Abstract: A device for temporary retention of a lifting element on a metal surface of a form during the concrete pouring and setting phases of a prefabricated concrete member includes a part which is designed to form a depression in a concrete section and is equipped with magnets for attachment to a metal surface of a form. The device includes a part having a flat face, a recess terminating at a face opposite the flat face and orthogonal thereto desinged to permit passage with sealing action of a lifting element, and a slot terminating in the flat face. A locking element is mounted in the slot and pivots around an axis transverse to the slot. The locking element has a hook which forms a bolt designed to ensure retention of a free end of the lifting element when the locking element is in an unlocked position in the slot.

Abstract: A disposable hot top board includes a compressible seal positioned along the outer surface of the board to form a seal between the bottom of the board and the mold wall. In a preferred form, the disposable hot top board comprises an insulating or exothermic material having a reticulated metal mesh embedded therein. A metal plate extends along at least a portion of the outer surface and a ceramic fiber strip extends along a bottom portion of the board. A perforated metal retention strip with a first end interwoven with the mesh and a second end extending outward from the board, is used with a big end up mold having a pair of slots. In addition to the standard internal wedge system, the board is forcibly retained against the ingot mold to compress the fiber strip into a seal by a rod which engages the metal retention strip in a wedging type relationship with the mold exterior.

Abstract: Novel method and means for securely attaching a liner of insulation boarding to the mold cap of a two-piece ingot mold, in order that the ingot mold will be capable of producing substantially void-free ingots.

Abstract: The granular insulation product is intended more particularly for the insulation, protection or processing of metal baths during their manufacture or transport. The product comprises a solid phase having a certain mineral matter content and an organic binder comprising cellulose-based pulp, and preferably paper pulp. The granulation is carried out under conditions such that the granules being formed experience no appreciable compression likely to break the structure of the solid phase containing the mineral matter.

Abstract: A hot top casing for cooperation with an ingot mold body is provided having a depending portion from which a pair of trunnions extend away from the casing and a second pair of trunnions extend toward said casing whereby each of said pairs are displaced vertically with respect to the center of gravity with one pair above and one pair below said center.

Abstract: A hot top consists of a number of sheets of insulating fibrous material. The principally vertical walls of the hot top consist of a number of sheets located close to and joined to one another. When the hot top is placed in an ingot mould, these sheets cover the upper part of the ingot mould walls. The hot top has an upper confinement consisting of one or more sheets of insulating fibrous material which cover the opening formed by the vertical sheets. One or more containers holding additives used in casting are arranged in the space under the confinement. In one preferred embodiment, the walls of the hot top, the upper confinement of the hot top and the hot top containers holding additives form a single unit matched to the dimensions of the ingot mould, so that in a preferred embodiment, the unit is assembled before the hot top is inserted into the ingot mould.

Abstract: An exothermic anti-piping composition of the type which is formed of a refractory heat-insulating material, an exothermic compound, and an expanding media, and wherein the expanding media is predominantly either vermiculite ore or perlite ore along with less than 1% by weight of acid-treated graphite flakes.

Abstract: A corner wedging consumable hot top for ingot molds is formed of four side board sections and four corner wedges made of a combustible consumable material capable of being wedged in opposed relation within an ingot mold so that the hot top formed thereby conforms with the cavity shape in the ingot mold and when ignited by the molten metal poured therein supplies heat to maintain a pool of molten metal as necessary for filling cracks and pipes in the cooling ingot.

Abstract: An attachment for use in anchoring a safety belt on a vertically extending supporting member such as a frame member of a concrete wall form side includes a plate-like bracket member and a connecting member extending outwardly from one face of the bracket member. The bracket member is disposed on one side of the supporting member and projects outwardly beyond a vertical free edge thereof in use, while the connecting member is inserted through an opening in the supporting member, which may be an opening provided for other purposes in a frame member of a form side, for securing the attachment to the supporting member. An opening is provided in the projecting portion of the bracket member, and it serves to receive an element of a safety belt for connecting the belt to the bracket member.

Abstract: A device and method for temporarily supporting a metallurgical side board in a predetermined position against a vertical surface of an ingot mold, comprising an attachment member, adapted for releasable attachment to a side board, connected to a counterbalance body by a chain. The point of attachment of the chain to the attachment member is offset, relative to the center of gravity of a side board attached thereto, whereby a component of the gravitational force acting on the side board presses the same against the vertical surface of the mold.

Abstract: This invention relates to an end cap to be fitted to an end edge of a hot top lining slab to receive a wedge member whereby in use the slab can be urged against the wall of an ingot mould, the end cap comprising a first portion to abut an end edge of the slab, and a second portion arranged to lie, when the first portion abuts the slab edge, against one major face of the slab, the second portion including a shoulder against which a wedge can be engaged, the shoulder being located spaced from the first portion and one end of the shoulder being more remote from the first portion than the other end of the shoulder.

