Patents Examined by I.-H. Lin
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Patent number: 6871692Abstract: An apparatus and a method for the casting of metals comprising the steps of: indexing a mould (3) in series on a rotating carousel (2) to a pouring station (2.1), skimming station (2.2) and a mould transfer station (2.3); casting molten metal into the mould at the pouring station (2.1); skimming dross from the molten metal at the skimming station (2.2); transferring the mould (3) containing molten metal from the mould transfer station (2.3) to a cooling section (5) and replacing it at the mould transfer station (2.3) with an empty mould; transferring a cooled mould containing a solidified metal ingot (10) from the cooling section (5) to a demoulding station (7) remote from the rotating carousel (2); removing the solidified ingot (10) from the mould (3); removing the pin/hook members (11) from the ingot (10); returning the pin/hook members (11) to the empty mould (3); returning the empty mould (3) to the mould transfer station (2.3); and transferring the ingot (10) to the further processing.Type: GrantFiled: May 25, 2004Date of Patent: March 29, 2005Assignee: Outokumpu Oyj EspooInventors: Ernest Hamilton, David Beale
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Patent number: 6863115Abstract: A liquid-cooled mold for the continuous casting of metals, including mold plates made of copper or a copper alloy, which are supported at their rear on supporting plates by the use of a plurality of bolts. The bolts have bolt heads in the region of the backsides of the supporting plates facing away from the mold plates. Between the bolt heads and the supporting plate an articulation system making possible relative motion between the mold plate and the supporting plates is incorporated, having two articulation members, between which a sliding element is undetachably embedded.Type: GrantFiled: August 18, 2003Date of Patent: March 8, 2005Assignee: KM Europa Metal AGInventors: Gerhard Hugenschütt, Thomas Rolf, Dietmar Kolbeck, Hans-Günter Wobker
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Patent number: 6860313Abstract: A device for preparing moulding sand. The device includes a mixer configured to operate under at least a partial vacuum and at least one feeder to introduce components to be mixed. An inlet in the mixer is of sufficient size to allow rapid introduction of the components into the mixer from the feeder. The combination of large inlet opening and a pressure differential between the mixer and the feeder significantly reduces the time required to fill the mixer. In addition, the presence of the pressure differential made possible by the vacuum in the mixer reduces the likelihood that airborne contaminants resident in the mixer will migrate outside the mixer. Optional moveable conveyor chutes minimize contact of airborne contaminants with adjacent equipment, while optional mixing tools facilitate the introduction of powdered additives into the mixer.Type: GrantFiled: June 16, 2001Date of Patent: March 1, 2005Assignee: Maschinenfabrik Gustav Eirich GmbH & Co. KGInventors: Uwe Greissing, Dieter Adelmann, Paul Eirich, Herbert Durr, Winfried Diem
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Patent number: 6857463Abstract: A mold spraying system for emitting one or more sprayable materials onto portions of a mold, such as a die-cast mold, while the mold is located in a molding machine. The spraying system has an emitter, such as a spray head, for directing the one or more materials onto portions of each half of the mold when the mold is in an opened position between molding cycles of the molding machine. The spray head is connected to a manipulator for positioning the spray head between the mold halves. A pressure boosting unit is employed to ensure that the sprayable materials are supplied to the spray head at a sufficient pressure, notwithstanding any system pressure losses and/or the high frequency of spraying operations required to be performed as a result of a short molding machine cycle.Type: GrantFiled: July 16, 2003Date of Patent: February 22, 2005Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Todd Jordan, Tamotsu Kageshita, Kazuo Nishio, Bob Queen
