IMPROVED MODES OF AND APPARATUS FOR CASTING INGOTS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Denton Abel, of No. 20, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MODES OF AND APPARATUS
FOR CASTING INGOTS."-A communication from abroad by Zoheth
Sherman Durfee, of Troy, in the State of New York, United States
of America, Engineer.
Sealed the 13th July 1869, and dated the 1st February 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Denton Abel
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 1st February 1869.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MODES OF AND
APPARATUS FOR CASTING INGOTS," to be as follows:-
In the methods heretofore used of casting ingots in clusters, or by
pouring or teeming the fluid metal into one mould and allowing it to
flow through proper channels into other moulds and rise therein.

page_text: simultaneously with the filling of the first mould, the construction of the
moulds has been too complicated for convenience, and the present Inven
tion consists mainly in simplifying such cluster moulds. A bottom for
the mould to rest upon is constructed of cast iron alone, or of cast iron in
combination with any suitable refractory material, the said bottom being
provided with runners or gates sunk below its surface. These runners
are either simple grooves sunk into the metal or into the refractory
material, or the grooves may be lined with prepared fire-clay, or fire-
brick, or any other suitable heat resisting material. In the centre of
this bottom a removeable disc of cast iron or fire-brick or any suitable
material is placed to take the stream of metal as it falls into the contre
or "sprue" mould, so that as often as may be necessary this disc may
be replaced, and thus the wear of the main bottom be prevented. It
has been customary to fasten the ingot moulds used in casting cluster
ingots to each other and to the bottom with which they have been
connected, but according to the present Invention such fastening is
dispensed with. The bottom on which the moulds rest and the bottoms
of the moulds are for this purpose cast ordinarily smooth, and the
surfaces of the moulds where they join each other are made measurably
true, as the steel chills so rapidly that it will not run through the joints
between the moulds and between the moulds and the bottoms on which
they rest unless such joints are considerably open, and no more care is
needed to prevent leakage of steel from cluster moulds than from the
joints between the single moulds and the base plates which are
ordinarily used in casting Bessemer steel. The centre moulds in these
clusters are made as much longer than the outside ones as may be
desirable, and the outside moulds are constructed with a hole in their
tops which is to be closed with a plug just before the moulds are filled,
the hole being left open at first for the exit of the air and gases from
the moulds while they are being filled.
"
In casting ingots for rails it is desirable to have all the ingots of
a given length, and this Invention also consists in arranging the outside
moulds of the cluster at such an inclination from the centre or "
sprue
mould as that the centre ingot need be no longer than the outside ones
and yet a proper height of sinking head be maintained. The inclined
moulds are held in position by suitable lugs and bolts at the sides
thereof, or by other suitable known contrivances, by which they are
connected to the centre mould or to each other. In rolling ingots

page_text: directly into rails the outside parts of the ingots are liable to roll faster
than the middle, and consequently when the ends of the ingots are
square there is liable to be a projection of the outside parts, thus
causing a considerable waste.
Another part of this Invention consists in remedying this difficulty
by making a depression in the bottoms of the clusters, so that the ingots
will be cast with rounded bottoms, and the ingot moulds are arranged
so as to impart to the tops of the ingots also a rounded form; when;
however, the clusters of ingots are cast vertically it is preferred to have
the tops of the ingots quite flat to prevent a tendency which exists in
round top ingots cast vertically to scalp or crack very near the top while
cooling.
This Invention also consists in an arrangement of cluster moulds for
casting ingots for long shafts, &c. For this purpose a bottom is used
similar to that before described. The moulds for the long ingot are
placed at an angle and communicate with each other at the bottom, being
arranged in the form of a letter V, the angle of the V being as large as
may be desired, and the moulds are joined at this angle, so that they
can be easily removed from each other and from each leg of the V
" mould is
casting when the ingot is cooled. The upright "sprue'
placed by the side of the V moulds and on the same bottom at the
angle of the V, and the "sprue" runs horizontally from one to the
other through the bottom. The bottoms of the V moulds are so arranged
that the ingot cast therein will be large enough to allow all the " "sprue"
portion to be cut off before the V ingot is straightened out.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Denton Abel in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 31st July 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, OHARLES
DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings, Ohancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of February, in the