Abstract: Preparation of particulate metallurgical hot topping compositions that react in situ to form a protective cover over the exposed surface of as-cast ingots. The compositions consist essentially of 9 to 33 percent by weight of oxidizing constituents, 40 to 65 percent by weight refractory constituents and 15 to 45 percent by weight of fuel constituent. Careful control of the quality and size of the major fuel constituent minimizes smoke evolution during reaction of the composition and subsequently if the covering is disturbed. By varying the ingredients in the hot topping composition, there can optionally be produced (1) a hard crust so that the as-cast ingots can be moved before a major portion of the ingot has solidified (2) a medium density crust for delayed addition of a highly exothermic hot topping composition, or (3) a low strength crust for "back-pouring" practice.

Abstract: Flexible hot topping liners having improved properties comprise refractory, deformable, self-supporting, fibrous liners which have, in their dry condition, flexibility, restitution and droop characteristics within certain defined ranges. In the preferred embodiment, the extensibility and compressibility properties are also maintained within defined ranges. Flexible sealing rings for sealing the joint between a headbox and an ingot mould are also disclosed.

Abstract: Ingot mould lining slabs have one or more apertures in their metal contacting face. Hooks are engaged in these and used to lift the slab from a stack and hang it in position in an ingot mould. The slab is then fixed to the mould wall, for example by nailing, and then the hooks are removed.

Abstract: A process of manufacturing killed steel ingots of superior quality by forming the sound hot top portion and reducing the concentration of nonmetallic inclusion in the mushy zone of ingot bottom, characterized by arranging on the molten steel surface immediately after the pouring of the molten steel into a mold, a board-like molded heat-retaining material in which lining of a layer consisting of easily-flammable material is made to an exothermic, diabatic layer consisting of crushed flat charcoal, a refractory material expansible by heating and a binder.

Abstract: An insulating composition useful for riser sleeves, hot tops, ladle liners, and the like articles for use in casting of molten ferrous metal is described. The composition comprises 30% to 50% refractory fiber, 1% to 35% granular silicon carbide, inorganic binder, organic binder, and refractory filler. Molten steel at temperatures on the order of 3,000.degree. F can be readily handled by the articles of this composition. They also afford superior heat insulating properties and in the form of riser sleeves allow molten metal in a riser to remain molten for a longer period before solidification.

Abstract: A hot top assembly for an ingot mould includes a number of side boards which line the walls of the mould, leaving at each corner of the mould a gap which tapers downwardly in width between the edges of two of the side boards, each of these gaps receiving a wedge member constituted by a plate which tapers downwardly in width and has at its downwardly extending edges integral margins shaped to engage both the end surfaces and the inner surfaces of the side boards. The two marginal portions of the wedge member are divided transversely into separate flanges, each extending over only part of the length of the wedge member, some of these flanges projecting forwardly from the central plate portion of the member, while the remainder project rearwardly therefrom. The two flanges or sets of flanges at each edge of the wedge member lying at such an angle to one another that they receive and locate the corresponding side board and the assembly is held firmly in position in the ingot mould.

Abstract: A retainer clip is formed from elongated rod or wire as a continuous L-shaped member having a pair of arms substantially at right angles to one another. Each arm has a resilient loop formed by bending the end portion of the arm through at least one complete turn. Each arm of the L-shaped member extends along of two sideboards in end-adjacent relationship with each other, biasing flatly against end-adjacent inner walls of the ingot mold. The end portion of each arm abuts the next adjacent sideboard orthogonally, the arm biasing parallel oppositely disposed sideboards against inner walls of the ingot mold. Each retainer clip thus thrusts one pair of sideboards, in end-adjacent relationship with each other, against coextensive inner walls of the ingot mold, and at the same time, thrusts against portions of two diagonally oppositely disposed sideboards also in end-adjacent relationship with each other.

Abstract: A moulding for the heat retention of feeder head top surface in casting molten metals is based on a mixture consisting of charcoal and a binder, and said charcoal is laminated with directional properties in the lateral direction. If circumstances require, the moulding may contain at least one component selected from the group consisting of thermo-expansible materials, organic binders and organic fibrous materials, and further when occasion demands it may be coated with a shell containing fibrous materials and a binder.

Abstract: The adjustable suspension system for suspending the hot top sideboard in an ingot mold comprises a bent hanger rod having one end positioned within the sideboard and adapted to be frictionally slidable along its vertical axis for vertical adjustment. The hanger is held in the desired fixed position by means associated with the sideboard which lock the hanger rod in place. The rod is normally L-shaped, but it may also be double bent. The means for locking the rod in the desired position can be strips such as metal strapping ridgily fixed in the hot top board and extending outwardly therefrom to lock the hanger rod in the desired position by wrapping the strips about the rod, extending the rod through the strips in appropriately positioned holes, hooking the rod to the strips by S-shaped hooks, or the like.

Abstract: This invention provides a novel sideboard construction, which includes at least one hanger rod of which a portion is embedded in the material of the sideboard, the sideboard also having a plate member equipped with a non-circular opening through which the hanger rod passes. The hanger rod section is also non-circular in the region of the plate member, and the relative dimensions of these two are such that the rod is rotatable within the opening between a first position in which it binds against edge portions of the opening, and a second position in which it does not so bind. The rod in the second position can be moved lengthwise through the opening, and in the first position is "jammed" or caught in the opening, and thus capable of supporting the weight of the sideboard as the latter is suspended inside the top of an open-topped metal ingot mold. The material of the rod is softer than the material defining the opening.