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Patent number: 6857462Abstract: A high pressure die casting method including providing first and second accumulator assemblies, wherein the first accumulator assembly provides pressurized fluid toad die assembly while the second accumulator assembly provides pressurized fluid to remaining portions of the die casting machine. A barrel insert loader inserts cylinder barrels into the die assembly, and then the dies are closed to permit molten aluminum to be injected therein and thereby form the cast engine block. The dies include side gates and sub-gates through which molten aluminum is introduced into the mold. The dies are opened, and the cast engine is removed from the dies by operation of a robot arm, and a die spraying assembly is inserted between the open dies and sequentially sprays the dies, to clean and cool the dies in preparation for a subsequent casting operation.Type: GrantFiled: November 25, 2002Date of Patent: February 22, 2005Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Kiyoshi Sasaoka, Tomoyuki Okada, Tetsuo Yoshioka, Rick Zimmerman, Jim Lewis, Kazuo Yuze
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Patent number: 6857465Abstract: A process for producing a continuous-casting plant for producing these products and a submerged nozzle therefor and a continuously cast primary product, in particular broad slabs, having a thickness of the primary product D>100 mm and a width of the primary product B=2700 mm to 3500 mm at a casting rate vc<2 m/min in a continuous-casting plant.Type: GrantFiled: March 23, 2001Date of Patent: February 22, 2005Assignee: Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH & Co.Inventors: Josef Watzinger, Markus Brummayer, Philipp Gittler
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Patent number: 6854507Abstract: A system provided in a high-speed continuous casting plant for casting a metallic strand for automatically operating the high-speed continuous casting plant. In the system, the stopping or slide movement, the modification of the steel level, the heat currents through the mold walls, the temperature of the liquid metal and the drawing-off speed are measured over the casting time, supplied to a computer and compared with predetermined limit values for an automatic operating mode.Type: GrantFiled: June 4, 2004Date of Patent: February 15, 2005Assignee: SMS Demag AGInventors: Fritz-Peter Pleschiutschnigg, Stephan Feldhaus, Lothar Parschat, Michael Vonderbank, Thomas Ulke, Robert Victor Kowalewski, Rolf-Peter Heidemann
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Patent number: 6851466Abstract: A method of shaping a semisolid metal to provide shaped parts which are produced in a convenient, easy and inexpensive manner, without relying upon the conventional mechanical or electromagnetic agitation. The method includes feeding, without using a cooling jig, into an insulating vessel, a molten alloy containing an element for promoting generation of crystal nuclei and being held to be superheated to less than 100° C. above a liquidus temperature of the alloy; maintaining the molten alloy in the insulating vessel for 5 seconds to 60 minutes as the alloy is cooled at a cooling rate of 0.01° C./s to 3.0° C./s thereby crystallizing fine primary spherical crystals in an alloy solution containing a specified liquid fraction; and feeding the alloy solution into a forming mold for shaping the alloy under pressure.Type: GrantFiled: May 24, 2004Date of Patent: February 8, 2005Assignee: Ube Industries, Ltd.Inventors: Mitsuru Adachi, Hiroto Sasaki, Yasunori Harada, Tatsuo Sakamoto, Satoru Sato
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Patent number: 6848497Abstract: A metal distribution system for the simultaneous production of a plurality of logs or round billets from molten metal comprising: 1) a trough for the introduction of molten metal; 2) a plurality of side streams extending from the trough and each of the side streams including a plurality of opposing apertures each of the apertures including a thimble for the shaping of molten metal passing through the trough and the side streams and into the thimbles. A uniform flow of molten metal into the side streams and the individual apertures is provided by the controlled negative angular orientation of the most upstream opposing pair of apertures thereby providing relative uniformity of the temperature of molten metal reaching each of the plurality of apertures. A unique unitized thimble configuration and trough damming arrangement are also described.Type: GrantFiled: April 15, 2003Date of Patent: February 1, 2005Assignee: Pyrotek, Inc.Inventors: Alan R. Sale, Sylvain P. Tremblay, Richard J. Collins
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Patent number: 6845807Abstract: A core box assembly for casting a crankshaft. The core box assembly comprises axially aligned cores that define different axial portions of a cavity that receives molten metal to cast the crankshaft. Oil gallery cores are placed in the core box assembly to form as-cast oil galleries in the crankshaft. Heavy metal inserts are held by sand cores disposed in the portions of the cavity that form the counterweights of the crankshaft.Type: GrantFiled: September 23, 2003Date of Patent: January 25, 2005Assignee: Ford Motor CompanyInventors: Gene Frederic Baltz, Victor C. Zagorski
