Abstract: In a casting furnace employing a liquid metal bath to allow directional solidification of an article from a melt, and a method of operating such a furnace, a system is provided for lowering the mold from within a heating chamber into a liquid metal bath situated immediately beneath the heating chamber. An automated system is provided for automatically maintaining the level of the liquid metal bath at a relatively constant position immediately beneath the heating chamber, wherein simultaneously upon the level of the bath having risen due to immersion of the mold within the bath, the bath is lowered to thereby permit the level of the liquid metal bath to be maintained in a substantially fixed position.