page_text: year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in
the thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Denton Abel, Her
special licence that I, the said Charles Denton Abel, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Denton
Abel, 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
"IMPROVED MODES OF AND APPARATUS FOR CASTING INGOTS," a communication
to me from abroad by Zoheth Sherman Durfee, of Troy, in the State
of New York, United States of America, Engineer, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Denton Abel, 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 im-
mediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Denton Abel, 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 following statement thereof, reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
In the methods heretofore used of casting ingots in clusters, or by
pouring or teeming the fluid metal into one mould and allowing it to flow
through proper channels into other moulds and rise therein simul-
taneously with the filling of the first mould, the construction of the
moulds has been too complicated for convenience, and the present
Invention consists mainly in simplifying such cluster moulds. A bottom
for the mould to rest upon is constructed of cast iron alone or of cast iron
in combination with any suitable refractory material, the said bottom
being provided with runners or gates sunk below its surface. These
runners are either simple grooves sunk into the metal or into the re-
fractory material, or the grooves may be lined with prepared fire-clay, or

page_text: fire-brick, or any other suitable heat resisting material. In the centre of
this bottom a removeable disc of cast iron or fire-brick or any suitable
material is placed to take the stream of metal as it falls into the centre
or " sprue "mould; as often as may be necessary this disc may be
replaced, and thus the wear of the main bottom be prevented. It has
been customary to fasten the ingot moulds used in casting cluster ingots
to each other and to the bottom with which they have been connected,
but according to the present Invention such fastening is dispensed with.
The bottom on which the moulds rest and the bottoms of the moulds are
for this purpose cast ordinarily smooth, and the surfaces of the moulds
where they join each other are made measurably true, as the steel chills
so rapidly that it will not run through the joints between the moulds and
between the moulds and the bottoms on which they rest unless such
joints are considerably open, and no more care is needed to prevent
leakage of steel from cluster moulds than from the joints between the
single moulds and the base plates which are ordinarily used in casting
Bessemer steel. The centre moulds in these clusters are made as much
longer than the outside ones as may be desirable, and the outside moulds
are constructed with a hole in their tops which is to be closed with a plug
just before the moulds are filled, the hole being left open at first for the
exit of the air and gases from the moulds while they are being filled.
"
In casting ingots for rails it is desirable to have all the ingots of a
given length, and this Invention also consists in arranging the outside
moulds of the cluster at such an inclination from the centre or ", sprue
mould as that the centre ingot need be no longer than the outside ones
and yet a proper height of sinking head be maintained. The inclined
moulds are held in position by suitable lugs and bolts at the sides thereof,
or by other suitable known contrivances, by which they are connected to
the centre mould or to each other. In rolling ingots directly into rails
the outside parts of the ingots are liable to roll faster than the middle,
and consequently when the ends of the ingots are square there is liable
to be a projection of the outside parts, thus causing a considerable waste.
Another part of this Invention consists in remedying this difficulty
by making a depression in the bottoms of the clusters, so that the ingots
will be cast with rounded bottoms, and the ingot moulds are arranged so
as to impart to the tops of the ingots also a rounded form; when, however,
the clusters of ingots are cast vertically it is preferred to have the tops