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Patent number: 6837297Abstract: The method allows fabricating a bottle mold having dissimilar metal inserts embedded in regions where the bottle mold is most subject to attack by hot glass, and has a glass contact surface with refined grain size. To fabricate the bottle mold, rough castings are made by pouring cast-iron into a composite mold having dissimilar metal insert blanks fixably positioned therein. The dissimilar metal insert blanks become embedded in the cast-iron matrix to form rough dissimilar metal inserts in the rough casting. The composite mold has regions formed by metal chills that are partially embedded in a sand mix. The chills and the exposed surfaces of the rough dissimilar metal inserts define a cavity surface of the rough casting, which is subsequently machined to provide the glass contact surface of the bottle mold. The chills refine the grain size of the cast iron at the glass contact surface.Type: GrantFiled: March 29, 2004Date of Patent: January 4, 2005Assignee: Kelly Foundry & Machine Co., Inc.Inventors: Joseph D. Dakan, Sr., Max L. Elza
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Patent number: 6837300Abstract: A lubrication control system for use with or in a metal casting mold. Aspects of the invention include a lubricant flow stop or plug which prevents or controls the flow of lubricant from the mold during non-casting times.Type: GrantFiled: October 15, 2002Date of Patent: January 4, 2005Assignee: Wagstaff, Inc.Inventors: Timothy James Cooper, Brett Thielman
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Patent number: 6834706Abstract: Sand, bentonite clay and organics recovered as foundry waste from a green sand mold foundry are reclaimed for reuse in making new green sand molds and mold cores by a multi-step process involving both hydraulic and mechanical separation steps.Type: GrantFiled: February 4, 2003Date of Patent: December 28, 2004Assignee: Foundry Advanced Clay Technologies, L.L.C.Inventors: Robert C. Steele, Allen James Huff
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Patent number: 6834707Abstract: The invention relates to a method and the apparatus required for carrying out the method for the continuous production of billets or ingots of metals, in particular steels and Ni- and Co-base alloys using the method of electroslag remelting and electroslag continuous casting in downwardly open water-cooled ingot molds, in which the billet issuing downwardly from the ingot mold is pressed against at least one guide element arranged rigidly in respect of its position with respect to the ingot mold axis, by at least one clamping element arranged opposite the guide element, in such a way that the regions of the billet surface which are in contact with the guide or clamping elements change within short intervals of time, wherein at least one of the elements is driven to withdraw the billet while the others move with the billet and a contact with a current source can be made by way of at least one of the elements.Type: GrantFiled: January 21, 2003Date of Patent: December 28, 2004Assignee: Inteco Internationale Technische Beratung Ges.m.b.H.Inventors: Harald Holzgruber, Wolfgang Holzgruber, Bertram Ofner
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Patent number: 6830095Abstract: A plug for sealing and resealing the passages for heating and cooling liquid in a casting mold. The plug includes a stainless steel socket head NPT plug which is screwed into the passage to seal it. Inboard of the plug there is mounted a resilient expandable silicone tubular element that is expanded by squeezing it to further seal the passage.Type: GrantFiled: May 5, 2003Date of Patent: December 14, 2004Assignee: Sidener Engineering Company, Inc.Inventors: Gregory L. Sidener, Douglas A. Webster
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Patent number: 6823930Abstract: The venting valve assembly for casting moulds comprises a venting valve for closing a venting channel. The venting valve comprises a valve housing in which a closure member is received that is movable between an open position and a closed position. The closure member can be frictionally locked in its open position and simultaneously biased in closing direction. For frictionally locking the closure member, a chamber is provided that can be put under a hydraulic overpressure. The chamber has a wall portion that bulges towards the closure member in response to the overpressure. The wall portion is resilient such that it moves back to a position releasing the closure member once the overpressure in the chamber is reduced. For reducing the pressure in the chamber, a release valve is provided which is controlled by a sensor detecting any casting material penetrating into the venting channel. The biasing of the closure member in closing direction is performed pneumatically.Type: GrantFiled: September 18, 2002Date of Patent: November 30, 2004Assignee: Fondarex SAInventor: Andreas Wuethrich
