it will be caused to move outwards by centrifugal force.
When this mold is arranged horizontally, the metal may be more uniformly
distributed so as to make a tubular or hollow ingot of uniform thickness, because
the centrifugal force will greatly predominate over the force of gravity; whereas
if the mold were arranged in a vertical position, the centrifugal force would not
be so effective in counteracting the force of gravity, and hence a longitudinally
tapering tubular or hollow ingot would be produced.
My invention also involves the combination with such a mold, of a receiving
chamber and a piston for discharging molten metal from the receiving chamber
into the mold.
The invention also involves other features, which will be described in detail and
pointed out in claims.
In the accompanying drawing,
Figure 1 is partly a side elevation and partly a vertical longitudinal section of
an apparatus embodying my improvement. Figure 2 is a top view of the same.
Figure 3 is an elevation illustrating a modification.
Figure 4 is a diagram of the piping and valves of the machine.
Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures.
A designates the mold. It may be made of any suitable material, as, for
instance, cast iron or steel. As shown, it is made in the form of a cylindrical
tube from one end to the other, but is provided with a flange a at one end. This
flange a is secured by bolts a¹, or otherwise, to a similar flange b extending from
a tubular or hollow rotary spindle B. The unflanged end of the mold A may
be supported by an underneath bearing C erected upon the bed-plate D of the
apparatus.
On the bed-plate D are erected standards E' E' furnished with bearings for
supporting the spindle B. Between these bearings, the spindle B is provided
with a belt-pulley B₁ through which rotary motion may be imparted to the
spindle and hence to the mold. Any other means may be employed for rotating
the spindle.
F designates a receiving chamber for molten metal. Like the mold A, it is
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page_text: same size, as well as the same shape, as the mold. It is made with both ends
open. Near one end it is provided with a filling mouth f which, preferably, will
be on the upper side.
Normally, the receiving chamber is closed at the ends by two pistons F¹ F³.
Molten metal may then be introduced through the filling mouth f until the entire
chamber between the pistons shall have been filled. After this, motion will be
imparted to the two pistons so that they will remove the charge of metal into
the mold. As the chamber F is intended to be filled with molten metal and.
the mold is only intended to have a lining or tube of molten metal within it, the
mold will be much longer than the chamber. Because of this, the two pistons F1 F³
have different ranges of motion, the piston F2 moving much greater distance than
the piston F, it being intended that the piston F shall move to the flanged end
of the mold, so as to close that end, and that the piston F1 shall merely be moved
to that end of the receiving chamber F which is contiguous to the mold, without
entering the mold.
It is intended that the mold A. shall be rotated at a high rate of speed at the
time of the entrance of the molten metal and until the metal has set sufficiently to
form a tubular or hollow ingot, which happens almost instantly after the introduction
of the metal.
The pistons may be so driven that both will reach their final positions at the
same time. Of course, this will necessitate a much faster movement of the
piston F than that of the piston F¹.
The receiving chamber serves the purpose of a measuring chamber and
determines exactly the amount of metal which it is desirable to form into a
tubular or hollow ingot. Thus, the thickness of the wall of the casting will be
regulated.
It is important to introduce the molten metal into the mold in as large a body
as can conveniently be done, and this is accomplished by the combination of
receiving chamber F and pistons F1 F2. The receiving chamber is shown as being
supported upon a block F³ affixed to the bed-plate D.
I will now describe a means which I have devised for imparting the desired
movements to the pistons F1 F2. The piston F is connected with a rod that
Fasses through the mold A while this piston occupies its normal position in the
receiving chamber F, and thence through the tubular or hollow spindle B. The
piston rod f, after passing beyond the spindle, passes through a stuffing box g into
the cylinder G of a hydraulic engine, being connected within the cylinder to a
piston G. The cylinder G is, of course, long enough to permit of the desired
range of movement being imparted to the piston f2 of the receiving chamber and
mold. The cylinder G is supported in standards 91 92 erected upon the bed-plate D
of the machine. These standards may be secured together by tie-bolts, and the
standards g may be thus connected with the standards E³.
The piston F is affixed to a rod f¹ that passes through a stuffing box & into the
cylinder H of a hydraulic engine, and within such cylinder is connected to a
piston H. The cylinder H is supported by standards ¹² erected upon the bed-
plate D of the machine. Tie-bolts may unite these standards and connect the
standard h² with the block F³ that supports the receiving chamber F.