page_text: of the ingots quite flat to prevent a tendency which exists in round top
ingots cast vertically to scalp or crack very near the top while cooling.
This Invention also consists in an arrangement of cluster moulds for
casting ingots for long shafts, &c. For this purpose a bottom is used
similar to that before described. The moulds for the long ingot are
placed at an angle and communicate with each other at the bottom,
being arranged in the form of a letter V, the angle of the V being as
large as may be desired, and the moulds are joined at this angle, so that
they can be easily removed from each other and from each leg of
the V casting when the ingot is cooled. The upright sprue mould is
placed by the side of the V moulds and on the same bottom at the angle
of the V, and the "
sprue runs horizontally from one to the other
through the bottom. The bottoms of the V moulds are so arranged that
the ingot cast therein will be large enough to allow all the "spruc'
portion to be cut off before the V ingot is straightened out.
"
"
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings are shewn the above
described improved constructions of cluster moulds.
Figure 1 shows a sectional elevation, and Figure 2 shows a part
sectional plan of one arrangement of moulds. The base or bottom A is
constructed with a recess containing the removeable disc of cast iron,
fire-brick, or other suitable refractory material B, over which is placed the
centre or "sprue" mould C, and from which radiate the runners or gates D,
conducting the metal as it enters the sprue mould into the series of ingot
moulds E surrounding the latter; these as also the sprue mould simply
rest upon the base A with smooth meeting surfaces, the ingot moulds
being closed at their upper ends with holes d, d, for the exit of air while
the metal is running in, but which holes are afterwards plugged up. It
will be observed that the runners D are entirely covered in by the
moulds C and E, the meeting side surfaces of which are made sufficiently
true to prevent any appreciable escape of the metal between them from
the runners.
Figure 3 shows a sectional elevation, and Figure 4 shows a plan
of the base A of the before-described arrangement wherein the ingot
moulds E are arranged at an angle to the sprue mould C in order
to be of equal or nearly equal length with and yet of a less vertical;
height than the latter. For this purpose the base A is made with
inclined surfaces A', A', upon which the moulds E rest, these being sup-

page_text: ported in their inclined positions by means of lugs e formed thereon
secured by linch pins to lugs c on the mould C, as indicated, or they may
be held in any other convenient manner. B is, as before, a removeable
disc. The runners or gates D are provided with a lining of fire-clay or
other refractory material, and the base is recessed at a, a, inside the
moulds E, in order to produce ingots with rounded ends for the purpose
before mentioned. The upper ends of the moulds E are closed and pro-
vided with holes d, d, as before.
Figure 5 shows a part front elevation and part section, Figure 6 shows
a transverse section, and Figure 7-shows a plan of the base A of the
before-described arrangement of moulds for casting V-shaped ingots. For
this purpose the two inclined moulds E, E, are secured together by bolts
Fand G, so that their lower ends communicate with each other, as shown
at Figure 5, the metal passing in from the sprue mould C through the
runner D at the angle formed by the two moulds, which rest upon the
base A as before; B is, as before, a removeable block at the bottom of the
mould C. By this arrangement it will be seen that a V-shaped ingot is
produced, from each leg of which when cooled the moulds E are readily
removed, and after the sprue portion is cut off the ingot is straightened
out, forming an ingot of double the ordinary length.
It will be readily understood that in any of the above arrangements
by the introduction of properly formed cores into the moulds hollow
ingots for tubes or hollow shafting may be produced, but I do not claim
this as forming part of the present Invention otherwise than in com-
bination with the before-described improved construction of moulds.
Having thus described the nature of the several parts of this Invention,
and in what manner they are to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, what I claim is,-
First. Constructing cluster ingot moulds of a base A with removeable
dise B and sunk runners or gates D provided or not with a lining of
refractory material, which runners are covered in by the sprue mould C
and close tapped ingot mould E arranged simply to rest upon the base,
substantially as herein-before set forth.
Second. Inclining the ingot moulds at an angle to the sprue moulds,
substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
Third. Forming the ingot moulds so as to produce ingots with rounded
ends, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

page_text: Fourth. Producing V-shaped ingots by means of two inclined moulds,
the lower ends of which communicate with each other and with a sprue
mould, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Denton Abel, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of July, in 1
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.