Claims
- 1. In a foundry machine for forming a part from molding material and which is characterized by a mainframe (10), a work table (42) mounted on the mainframe for support tooling (24) including lower and upper cooperating mold boxes (28, 30) during portions of the machine operating cycle, each of the mold boxes having a cavity therein which jointly define a cavity in which the part is to be formed, table transfer means (46) mounted on the mainframe (10) for transferring the work table (42) between various loading, part-forming and part-removing positions, and supply means (52, 54) mounted on the mainframe for supplying molding material to the mold boxes (28, 30), the improved gassing manifold (32) comprising:
- an enclosed, substantially gas-tight chamber (281) for containing gas and defined by spaced upper and lower chamber-defining plates (270, 278), said upper and lower plates being connected in fixed relationship to each other;
- gas pipe connector means (282) for establishing a gas connection between said chamber (281) and a source of catlyzing gas (290) on the mainframe (10);
- a plurality of upper part ejector pins (280) extending from the interior of said chamber (281) downwardly through ejector pin openings in said lower plate (278);
- ejector pin actuating means (266, 272) mounted on the exterior of said upper plate (270) and operatively interconnected with said ejector pins (280) within said chamber (281), said actuating means (266, 272) being adapted to be selectively operated by an ejector pin operator (262, 264) mounted on the mainframe (10) to cause said ejector pins (280) to stroke downwardly from said gassing manifold (32) and into aligned cylinder pin openings in the upper mold box (30) to eject a part (388) therefrom;
- and gas exit ports in said lower plate (278) for providing an exit path for catalyzing gas from said chamber (281) to aligned gas openings in the upper mold box (30).
- 2. The gassing manifold (32) of claim 1 wherein said ejector pin openings in said lower plate (278) also serve as said gas exit ports.
- 3. The gassing manifold (32) of claim 1 which further comprises external coupling formation (74) adapted to be engaged by gassing manifold transfer means (68, 70, 72, 73) mounted on the mainframe (10) for laterally transferring said gassing manifold (32) into and out of alignment with said top face of the upper mold box (30).
- 4. In a foundry machine for forming a part from molding material and which is characterized by a mainframe (10), a work table (42) mounted on the mainframe for supporting tooling (24) including lower and upper cooperating mold boxes (28, 30) during portions of the machine operating cycle, the mold boxes each having a cavity therein and jointly defining a cavity in which the part is to be formed, table transfer means (46) mounted on the mainframe (10) for transferring the work table (42) between various loading, part-forming and part-removing positions, and supply means (52, 54) mounted on the mainframe for supplying molding material to the mold boxes (28, 30), the improved apparatus for handling tooling within a foundry machine comprising:
- first power-operated clamping means (360, 376, 378) mounted on the mainframe (10) for selectively clamping a molding material magazine (36) to the molding material supply means (52, 54) when said molding material magazine (36) is conveyed into a clamping position adjacent said molding material supply means (52, 54) to allow removal of said magazine (36) from said machine;
- transfer means (68, 70) mounted on said mainframe (10) for selectively engaging a combined gassing manifold and upper ejector pin unit (32) and laterally transferring said unit (32) between an operative position above said upper mold box (30) and a stand-by position laterally removed from the upper mold box (30), said combined manifold and upper ejector pin ejector unit (32) including a gas chamber (281);
- mold box separating means (76) mounted on the mainframe (10) for separating the upper and lower mold boxes (30, 28) from each other prior to and during part ejection and part removal therefrom;
- second power-operated clamping means (202, 186) mounted on the work table (42) for clamping the lowermost element (26) of the tooling (24) onto the work table (42); and,
- an ejector pin mounting plate (274) shiftably mounted within said chamber (281), said combined manifold upper ejector pin unit (32) including ejector pins (280) mounted on said ejector pin mounting plate (274).
- 5. The improved apparatus of claim 4 which further comprises second power-operated clamp actuator means (294, 298) mounted on the mainframe (10) for selectively engaging and actuating said second power-operated clamp means (318) adapted to clamp together said molding material magazine (36) and a blow plate (34) positioned immediately beneath said molding material magazine (36), said second power-operated clamp means (318) being mounted on one of said molding material magazines (36) and said blow plate (34).
- 6. The improved appartus of claim 4 wherein said mold box separating means (76) comprises hangers (76) mounted for lateral movement between a stand-by position providing clearance for the tooling (24) to be vertically conveyed by the work table (42) and an operating position in which the downwardly moving upper mold box (30) engages said hangers (76) as the work table (42) moves down, thereby arresting further movement of the upper mold box and supporting the upper mold box (30) as the lower mold box (28) continues downward on the work table (42).
