Patents Examined by J. Reed Batten, Jr.
  • Patent number: 5913355
    Abstract: A chill vent is provided with a cooling pipe around a zigzag-shaped gas exhaust passage, and made of a Be--Cu alloy which is superior in cooling power. An accelerated solidification of non-solidified molten metal entering into the chill vent is achieved, thereby effectively preventing flashing of the molten metal without complicating the construction or increasing the size of the entire facility.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 1997
    Date of Patent: June 22, 1999
    Assignee: NGK Insulators, Ltd.
    Inventor: Naokuni Muramatsu
  • Patent number: 5911269
    Abstract: Thermal expansion defects, i.e. veining, are reduced in iron, steel, and nonferrous castings by adding a lithia-containing material in a sufficient amount to the silica sand mold to provide about 0.001% to about 2.0% of lithia. The addition of lithia is accomplished by adding lithium bearing minerals such as .alpha.-spodumene, amblygonite, montebrasite, petalite, lepidolite, zinnwaldite, eucryptite or lithium carbonate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 1996
    Date of Patent: June 15, 1999
    Assignee: Industrial Gypsum Co., Inc.
    Inventors: John J. Brander, Ronald M. Kotschi
  • Patent number: 5909764
    Abstract: The caster includes a pair of movable opposed belts, each of the belts having a casting surface and a pair of movable opposed dam blocks including a plurality of dam blocks having one end mounted to an orbiting support and a casting surface opposite the mounted end. The casting surfaces of the belts and the casting surfaces of the dam blocks define a casting zone for solidifying the molten metal into cast metallic product. The caster also includes cooling plates/bars for cooling the belts while the belts pass through the casting zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 8, 1999
    Assignee: Aluminum Company of America
    Inventors: Adam J. Sartschev, Joshua C. Liu
  • Patent number: 5901774
    Abstract: The upper level of the pouring conveyor receives sand molds and conveys the empty molds to a pouring station wherein molten material is deposited therein to form castings. Each mold is provided with a supportive weight and jacket before pouring. After the castings have been poured, the molds are transferred to the lower level of the pouring conveyor for cooling purposes, and then back to the upper level to remove the weight and jacket. The sand molds are then transferred to the upper level of the cooling conveyor and are deposited into trays provided on the cooling conveyor. Each tray is adapted to receive a plurality of molds to enable the molds to move from serial to parallel movement. An indexable pusher arm is provided to accurately place each mold in a respective tray to insure proper spacing for uniform cooling. After each tray has traversed the upper and lower levels of the cooling conveyor, the molds are removed from the trays and the sand is broken away to reveal the castings for harvest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 11, 1999
    Assignee: Hunter Automated Machinery Corporation
    Inventors: William A. Hunter, William G. Hunter
  • Patent number: 5901777
    Abstract: A casting C obtained by solidification of molten metal by using a pair of water cooled casting rolls 2a, 2b is subjected to temperature adjustment in a temperature zone so that an austenite structure exists in its matrix. Thereafter, the casting is rolled by an in-line rolling mill 5 at a temperature ranging from 850.degree. C. to less than 1,350.degree. C. and at a reduction of 5 to 50%. In this way, overall variance of elongation of the steel material is kept within 5% in terms of the standard deviation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 1996
    Date of Patent: May 11, 1999
    Assignee: Nippon Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshikazu Matsumura, Yoshio Morimoto, Kiyomi Shio, Yoshiyuki Ueshima, Toshiaki Mizoguchi, Satoshi Akamatsu, Shigeru Ogawa, Kazuo Koyama
  • Patent number: 5901775
    Abstract: In order to effectively heat treat and decore a metal casting, and thereafter fully reclaim the core sand for reuse, a two-stage system processes metal castings and core sand formed of sand and binder. The two-stage system includes a first stage for removing the core sand from the metal casting while at the same time heat treating the metal casting, and it also includes a separate, second stage for reclaiming the core sand. For this purpose, fluidized and heated sand is utilized as the castings and sand are conveyed together in the first stage and the sand alone is conveyed in the second stage for recirculation of at least a portion of the sand to the first stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 11, 1999
    Assignee: General Kinematics Corporation
    Inventors: Albert Musschoot, Daniel T. Lease
  • Patent number: 5901772
    Abstract: A ring carrier, for use in a piston casting die, is an annular-shaped member having a channel on an outer surface area. The piston casting die includes projections for engaging the channel and supporting the ring carrier within the piston casting die. At least one of the projections is fixed and at least one other of the projections is movable into and out of the piston casting die. The movable projection includes a driving member for urging the movable projection into engagement with the channel for supporting the ring carrier at a predetermined position within the piston casting die.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 1996
    Date of Patent: May 11, 1999
    Assignee: Izumi Industries, Ltd.
