Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus for use in Moulding Moulds for Casting Steel Ingots or Blooms.
Year: 1898

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus for use in Moulding
Moulds for Casting Steel Ingots or Blooms.
I, EVAN DAVIES, of Myrtle Cottage, Graig, Landore, Glamorgan, Foundry
Moulder, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to moulding moulds employed in the process of casting
steel ingots or blooms. It consists in machinery or apparatus whereby the pre-
paration of such moulds is facilitated and their conveyance expedited.
According to this invention a moulding pit is sunk to a suitable depth from
the level of the ground and a bed or base plate is laid at the bottom of the said
pit. The pit is lined on all sides with plates. On the bed or base plate stands
a table situated at or about the middle of the pit. This table is bolted to the
bed or base plate. The body pattern" of the ingot mould stands on the said
table and is secured thereon by a bolt passed through the pattern and through
the table below which a nut is screwed on to the bolt after the pattern has
Teen put into place.
**
Extending over the mouth of the pit is a platform which is normally kept
raised to the top of the pit by counterweights slung on wire ropes which are
conducted over pulleys. Centrally situated in the platform is an aperture which
is closed by a die plate of the kind usually employed to serve as the base of an
ingot mould moulding box. The moulding box is, by means of a crane, or its
equivalent, placed in position on the die plate and over the pattern. The counter-
balance weights are thus outweighed, and the platform descends to the table
at the bottom of the pit and is received on the table and on pillars or stools.
standing on the bed or base plate. The die plate, in which is the usual aperture,
descends about the pattern, and the aperture in the die plate fits the pattern at
the foot. The sand is now rammed in between the pattern and the inside of
the moulding box and when this operation is completed the moulding box is
drawn up clear of the pattern by the crane.
The platform is fitted with a screw by which the parting of the mould from
the pattern when the mould is ready for removal is facilitated.
The platform and die plates are caused by the weights to ascend with the
moulding box and when the platform reaches the floor level the moulding box
is taken away for charging with molten metal to form the ingot mould.
Guide rods fixed at foot in the bed or base plate and at the top in brackets,
keep the platform level in its travel. Stops are provided at top to prevent the
platform rising beyond the proper height.
The pattern remains on the table in the moulding pit, and is only removed.
when a different one is required. It is readily removed by withdrawing the bolt
which holds it on the table. The nut below the table is unscrewed and the bolt
drawn out from the top.
By placing packing blocks upon the stools or pillars aforesaid the extent of

page_text: downward travel of the platform may be varied and thus the length of ingot
moulds may be varied without changing the pattern.
TJ
1111
T
1000
NICHOLAS WATTS,
Chartered Patent Agent, Bristol.
2
Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus for use in Moulding
Moulds for Casting Steel Ingots or Blooms.
I, EVAN DAVIES, of Myrtle Cottage, Graig, Landore, Glamorgan, Foundry
Moulder, 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:-
This invention relates to moulding moulds employed in the process of casting
steel ingots or blooms. It consists in machinery or apparatus whereby the pre-
paration of such moulds is facilitated and their conveyance expedited.
According to this invention a moulding pit is sunk to a suitable depth from
the level of the ground and a bed or base plate is laid at the bottom of the said
pit. The pit is lined on all sides with plates. On the bed or base plate stands
a table situated at or about the middle of the pit. This table is bolted to the
bed or base plate. The "body pattern" of the ingot mould stands on the said
table and is secured thereon by a bolt passed through the pattern and through
the table, below which a nut is screwed on to the bolt after the pattern has
been put into place.
Extending over the mouth of the pit is a platform which is normally kept
raised to the top of the pit by counterweights slung on wire ropes which are
conducted over pulleys. Centrally situated in the platform is an aperture into
which fits a die plate of the kind usually employed to serve as the base of an
ingot mould moulding box, and having a central aperture for the passage of the
body pattern. The moulding box is, by means of a crane or its equivalent,
placed in position on the die plate and over the pattern. The counterbalance
weights are thus outweighed, and the platform descends to the table at the
bottom of the pit and is received on the table and on blocks or stools standing
on the bed or base plate. The die plate, in which is the usual aperture, descends
about the pattern, and the aperture in the die plate loosely fits the pattern at
foot. The sand is now rammed in between the pattern and the inside of the
moulding box and when this operation is completed the moulding box is drawn
up clear of the pattern by the crane.
The platform is fitted with a screw by which the parting of the mould from
the pattern when the mould is ready for removal is facilitated.
The platform and die plate are caused by the weights to ascend with the
moulding box, and when the platform reaches the floor level the moulding box
is taken away for charging with molten metal to form the ingot mould.
The pattern remains on the table in the moulding pit and is only removed
when a different one is required. It is readily removed by withdrawing the bolt
which holds it on the table. The nut below the table is unscrewed and the bolt
drawn out from the top.
Referring to the accompanying sheets of illustrative drawings, Fig. 1 repre-
sents in transverse vertical section a moulding pit fitted with machinery or
apparatus in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section

