US1554972A - Sand gathering and delivering apparatus for molding machines - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 22, 1925. 1 ,554,972 J. C. MERWIN SAND GATHERING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS FOE MOLDING MACHINES Filed April 1a, 1921- s sheets-sheet 1 Sept. 22, 1925.

1,554,972 J. c. MERWIN SAND GATHERING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS FOR MOLDING MACHINES Filed April 1.6 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept. 22, 1925. n 1,554,972 1 J. C. MERWIN SAND GATHERING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS FOR 'IIQIJDING MACHINES Filed April 16, 192 :s shank-sheet s Patented Sept. 22, 1925.

UNITED STATES 1,554,912 PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN CLIFFORD MERWIN,',OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOB TO CHAIN BEIJI- COMPANY, 01 MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN.

SAND GATHERING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS FOR MOLDING MACHINES.

Application filed April 16,.1921. S er1a11\o.481,844.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, JOHN CLIFFORD MER- WIN, a citizen .of the United States, resid ing at- Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have 1nvented certain new and useful Improvements in Sand Gathering and Deliver ng Apparatus for Molding Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to apparatus used in foundries and comprises a portable carriage or truck that may carry one or more molding machines, and which is'provided with a hopper for the molders sand used in making the molds and with apparatus for taking the loose sand from the floor of the foundry and delivering it to the ho per.

In oundry practice it is now quite'common to employ power-driven molding machines supported upon portable trucks that are movable over the foundry floor. The molder upon one of these machines fills the molds from the sand contained in a hopper, places the completed molds upon the floor of the foundry to one side of or behind the machine as it isadvanced. The molds are subsequently poured and when the castings have cooled these are shaken out and the sand is deposited, usually in ridges, upon the floor of the foundry to be subsequently taken up and used again.

My invention has for its object to provide apparatus that takes the sand from the floor of the foundry, elevates it and delivers it into the hop er in condition for use in makin the mol s.

In t e accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view of an apparatu embodying my improvements;

Fig. 2 is a front end view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a side view of a somewhat diffei'ent form of machine embodying my invention.

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic plan view illustrating a portion of the train of gearingemployed in the machine illustrated in F igs.

1 and 2.

In the drawings, 2 indicates a portable carriage supported upon wheels 3 and carrying a hopper 4 adapted to contain molders sand. At one end of the carriage there is.

supported an upright .frame 5 carrying an elevator 6 of suitable construction, that indicated in the drawings being a bucket elevator, provided at its lower end' with a boot '7 into which the lower end of the elevator extends and into which the material to be taken up by the elevator is delivered. The upright supplemental frame 5 is bodily adjustable relative to the carriage 5- so that provided with a pair of supporting wheels 9 adapted to rest upon the floor surface when the frame 5 is lowered into working position. However, these wheels may be omitted, as representedin Fig. 3, the weight .of the frame 5 in that instance being carried entirely by the extension 8 of the carriage 2.

The frame 5 is provided with a gathering and conveying device 10'adapted to collect from thefioor of the foundry the sand that may be deposited thereon and deliver it to the elevator 6,- the boot 7 thereof in the construction illustrated. This gatherin device, which extends the full width 0% the portable machine or even somewhat beyond its sides, if this be found desirable, comprises a shaft 11 and collecting andconve ing blades 12. supported and are so disposed as to feed the material to the elevator. They serve not only 'to gather and feed the material but also todlsintegrate or break it up to a certain extent. The gathering device 10 is covered by a hood 13 at the lower forward .edge of which is located a s rinkler pipe 14 by means of which the san may be dampened whenever this is desirable.

The elevator discharges, at its upper end, into a chute 15 delivering to the hopper.

The frame 5 carries racks 16, vertically disposed, with which engage driven pinions 17 by means of which the frame as a whole may be lifted so that the gatherin device 10 will clear the material on the oor, as when the apparatus is being moved from place to place in the foundry without being in operation. I

The independent frame 5, which carries the elevator and the gathering devices, may

These blades are suitab yof the lation to the latter two. The advanta s of c this arrangement are that no very eavy load has to be moved in adjustin the frame 5; and it is possible to lift the rame but a little and there hold it and then operate the machine with the gathering devices raiseda little above the surface of the floor of the foundry and yet maintained in such relative position as to function properly. This may be desirable where there are obstructions or ine ualities in the foundry floor which might l e encountered by some of the parts thering device if maintained as close to t e floor as it would be desirable under normal conditions where the surface over which the carriage moves is perfectly smooth.