    Inventor: Masaharu Hoshina
  • Patent number: 5899258
    Abstract: The ram device forces back components of a die cast machine, having platens that come together to form a product or cast, in order to free products from between the platens. The device has a base and a stem, wherein the stem is longitudinally connected to the base. The base can be releasably attached to a face of a die half wherein the stem is positioned opposite the component to be forced back. The die halves are closed together until a top of the stem engages the component to be moved and the force of the closing die halves is transferred through the ram device to force the component back.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 4, 1999
    Assignee: Versa Die Cast, Inc.
    Inventors: Philip N. Bear, Robert J. Krismer, Anthony J. Rupar
  • Patent number: 5899260
    Abstract: The mold comprises two crawler chains rotating in opposite directions and having facing chain strands, the chain strands comprising chain elements having complementary shells defining an ingot mold cavity of round cross-section therebetween. The complementary shells have intermeshing longitudinal edges movable transversely to the direction of rotation relative to each other, and the complementary shells are guided to reduce the round cross-section of successive ones of the mold cavities while being subjected to a compressive stress.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 4, 1999
    Inventor: Anton Hulek
  • Patent number: 5896911
    Abstract: A metal ground engaging tool (GET) component is selected. One or more critical wear surfaces on the GET component are identified. The GET component is selectively reinforced by depositing one or more metal matrix composite components at the one or more identified critical wear surfaces on the GET component. The metal matrix composite components consist of a reinforcement preform and a metal. The preform is formed from a material selected from one of ceramic, cermet, or mixtures thereof. The metal is selected from one of iron, alloy steel, or mixtures thereof. The reinforcement preform is present in the metal matrix composite in the range of about 30% to about 60% by volume.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 1996
    Date of Patent: April 27, 1999
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventor: Gerald A. Gegel
  • Patent number: 5891213
    Abstract: The surface tension of a sample quantity of molten iron from a batch of molten iron is determined and compared with the surface tension of the sample with the surface tensions of batches of molten iron that are known to solidify as respective different forms of cast iron. The surface tension of the molten iron sample is determined by adding the sample to a sample cup, submerging a device for introducing a noble gas into the molten iron of the sample, positioning a piezoelectric transducer at the bottom of the sample cup, administrating the noble gas at a constant rate through the device, measuring the temperature of the sample, and monitoring vibrations in the molten iron of the sample by recording signals from the transducer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 6, 1999
    Assignee: Sintercast AB
    Inventor: Steve Dawson
  • Patent number: 5887641
    Abstract: An injection device of a die casting machine including an injecting cylinder, in which a piston connecting to a piston rod is slidably thrust into a cylinder body and in which pressurized oil is fed to the side of the piston from a pressurized oil source and flows out from the side of the piston rod, and a servo valve controlling an injection speed of the injection cylinder device by controlling the amount of flow of pressurized oil that flows out from the injecting cylinder. The servo valve is directly attached to the cylinder body of the injecting cylinder and a flow channel connecting the injecting cylinder and servo valve is shortened.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 30, 1999
    Assignee: Toshiba Kikai Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Norihiro Iwamoto, Yukio Mizota, Masayuki Takamura
  • Patent number: 5884685
    Abstract: A rapid analysis device for analyzing nonmetallic inclusions in steel by a cold crucible method is combined with a mathematical model, and the quality of cast steel is predicted online by simulating the behavior. of the nonmetallic inclusions by calculation. Further, continuous casting process variables are controlled to minimize the amount of nonmetallic inclusions in the cast steel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 23, 1999
    Assignee: Nippon Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Kazushige Umezawa, Takehiko Toh, Makoto Tanaka, Eiichi Takeuchi, Takeo Inomoto
  • Patent number: 5881797
