Patent ID: 6923239

Claim:
A method for casting parts for an internal combustion engine with a mold-core assembly formed from core sand mold elements and core sand core elements, said method comprising providing a plurality of mold elements formed from core sand and a plurality of core elements formed from core sand; assembling the plurality of core sand mold elements and core sand core element and providing thereby a plurality of mold-core assemblies for the formation of the outer and inner walls of a casting, each of said mold-core assemblies having a central parting line and a pour opening between two opposed sides thereof; providing a plurality of carrier assemblies adapted to pivotally carry said mold-core assemblies from an over head conveyor, each of said carrier assemblies comprising an open topped bottomless mold-core assembly carrier having a pair of downwardly converging side walls engageable with said two sides of one of said mold-core assemblies and maintaining the mold-core assembly together at its parting line while the mold-core assembly is being carried and filled with molten casting metal, said carrier assemblies further comprising attachment means for pivotally carrying the mold-core assembly carriers, said mold-core assembly carrier and said attachment means being connected by pivotal means permitting the mold-core assembly to be pivoted with respect to the attachment means, said attachment means being adapted and located so the open top of the mold-core assembly is unobstructed; transporting said plurality of mold-core assemblies and said plurality of mold-core assembly carriers to a loading station; pivoting said mold-core assembly carriers at the loading station so their open tops lie vertically, and inserting said mold-core assemblies into the mold-core assembly carriers through their open tops with said two sides thereof engaged with said converging sides of the mold-core assembly carriers and with the pour openings of said mold-core assemblies located within the open tops of the mold-core assembly carriers; pivoting the mold-core assembly carriers so the mold-core assemblies are carried with their parting lines substantially vertically orientated and their pour openings accessible through the open tops of the mold-core assembly carriers, and transporting the mold-core assemblies from the loading station to a pouring station; pouring molten casting metal through the open tops of the mold-core assembly carriers and into the pour openings of the mold-core assemblies, while retaining the mold-core assemblies together with the downwardly converging sides of the mold-core assembly carriers; allowing the molten metal to solidify into castings; unloading the castings and mold-core assemblies in an unloading station; and recovering and processing the core sand of the mold-core assemblies to provide a further plurality of mold elements and/or core elements.