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Patent number: 6823928Abstract: A method for the manufacture of a three-dimensional object includes the steps of forming a mixture that contains a binder and a least one of aluminum or a first aluminum-base alloy into a green composite, removing the binder from said green composite forming a porous preform structure and infiltrating the porous structure with a molten second aluminum base alloy to form the three-dimensional object with near theoretical density. The green composite may be formed by an additive process such as computer aided rapid prototyping, for example selective laser sintering. The method facilitates the rapid manufacture of aluminum components by an inexpensive technique that provides high dimensional stability and high density.Type: GrantFiled: September 27, 2002Date of Patent: November 30, 2004Assignee: University of QueenslandInventors: Timothy Barry Sercombe, Graham Barry Schaffer
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Patent number: 6818073Abstract: Steel strips and methods for producing steel strips are provided. In an illustrated embodiment, a method includes continuously casting molten low carbon steel into a strip of no more than 5 mm thickness having austenite grains that are coarse grains of 100-300 micron width; and providing desired yield strength in the cast strip by cooling the strip to transform the austenite grains to ferrite in a temperature range between 850° C. and 400° C. at a selected cooling rate of at least 0.01° C./sec to produce a microstructure that provides a strip having a yield strength of at least 200 MPa. The low carbon steel produced desired microstructure.Type: GrantFiled: April 24, 2003Date of Patent: November 16, 2004Assignee: Nucor CorporationInventors: Lazar Strezov, Kannappar Mukunthan, Walter Blejde, Rama Mahapatra
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Patent number: 6810942Abstract: The invention relates to a device for the continuous casting of metals, especially steel, for use in a solidified-bending method. Said device comprises, downstream of the continuous casting mold, a straight strand guide (1) and a bending device (3) that releases the cast strand path (2a) so that the cold strand (5) can be introduced. The object of the invention is to utilize the height of the device that has so far not been used for supporting the strand or to reduce the height of the entire installation. To this end, the bending device (3) comprises a folding segment (9) that is pivoted on the fixed side (1a) and that is provided with a row of rollers (10) that limit the bending path (3c) in the operational position. The bending device further comprises on the loose side (1b) a loose element (11) that can be swiveled into the operational position (3b) or that can be swiveled out from this position.Type: GrantFiled: October 10, 2003Date of Patent: November 2, 2004Assignee: SMS Demag AGInventors: Karl Rittner, Günter Kneppe, Jürgen Müller
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Patent number: 6808005Abstract: When extracting the castings (5, 6) produced in a mould foundry plant, comprising an extraction station receiving the moulds (1, 2, 3) with solidified castings (5, 6) positioned in the mould cavities at the mould-parting surface between mould parts a part of the casting (5) to be extracted is gripped in a fixed position and orientation before opening the mould cavity containing said casting, said gripping providing a positive, fixed engagement between the gripping tool (8) and the casting (5), the mould cavity containing the gripped casting (5) is opened by removing a first mould part (1), the gripped casting (5) is extracted from the mould cavity, and the casting (5) is moved to a delivery position for further processing thereof. This provides a possibility of delivery of the extracted casting (5) in a well-defined position and orientation for the further processing thereof.Type: GrantFiled: June 10, 2003Date of Patent: October 26, 2004Assignee: Disa Industries A/SInventors: Anders Clemens Bloch, Michael Sander Jensen