    Abstract: In a mould-pressing machine, atomizing nozzles with a vortex chamber deliver atomized liquid mixed with air through outlet apertures. The atomizing air nozzle or nozzles are constantly supplied with compressed air through a pressure conduit while the liquid nozzle solely receives liquid under pressure through a liquid channel and a slave valve controlled by the liquid pressure in the periods during which injection of liquid mist is desired. A first (upstream) vortex chamber is provided upstream of a second (downstream) vortex chamber, and between these two vortex chambers a flow path is provided to interconnect the two vortex chambers, through which flow path the liquid mist having been formed in the first vortex chamber is forced to pass and change its direction and velocity of flow at least one, thus reducing the droplet size of the liquid mist.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 16, 1999
    Assignee: George Fisher Disa A/S
    Inventor: Ole Oksby Hansen
  • Patent number: 5881798
    Abstract: The physical position of a block assembly on a support beam in a continuous block caster is adjusted and maintained. In particular, the apparatus includes at least one device for adjusting and maintaining the physical position of the blocks in a beam chain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 16, 1999
    Assignee: Golden Aluminum Company
    Inventors: Erich Luginbuhl, Marcel Witschi, Ernst Zurcher
  • Patent number: 5876616
    Abstract: The device is made up of two refractory plates, one of them fixed (15) and externally joined to the melt recipient and fitted with a hole matching the outlet nozzle of the recipient, and a sliding one (16) fitted with a refractory melted metal conveyance pipe, which sliding plate is fitted on a tilting frame (25) so that it is capable of sliding linearly. The sliding refractory plate (16) and the refractory pipe (5) are composed of two independent parts that are assembled upon a metal plate (11). The stationary (15) and sliding (16) refractory plates feature similar dimensions and structures and are fitted with a peripheral compression collar (2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 2, 1999
    Assignee: Deguisa, S.A.
    Inventors: Tomas Aurrekoetxea Ugalde, Gonzalo Guinea Ibarra
  • Patent number: 5875832
    Abstract: The apparatus includes a cylinder for holding molten material and a plurality of molds each having a plurality of cavities for receiving molten material. As the cylinder is rotated by a driving mechanism, the molten material is passed through a plurality of holes in a cylindrical wall which surrounds the holding area where the molten material is located, and into the cavities in the molds, which are transported in series beneath the cylinder as the cylinder rotates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 2, 1999
    Assignee: Dale L. Haberny
    Inventors: Steven H. Senser, Dale L. Haberny
  • Patent number: 5875830
    Abstract: Metallic articles having heat transfer channels are produced by solidification of molten metallic material about pre-formed channel defining members such that a solidified metallic deposit having heat transfer channels is formed. The channel defining members may be in the form of either solid elements (which are subsequently removed to leave the channels), or conduit elements (which may remain permanently embedded in the article). Moulds, dies, cores and other tools for use in moulding or casting of plastics and metals are particularly suitably formed by the process, the heat transfer channels being used for cooling of the respective articles during use. The molten metallic material is preferably deposited by spray forming utilizing one or more sprays of molten metallic material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 2, 1999
    Assignee: Sprayforming Developments Limited
    Inventors: Alfred Richard Eric Singer, Richard Michael Jordan, Allen Dennis Roche
  • Patent number: 5868192
    Abstract: The investment casting method uses the lost wax method and involves using a model to form a wax piece in the desired shape such as the shape of the snap element or the shape of two hinge halves, making a tree out of a multitude of the wax pieces, adding slurry and heating to create hard material having spaces shaped like the wax parts and then pouring molten casting material into the spaces in a vacuum environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 1997
    Date of Patent: February 9, 1999
    Inventor: Eduard Rabinovich
  • Patent number: 5865238
    Abstract: A Billet formed of an aluminum alloy matrix and ceramic particles is heated in an oxygen-containing atmosphere, forming an aluminum oxide surface and softening the matrix alloy. The semi-solid billet then is compressed in a die casting sleeve and the softened matrix material is displaced into a die to form the shape.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 1997
    Date of Patent: February 2, 1999
    Assignee: Alyn Corporation
    Inventors: Robin A. Carden, Thomas Flessner