Abstract: In a conveyor or other foundry equipment having surfaces protected by a wear plate secured to a structural part of the equipment, the wear plate is detachably secured by means of studs permanently secured to a structural part of the equipment. Heads of the studs cooperate with engagement flanges in keyhole-like recesses in the wear plate, all in such a manner that the wear plate can be detached by sliding it in a direction to disengage the flanges from the heads. With this arrangement, the wear plate can be attached and detached without the use of tools other than possibly a soft mallet, and without the use of screws exposed at the wear face of the wear plate. The arrangement can also be used to detachably secure a wear plate to other structural parts of foundry equipment such as a moulding chamber or a clamp.

Abstract: A step conveyor for fresh boxless sand moulds includes at least two sets of interdigitating parallel bars adapted to support and move the sand moulds. The top of each bar is covered or coated by a layer of a material with a considerably lower thermal conductivity than that of steel. In a specific embodiment, a top rail is secured to a base member by screws, and this top rail is made of a suitable synthetic resin, such as low-pressure polyethylene with ultra-high molecular weight. With this arrangement, the tendency for moisture from the fresh sand moulds to condense on the conveyor bars is considerably reduced or eliminated, thus reducing or eliminating the tendency for sand from the moulds to adhere to the conveyor bars.

Abstract: A manoeuvering system for a foundry plant for the automatic manoeuvering of heavy implements includes two carrier pins located on the same side of each implement. A carriage is movably mounted to a frame and a gripper including two jaws as attached to the carriage. This gripper is rotatably mounted to the carriage so that the implement can be rotated as well as moved longitudinally.