18 designates a motor supported upon the carriage 2. The motor shaft is connected by gearing 19 19 with one or more of the supporting wheels 3 and through this train, which should of course include a clutch, the apparatus may be propelled. The motor is connected through another train of gearing 20 with the shaft 21 carrying the lower tuming wheel of the elevator 6 and through this gear train the elevator is driven, the drlve, as is each other one in the machine, being provided, if desired, with a clutch, so that the art driven may be in operation or at rest as tlie operator of the machine may elect.

Still another gear train connectsthe shaft 21 of the elevator with the shaft .11 of'the 4O l 1 of driving connection, as shown in Fig. 1,"or

gathering device 10. This gear train may include a chain belt or other flexible form a train of ear wheels 22' as represented in Fi 3. e gear train just referred to and i1 ustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, comprises a pair of spur gears 31 connecting the-shaft 21 of the elevator with the" shaft 32' supported in the frame of the elevator parallel with the shaft 21, and a belt 22 connecting shafts 32 and 11. Another gear train includin with t e shaft carrying the pinions 17 by which the frame 5 is ad usted with reference to the floor surface. a

The hopper 4 is provided with. ates 25 by which the flow of sand to the mods 26 may be controlled. In order to insure a free flow of sand from the hopfig whenever the delivery gates or contro g valves are opened, I provide the hopper, with a vibrator 24. Any suitable form of vibrator may be used of sufiicient power to' impart the necessary agitation to the contents of the hopper, an electrical vibrator of usual construction being well adapted for this use.

A riddle or sand screen 27 is preferably a belt 23 connects the motor shaft interposed between the elevator and-the sand hopper. The screen 27 is represented as being operated by a pitman 30 connected with a crank driven from the head wheel of the elevator 6, as shown in Fig. 1.

In order to utilize the floor space of the foundry to the-best advantage the machines such as I have described should, in their ordinary uses, follow irected courses or paths, and for this urpose I provide rails with which the whees 3 of the portable ma-- chine engage. These rails should not pro-' ject above the floor of the foundry and I therefore. preferably form each rail of a pa r of parallel angle irons 28 spaced apart to leave a groove'29 between them in which travel the flanges of the wheels 3. One flangeof each angle iron is substantially flush with the floor surface and the other constitutes a wall bounding the groove 29.

' The operation of the apparatus herein describedns as follows, it being assumed that the art cles from a previous cast have been shaken out of the molds and removed and that the sand from which the molds were formed has been left on the floor of the foundry, and that a molder is about to begin the making and placing of the molds preparatory to another casting operation. The machine is run to one end of the pile of sand, the frame 5 being adjusted so that the gathering device 10 is lifted substantially above the floor space to clear the sand. Arriving at the end of the sand ridge the frame 5 is adjusted to'working position and advanced towardthe pile of sand with which the gatherin means 10 engage. The blades 12 0 this gat ererbreak up any large lumps or pieces of sand as the latter is moved toward the boot of the elevator where it is taken u through the frame 5, and delivered to t e hopper, being further broken up, screened and mixed by the riddle 27 before reaching the hopper. From the hop er the molder draws the sand as required y him in making his molds, the vibrator 24 insuring that the sand shall flow freely from the hopper whenever the delivery valves or gates are 0 ened.

The mec amsm for operating the molds is not'shown, as this may be of usual or pre ferred construction. The apparatus may be,

and usually will be, moved intermittently,

as the molder fills the space on the foundry floor in rear of the machine with the completed molds. Whenever the machine advances the gatherer 10 takes up the sand and delivers it to the elevator which in' turn delivers to the sand hopper as has been described.

While I have describedjmy invention as.

embodied in apparatus intended to be used in themaking of sand 'molds for metal castings, I do not thereby wish to be understood as restricting its useful applications to such apparatus as it may be used in other apparatus adapted to gather loose material from a floor surface over which the portable machine is caused to travel.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 15:

1. The combination with a carriage of a containing hopper carried thereby, an elevator for deliveringv material to the hopper, gathering means for collecting loose material from a floor surface over which the carriage moves and delivering it to the elevator, and a frame that carries both the elevator and the gathering means and ,is adjustable toward or from the floor surface relative to the carriage so that the gathering means may passover more or less of the material on the surface without engaging therewith. v

2. The combination with a carriage, a. ho per carried thereby, a supplemental uprig t frame, extensions from the carriage for supporting and guiding the upright sup- JOHN CLIFFORD MERWIN.

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