IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MAKING MOULDS FOR CASTINGS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Howard, of Bedford, Agricultural Implement
Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MAKING MOULDS
FOR CASTINGS."
Sealed the 27th May 1856, and dated the 5th February 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Howard at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th February
1856.
I, JAMES HOWARD, of Bedford, Agricultural Implement Maker, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MAKING
MOULDS FOR CASTINGS, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel mode of moulding patterns, the object
being to facilitate that operation, and to produce more perfect impressions in
the sand than has heretofore been readily attainable. To this end, I mount
the pattern, say, a toothed wheel upon a table, to which I give a steady vertical
motion (by means of a sliding mandril, or slide guides, actuated by a screw and
gearing, or their equivalents), in order to raise the pattern into the flask, and
withdraw it when the sand has been rammed.
On the under side of the moulding box or flask, which is to receive the sand,
I fit a plate (which I call a moulding plate), shaped (like a stencil plate), so
as to present the counterpart figure of the profile of the pattern. This plate
is fixed to the bed of the machine, and the pattern is raised until it fills the
spaces formed in the pierced moulding plate; I then fill the flask with sand,

page_text: and having rammed it in the ordinary way I withdraw the pattern from the
mould.
The plate exactly fitting its pattern forms a support for the sand, and thus
the edges of the mould will be preserved sharp and unbroken. Instead of
using mechanism for removing the pattern from the mould thus formed, this
operation may be done by hand. In casting perforated or open articles, such
as wheels, it will be necessary to provide a means for sustaining the inner or
detached parts of the plate, which correspond to the spaces between the arms
of the wheel. This I effect by the use of pillars or connecting pieces. When
moulding wheels, with hollow bosses, I make provision in the upper and lower
portions of the mould, to ensure the perfect perpendicularity of the core or
casting pin, and thus obtain a wheel that will run true without requiring to be
bored.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Howard in the Great Seal Patent Office on. the
5th August 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HOWARD, of Bedford, Agricultural Implement Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by. Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of February, in the year of our Lord
Ono thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Howard, Her special license that I, the said James
Howard, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Howard, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
APPARATUS FOR MAKING MOULDS FOR CASTINGS, upon the condition, amongst others,
that I, the said James Howard, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 Howard, do hereby declare the

page_text: nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to a novel mode of moulding patterns, the object.
being to facilitate the operation of moulding, and to render skilled labour in
a great measure unnecessary.
My Invention applies more particularly to the moulding of articles having
interstitial vacuities, as, for example, wheels with radial arms, and plough and
other frames, but it may be also used with advantage in preparing moulds for
It is well known that
solid castings, or castings with indents or recesses.
sand moulds, when well rammed up, are liable to injury from the lifting out
of the patterns, and many plans have been proposed for facilitating their
withdrawal from the moulds, and thus preserving the sharpness of the
impression made in the sand; but these plans, or such of them as relate to the
starting or separating of the pattern from the overlying sand by mechanical
means, are not, so far as I am aware, applicable to the moulding of articles
having an annular or reticulated figure.
In, the accompanying Drawings I have shewn my improved apparatus,
whereby I am enabled to mould these kinds of articles as well as solid articles
with precision and despatch.
Fig. 1 is a vertical section, and Fig. 2 is a plan view, of an arrange-
ment of apparatus for protruding the pattern into the flask or mould box,
and for withdrawing it therefrom when the sand is rammed. This appa-
ratus, which for convenience is made double, is fitted for the purpose of
moulding plough wheels. Two patterns are provided, one to mould the wheel
and one part of the boss, and the other to mould the other portion of the boss.
In the several arrangements which I shall describe, it will be seen that one
principle of construction pervades the whole, in so far that the bottom of the
flask or moulding box presents the counterpart figure of the profile or plan of
the pattern, and it is thus formed to permit of the pattern rising through. the
space or spaces in the plate, and of its withdrawal through the plate when the
moulding is completed. a, a, is the table of the machine, supported by
standards b. Below the table is a hollow cylindrical guide c, c, in which works
5 a hollow sliding mandril or piston d. This mandril carries the pattern to be
moulded, and by its vertical movement the pattern is raised into the mould
box e (which is supported immediately above it), and lowered therefrom as
required. At its lower end the mandril or piston is fitted with a female screw,
in which a screwed shaft f works, for the purpose of raising and lowering the