From the outer end of the cylinder G extends a pipe I, and from the outer
end of the cylinder H extends a pipe 12. Both these pipes are connected with
the chest or casing of a valve of any suitable character, as, for instance, a
valve I. From the inner end of the cylinder G, a pipe 13 extends to the valve
chest or casing of another valve I*. From cylinder H a pipe 1 also extends to
the valve chest or casing of the valve 1. Exhaust or waste ports_are_used in
connection with the valves I and I, and enter the waste pipe 17. Pressure
pipes I enter valve chests or casings of the valves I and I
While the mould A is rotated and the pistons F1 F2 are in their normal positions
at the ends of the chamber F, the valves I, I are set as illustrated in Fig. 4; the
outer ends of the cylinders G and H being in communication through the pipes I¹ I³

page_text: under control of valve I. While the parts are in these positions, and the mold is
still rotating, the molten metal is introduced into the chamber F, and the motive
agent from the pipe 8 passing through the valve chest or casing of the valve l'
and into the pipe 1, forces the piston G¹ toward the right, thus producing a similar
movement of the piston F; any water or other motive agent which may have
previously been left in the cylinder H now escapes through the pipe I³, the
passage-way in the valve which has brought the pipe 15 into communication with
the waste pipe, and into the waste pipe 1'. As the cylinders H and G are in
communication, the piston H¹ will travel to the right when the piston G¹ travels to
the right, although less rapidly than the piston G¹, but arriving at the end of its
stroke at the same time as the piston H¹ terminates its stroke. Thus the metal
will be distributed within the mold, comparatively speaking, in a body or mass, and
will be deposited around the inner wall of the mold in a thickness proportional to
the amount of molten metal introduced.
The valve I is now adjusted to open the pipe 12 to the waste pipe I and valve I+
is adjusted to put pipe 1³ in communication with pipe 17 and pipe 15 in communica-
tion with pipe . Fluid under pressure is then admitted through the pipe 1' from
pipe forcing the piston H' to the left and thus withdrawing the piston F1 from
the chamber F. The chamber F is then moved to one side and the ingot is pushed
out of the mold by piston F' which is moved through the mold A. by piston G₁
actuated by fluid under pressure from the supply pipe 18 through the valve-chest or
casing of the valve I passing to cylinder G through pipe I. To permit of the
expulsion of the ingot from the mold, the receiving chamber is made movable upon
the supporting block F³. As here shown, it is fitted to slide transversely across the
block, and it may be adjusted by a lever, or by a rack and pinion J' J².
After the expulsion of the ingot, the receiving chamber will be adjusted to its
normal position, and the engines GG, H H will be operated so as to move the
pistons FF2 into the end portions of the receiving chamber.
My invention is peculiarly adapted to the casting of ingots of copper and brass,
but is applicable to other metals. If used for steel, the receiving chamber and the
mold will, of course, have to be suitably lined or surfaced internally.
In Figure 3, the parts are substantially the same as in the first example of my
improvement, but there is no receiving chamber, and instead, there is a large
funnel L. Besides this, the pistou F and the engine H H¹ are omitted, and the
piston F2 is never moved out of the mold.
In each example of my invention, it will be seen that there is a piston which
retards the flow of molten metal into the mold, so that it will enter the mold in a
body, or, in other words, in a mass, as distinguished from flowing along one
portion.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be perforined, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :
1. The combination with a rotary mold, of two pistons and means for
longitudinally moving said pistons into position to form the end walls of said mold,
substantially as specified.
2. The combination with a rotary mold, of two pistons, means for longitudinally
moving said pistons together into position to form the end walls of the mold, and
means for returning said pistons independently of each other, substantially as
specified.
3. The combination with a mold, of means for rotating the same, a chamber at
one end of the mold, two pistons closing the ends of the chamber, means for
moving the pistons along the chamber and for moving one of them into the moid,
so that molten metal will be moved from the chamber into the mold.
4. The combination with a mold, of means for rotating the same, a chamber
located at one end of the mold from which molten metal passes to the mold, and

page_text: nicans for causing a relative transverse movement between the mold and the
chamber, substantially as specified.
5. The combination with a mold, of means for rotating the same, a chamber
located at one end of the mold from which molten metal passes to the mold, a
piston movable lengthwise of the mold for ejecting a casting therefrom, and means
for causing a relative transverse movement between the mold and the chamber,
substantially as specified.
6. The combination of a rotary mold having a movable end wall as a piston, a
receiving chamber, a piston and means for actuating this latter piston to move
a mass of molten metal from the chamber into the mold, substantially as
specified.
7. The combination of a rotary mold, a piston movable lengthwise of the mold,
a receiving chamber, a second piston and means for causing a differential movement
of the pistons to move a mass of molten metal from the chamber into the mold and
to simultaneously cause an increase in the volume of the space in which the metal
is held, substantially as specified.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.