- 7. The improved apparatus of claim 4, including ejector pin actuating means (266, 272) for actuating said ejector pins (280), said ejector pin actuating means (266, 272) including a plurality of push rods (272) engaging said ejector pin mounting plate (274).
- 8. In a foundry machine for forming a part from molding material and which is characterized by a mainframe (10), a work table (42) mounted on the mainframe for supporting tooling (24) including lower and upper cooperating mold boxes (28, 30) during portions of the machine operating cycle, each of the mold boxes having a cavity therein which jointly define a cavity in which the part is to be formed, table transfer means (46) mounted on the mainframe (10) for transferring the work table (42) between various loading, part-forming and part-removing positions, and supply means (52, 54) mounted on the mainframe for supplying molding material to the mold boxes (28, 30), the improved gassing manifold (32) comprising:
- an enclosed gas chamber (281) for containing gas and defined by spaced upper and lower connected plates (270, 278);
- gas pipe connector means (282) for establishing a gas connection between said chamber (281) and a source of catalyzing gas (290) on the mainframe (10);
- a plurality of upper part ejector pins (280) extending from the interior of said chamber (281) downwardly through ejector pin openings in said lower plate (278);
- ejector pin actuating means (266, 272) mounted on the exterior of said upper plate (270) and operatively interconnected with said ejector pins (280) within said chamber (281), said actuating means (266, 272) being adapted to be selectively operated by an ejector pin operator (262, 264) mounted on the mainframe (10) to cause said ejector pins (280) to stroke downwardly from said gassing manifold (32) and into aligned ejector pin openings in the upper mold box (30) to eject a part (388) therefrom;
- gas exit ports in said lower plate (278) for providing an exit path for catalyzing gas from said chamber (281) to aligned gas openings in the upper mold box (30); and,
- an external coupling formation (74) adapted to be engaged by gassing manifold transfer means (68, 70, 72, 73) mounted on the mainframe (10) for laterally transferring said gassing manifold (32) into and out of alignment with said top face of the upper mold box (30);
- said gas pipe connector means (282) including a first portion (282) secured to and movable along with said chamber (281) and a second portion (290) distinct from said first portion (282) and stationarily mounted on said mainframe (10) such that said first and second portions are relatively movable when said gassing manifold is laterally transferred by said gassing manifold transfer means (68, 70, 72, 73).
- 9. The gassing manifold of claim 8, wherein said first and second portions (282, 290) respectively include a pair of pins releasably held in axially aligned, end-to-end, abutting relationship with each other.
- 10. Improved apparatus for forming a part from molding material, and of the type including the combination of a mainframe (10), a pair of cooperating mold boxes (28, 30) mounted on said mainframe (10) for movement relative to each other and defining a mold cavity in which the part is formed, means (52, 54) for introducing molding material into said cavity, means (32) for introducing a gas into said cavity to cure said molding material within said cavity, and means (280) for ejecting the part from said mold boxes (28, 30) after said molding material has been cured, wherein the improvement comprises:
- said gas introducing means including an enclosed, substantially gas-tight chamber (281) for containing said gas and defined by first and second spaced apart, chamber-defining plates (270, 278), said plates (270, 278) being connected in fixed relationship to each other, said first plate (270) including a plurality of openings therein;
- said gas introducing means (32) including means (282, 290) for delivering said gas into said gas chamber (281);
- said ejector means including a plurality of part ejector pins (280) respectively extending through said openings in said first plate (278);
- means (274) disposed within said chamber (281) for mounting said ejector pins (280) within said chamber (281); and,
- means (266, 272) connected with said ejector pin mounting means (274) for driving said ejector pin mounting means (274) to cause said ejector pins (280) to stroke through said openings into contact with a cured part to eject said part from one of said mold boxes.
- 11. The improved apparatus of claim 10, wherein said mounting means includes a shiftable ejector plate (274) mounted within said chamber, and said ejector pins (280) are secured to one of said ejector plates in respectively aligned relationship to said certain openings.
- 12. The improved apparatus of claim 11, including means (276) within said chamber for normally biasing said ejector plate to shift in one direction said that said ejector pins (280) retract from said mold boxes.
- 13. The improved apparatus of claim 11, including means (266, 272) mounted on the exterior surface of said chamber and connected with said ejector plate for driving said ejector plate to shift.
- 14. The improved apparatus of claim 13, wherein said driving means (266, 272) is mounted on said second plate (270).
- 15. The improved apparatus of claim 10, wherein said openings in said first plate are aligned with openings in said mold boxes (28, 30) and are configured to allow gas in said chamber (281) to flow into said mold cavity.
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of co-pending application Ser. No. 07/034,233 filed on Apr. 2, 1987 now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (5)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
1170834 |
Nov 1969 |
GBX |
2024070 |
Jan 1980 |
GBX |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
34233 |
Apr 1987 |
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