page_text: taken on the line,, Fig. 3, which is a sectional plan from which the lifting
platform is omitted.
The moulding pit, excavated below the ground-line y, y, is lined with plates a
and has a bed or foundation plate at bottom, constituting the floor of the pit.
On the plate b, and bolted to it, stands. a table situated at or about the middle
of the pit. Through a hole in the table c is passed the bolt holding the
Lody pattern e in place. Blocks or stools extend up from the plate which
is furnished with shoes in which the said blocks or stools et fit.
Adapted to extend over the mouth of the pit is a platform f which is normally
kept raised to the top of the pit-as seen at Fig. 1-by counterweights g hung
on the wire ropes / running on the pulleys i and connected to the platform f
Centrally situated in the platform f is an aperture into which fits the loose die
plate of the kind usually employed as the base of a moulding box for ingot
moulds. The die plate has à central aperture for the passage through it
of the body pattern e in the lowering of the platform f. In the platform fis
a man-hole having a cover-plate /. Near it is hung a chain or other collapsable
ladder m, as seen at Fig. 1. By this ladder the moulders descend into and
ascend from the moulding pit.
The method of operation is as follows:-
The platform being in the normal or raised position shown at Fig. 1, the
manhole cover is removed and the moulders descend by the ladder m to the
foundation plate b. The moulding box in which the mould is to be made is,
by means of a crane or its equivalent, placed in position on the die plate and
over the body pattern d. The addition of the moulding box to the platform f
causes the counterweights to be outweighed, and the platform consequently
descends to the table and blocks c, carrying the moulding box with it. The
aperture in the die plate loosely fits the body pattern at foot. The moulders
now mount the platform and ram in the sand between the box and the body
pattern, and when this is completed the platform f and moulding box are ready
for being drawn up. Drawing up is effected by a crane or other suitable lifting
appliance. In order to overcome any adhesion of the moulded sand to the body
pattern e and so to obviate displacement of the moulded sand, lifting screws are
provided in the platform. Each of these screws of which one is shown at
an enlarged scale at Fig. 4, works in a screw-threaded hole in the platform f
and bears at its lower extremity on a metal plate secured on the top of a
block carried in a shoe 72 provided in the base or foundation plate b. When
the moulding box has been charged with the sand, and the mould is completed
and is ready for raising, the said screws are, prior to lifting the platform f.
by the crane, turned so as to raise the platform f and moulding box to an extent
sufficient to overcome adhesion of the sand to the body pattern. The crane is
then put into operation to lift, and when the platform has been lifted to the
top of the pit the moulding box is taken away to be charged with molten metal
to form the required ingot mould.
Fixed guide rods o, passed through bushed holes in the platform f, keep it
level in its travel. The cottars 7 passed through the rods o and partly bedded
in the brackets q prevent the platform from rising above the required height.
The body pattern e remains on the table c in the moulding pit and is only
removed when a different one is required to be used. It is readily removed by
unscrewing the nut of the bolt d.
By placing packing blocks on the pillars or stools aforesaid, the extent of
downward travel of the platform may be varied, and thus the length of ingot
moulds may be varied without changing the pattern.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. Machinery or apparatus for use in moulding moulds for casting steel ingots

page_text: or blooms, consisting of a fixed table such as e contained within a moulding
pit and adapted to carry the body pattern, and of a counter-weighted platform
such as arranged to ascend and descend in the said moulding pit and adapted
to carry the die plate for the moulding box; the arrangement being such that "
on the moulding box being deposited on the die plate, the platform descends and
the moulding box receives the body pattern, and when the moulding box is
raised the platform follows it, substantially as hereinabove described with reference
to the accompanying sheets of drawings.
2. The provision of screws such as in the platform f, and blocks such as p
on the base or foundation plate, so arranged as to be adapted for raising the
platform and the mould box about the body pattern and so to obviate disturbance
of the contained rammed sand, substantially as hereinabove described with
reference to the accompanying drawings.
3. The combination of parts constituting the improved machinery or apparatus
for moulding moulds for casting steel ingots or blooms, constructed, arranged
and operated substantially as hereinabove described with reference to the accom-
panying sheets of illustrative drawings.
Dated this 5th day of April 1899.
NICHOLAS WATTS,
Chartered Patent Agent, Bristol.