page_text: mandril. A bevil wheel gis keyed to this shaft, and into the wheel g a pinion h
takes for driving the same. The axle of this pinion is supported in suitable
bearings carried by the main framing of the machine, and it receives rotary
motion from a hand wheel i, keyed to its upper end. k is a moulding plate,
forming a bottom to the mould box; it is supported by columns standing up
from the table a. The construction of this plate is shewn best in the plan
view, Fig. 2, wherein the wheel pattern is shewn as fitting the spaces made
in the plate. In order to support the parts *, *, of the plate k, I connect
them to the outer portion of the plate by horse-shoe shaped brackets m, Fig. 1;
or they might be supported by columns standing up from the table below, or in
any other way, so long as these parts are caused to retain their position, and
yet allow of the pattern dropping clear of the mould. For the purpose of
facilitating the removal of the pattern and mould plate from the apparatus
when a change of pattern is required to be made, I attach the pattern to a
plate d, which is temporarily secured (by key bolts) to the head of the
sliding mandril, and I adjust the pattern horizontally by means of adjusting
screws.
The moulding plate merely rests upon the table a, it being supported, as
above stated, by columns, which screw into the under side of the plate. In
order, therefore, to change the pattern, it is only necessary to strike out the
keys from the bolts which hold the plate d* to the mandril head, and that plate
will be free to be lifted off, together with the pattern, without disturbing the
adjustment of the pattern.
The operation of moulding, by this apparatus, may be thus briefly described:
The mould box or flask having been placed upon the moulding plate k, and
the pattern brought up so as to protrude to the required extent into the box
(which position is determined by an adjusting screw n, pendent from the
mandril head, and provided with stops for the purpose), the sand is thrown in
and rammed up in the usual manner. When this operation is performed, the
workman by means of the hand wheel i lowers the pattern, and a perfect
impression is left in the sand; the mould is then free to be lifted off the plate
without risk of disturbing the moulded sand, or injuring the sharp edges of
the impression thus produced. When casting wheels, like that represented in
the Drawing, I drop a loose metal collar on the shoulder of the boss, and
on the withdrawal of the pattern the collar is left in the mould. Chills or a
smooth facings may be thus obtained better than in casting in moulds prepared
in the ordinary manner.
By the side of the apparatus first described, I provide a second plate /*,
fitted to receive the pattern of the boss of the wheel; which is protruded

page_text: through the plate by means of a vertical rod or mandril o, that slides in guides
provided to receive it. This mandril o is slotted to receive the end of an arm p
affixed to a rock shaft q, to the other end of which a hand lever r is keyed.
The depression, therefore, of the lever r, will draw the pattern out of the box,
and the lifting of the lever will carry it up through the mould plate. A stop
must also be provided in this arrangement for determining the height which
the pattern shall be lifted.
Fig. 3 shews, in sectional elevation, and Fig. 4 in plan view, an arrangement
for moulding several small articles, or copies of an article simultaneously. The
moulding plate shewn detached at Fig. 5 is, as before explained, a counterpart
in profile of the article to be moulded, which, in this example, is a cap for a
plough wheel. Four patterns of this cap are shewn as mounted on the four
arms of a horizontal cross a, which slides in guides formed in the angles of a
rectangular box b, affixed to the table of the apparatus. A central rod c.
carries the pattern, and it is worked up and down in its bearings by means of
a rock lever d, supported by a bracket bearing e pendent from the table. One
end of the rock lever protrudes through a slot in the sliding rod c, and the
other end is jointed to a link, attached by a swivel to a screw shaft f,
which passes up through the table, and works in a female screw provided to
receive it. A hand wheel g, keyed to the screw shaft by being turned, will
raise the patterns as desired into the mould box or flask, and when the opera-
tion of moulding has been performed (as explained), it will lower the patterns
out of the box, leaving, as in the arrangements above described, the sand
supported by the moulding plate.
Fig. 6 shews, in vertical section, and Fig. 7 in plan view, a modification of
the first-described arrangement suitable for preparing moulds for heavier
castings. This arrangement of mechanism, it will be seen, is fitted with a
pattern of a plough frame, which like the wheel, has interstitial vacuities, but
which are intended one or more of them to be filled in in the casting with a.
thin sunk pannel.
This I effect by forming openings through the pattern at the sunk parts,
and by giving increased thickness (or prominence) to the moulding plate at
the parts which correspond to the opening in the pattern that is to be closed
in the casting. The pattern I mount, as before described, on a table or plate,
carried by a hollow sliding mandril d, and this mandril I actuate by means of
a screw shaft f, driven by bevil gearing g, and a worm and worm wheel h, as
will be well understood on inspecting the Drawing. The part k' of the mould-
ing plate k I support by brackets and adjustable screw rods 1, 1, which may be
caused to protrude through part of the plate to any required amount, deter-

page_text: minable by the thickness or depression of pannel required in the plough frame.
For supporting the sand which enters the bolt holes in the pattern, and form
what are technically called "cores," I provide chaplets or adjustable stops k³,
which are connected to the plate k by brackets, and form virtually part of that
plate. In the bolt holes I drop a nail, or other rigid substance, to allow, as is
well..understood. by moulders, the sand to centre round it and form a strong
core; the pattern having being raised to the required position above the mould-
ing plate, and the flask set over it, the sand is rammed down, and a counterpart
of the face of the pattern presented to the sand is obtained, the pattern is then
lowered, and the, flask is; removed. To complete the mould, the other side
of the plough frame is presented to the sand (by preference in another and
similar machine), and the, impression of that side is in like manner taken.
From these examples it will be seen that my Invention is applicable to the
moulding of a great variety of articles, and that; by reason of the parallelism
of the pattern being always preserved, and provision being made for the 'sup-
port of the edges of the moulded sand; perfect, and rapid moulding may be
.ensured.. :
Having now set forth the nature and object of my Invention, of improved
apparatus for making moulds for castings, and explained the manner of carry-
ing the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in
part recited Letters Patent, I claim,-
"
First, the use of, a sliding rod or mandril, or its equivalent, for carying
up the pattern through the moulding plate into the mould box or flask,
and withdrawing it therefrom when the operation of moulding has been
effected.
Secondly, the use of moulding plates, constructed as herein described, for
sustaining the moulded sand, and allowing of the withdrawal through them
of patterns, of which the wheel and plough frame, shewn in the Drawings, aro
the type.
And, thirdly, the general arrangement of the apparatus, as herein described
with reference to the several Sheets of Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Howard, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fourth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
TLACTA
TANT
ממוזICII
JAMES HOWARD.
HOW aD. (...)