Abstract: A binder for the production of sand cores and/or molds for foundries that includes sand mixed with an alkyl silicate, preferably tetraethyl silicate; an aqueous solution of an alkali metal silicate, preferably sodium silicate, which solution also contains an alkali metal hydroxide, preferably sodium hydroxide, where the ingredients in such mixture are preferably in given percentage ranges and are mixed until the sand shows a homogeneous aspect and constitution. Also method of manufacturing sand molds for foundries that includes mixing foundry sand with the aforementioned binder, blowing the sand mixed with the binder, having still between 0.5% to 2.5% of water, into a cold box by means of air that is at room temperature, and once the cold box mold has been filled with the sand, passing a hot air current through the sand to dry and harden the binder thus obtaining the foundry mold.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for improving the quality and mechanical properties of an aluminum alloy engine cylinder block or other large or complex castings by providing sand molds bound with a soluble binder only at locations on said casting from which rapid cooling for directional solidification and/or improved localized mechanical properties are desired with said molds being otherwise bound at the remaining locations only with a more typical insoluble binder.

Abstract: Casting method and apparatus for forming fluid cooling passages in the webs having a minimum dimension of 3 mm or less between iron cylinder liners in aluminum engine blocks by utilizing very thin pre-formed reinforced cores inserted between adjacent liners and conjoined with the outer water jacket core. The reinforced core is made of a supportive very thin reinforcing element, preferably in the form of a rectangular metal strip, or other material that withstands the casting process, with a thin coating layer that protects such element and permits its ready removal after formation of the casting, which layer may advantageously and inexpensively be formed of conventional casting sand with a typical binder.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for forming good quality strong webs having a minimum dimension of 3 mm or less between iron liners in aluminum engine blocks by utilizing pre-formed metallic inserts conjoined with the outer water jacket core, preferably having cooling liquid passages in such inserts bridging the outer water jacket and preferably shaped to fill the interliner gap and formed of the same alloy as the remainder of the block.

Abstract: Simplified heat-treatment in making aluminum alloys castings of the type improved by aging, especially for automotive engine cylinder heads and motor blocks. The castings, after solidification and extraction from their molds, each have an end product (workpiece) portion and a riser portion (the latter being ultimately cut off as waste). The workpiece portion of the casting is selectively quenched from solution temperatures down to about 120° C. by spraying water or other appropriate liquid preferably as a gas driven mist onto the surfaces of the workpiece while maintaining the riser portion of the casting essentially unsprayed at relatively significantly higher temperatures. After the quench, the residual reservoir of heat thus retained by said riser portion, by internal heat conduction, reheats the workpiece portion and maintains such workpiece portion for an effective time period within the temperature range for artificial aging, thus obviating any need for the aging furnace used by the prior art.

Abstract: Method and simplified apparatus for manufacturing aluminum alloys castings, for example those cast aluminum parts utilized in the manufacture of automobile engines: cylinder heads, engine blocks and the like; whereby the castings are cast in a plurality of semi-permanent-type molds, said molds each being movable to a plurality of processing positions along one of a plurality of preferably straight line paths (five in the preferred embodiment), wherein the operations of cleaning, core setting, casting, and casting extraction are performed on each mold at predetermined positions along its respective path and alternating said operations among the molds in order to permit minimization of the number of robot equipment and to increase the aggregate productivity of said molds, since any one processing operation can be handled by only a few (and preferably only one) robot arm moving across a plurality of mold paths (preferably seriatim), so that a given process step is performed at any one time only at one (or at lea

Abstract: Method and apparatus for simplified heat-treatment to harden aluminum castings made from heat-treatable aluminum alloys, especially with a copper content of up to 5%, such as the 300-T6 series, for example those cast aluminum parts utilized in the manufacture of automobile motors: cylinder heads, engine blocks and the like; whereby the castings are directly quenched before cooling below 400.degree. C. (and preferably immediately after demolding) without undergoing the conventional steps of natural cooling followed by a re-heating "solution" heat treatment (typically of at least 470.degree. C. for at least two hours, or for a shorter time at higher temperatures) which "solution" heat treatment requires excessive and expensive equipment, energy, and production time. This invention also has the unexpected beneficial effect of avoiding development of silicon spheroidization in the alloy matrix thereby resulting in improved machining properties.