CA1123571A - Wheel casting method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

WHEEL CASTING APPARATUS
Abstract of the Disclosure An arrangement for producing metal castings. A
pouring station for producing the castings is provided.
Molten metal is forced into permanent molds comprising cope and drag sections. A conveyor transports the castings through processing stations. Another conveyor transports the castings through processing stations.
Another conveyor transports the drag sections from the pouring station, through processing stations and back to the pouring station. Another conveyor transports the cope sections from the pouring station, through processing stations and back to the pouring station. Mold assembly and disassembly stations precede and follow the pouring station, respectively.

- i -

Description

EJB:cd 4/24/78 ~ ~3S~7~

Back~ound of the Invention The present invention relates to metal founding and more particularly to the physical arrangement and method _ of opera~ing of a foundry.
The present invention represents certain improvements ( 5 and refinements over the "Apparatus for Making Castings"
disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 2,999,281, assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
The apparatus disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 2,999,281 makes use of a single pouring tank. When empty, the ladle is required to be removed and refilled. As a res~lt~ the pouring operation must be stopped during the removal and refilling of the ladle.
Further, the conveyor system for the transport of the castings disclosed throughout the prior patent makes use of horizontally placed roller conveyors. This type of con-veyor system presents certain difficulties in the transport of castings of varyin~ diameters.
Finally, the casting processing system shown in the prior patent discloses a single conveyor system where the , . -- .
~ 20 castings are passed through a single inspection station.
:
This can lead to delays and backlogs in the casting inspection operation.
It there~ore is a primary object of the present in~en-tion to provide an arrangement for the production of metal eastings.

.~

EJB:cd 4/24/78 Yf~

It is a particular object of the present invention to provide a casting arrangement with a very short delay upon the emptying of one pouring tank and the substitution of _ a filled pouring tank.
It is a further object of the present invention to ( ` provide a casting arrangement capable of producing and handling castings of varying diameters easily and safely.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a casting arrangement wherein the processing of the completed castings is more efficiently accomplished due to the presence of a plurality of grinding apparatus and multiple inspection stations.

Summary of the Il~vention The present invention pruvides an arrangement for the production of metal castings by forcing molten metal in~o permanent molds each comprising cope and drag sections.
The arrangement includes a pouring station for producing the castings, ~he pouring station being adapted for ~he alternate acceptance of either of two pouring tanks. A
conveyor circuit is provided for transporting the castings through several processing stations. Another col~veyor is provided or transporting the drag sections through several processing stations. Another conveyor is provided ~or transporting the cope sections through a plurality of processing stations. The pouring station is so disposed as to form a common part of all three conveyors.

~L~ ~3 S ~

Brief Description of the Drawin~s Figure la is a diagrammatic plan view of a portion of a foundry plant embodying features of the present inven-tion, approximately one-third of the plant being shown in this view, and Figures lb and lc are views similar to Figure la, but show other portions of the plant not shown in Figure la; Figures la, lb and lc are intended to be read as a single combined figure along the lines X-X and Y-Y of the respective figures.

Detailed Descriptlon _f a Preferred Embodiment Referring now to the drawings, it will be seen that a foundry plant embodying the features of the present inven-tion comprises three contiguous sections or divisions: the melting furnace room, the molding room, and the finishing room, which are illustrated in Figures la, lb and lc, respectively.
l~ Although the details of the pouring structure and molds are not shown, s they do not form a part of this invention, it should be understood that the foundry plant to which this invention pertains is one adapted for pressure -f casting operations o the type disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 2,847,739, granted August l9, 1958 and assigned to the assignee of the present,invention. In this type of casting operation, molten steel is forced upwardly against the force of gravity by the application of fluid pressure EJ~:cd 6/1 ~3 ~ ~

thereagainst from a ladle~ disposed within a pressure tank or container, through a ceramic pouring tube mounted within the cover of the container into a bottom ingate of a mold disposed above the container and comprising cope and drag sections preferably formed of graphite. The cope section is provided with separately baked riser liners and also with a stopper assembly operable to close the ingate at the end of each pouring operation.
The essential features o~ this invention are the pro-visions for the pouring process and the arrangement of processing stations for the separate mold sections and for the molded castings.
As the casting process begins with the melting of scrap metal ~or the heat, the melting furnace room as seen in Figure la will be ~escribed irst.
The primary consideration with the location of the melting furnace room and its facilities is that the melting furnaces lO, preferably three in number, are located adjacent and in alignment, longitudinally of the plant, with the area of pouring, referred to as the pouring _ station 20. Each furnace has a spout 12. Furnaces 10 are preferably mounted so that the furnace doors are accessible from ground level 11 and so that the foundation o the furnaces are accessible from ~he foundation level 13 itself.

EJB:cd 6/12/78 ~ ~3 5~

Although the melting furnace room of the plant includes numerous subdivisions such as the laboratory and other subsections (not shown on the drawings), the subsection shown on the Drawing la is the scrap bin ` 5 area indieated generally at ~, which is disposed on the ; opposite side of the melting furnaces from the pouring station 20 and in longitudinal alignment with the melting furnaces lO so as to afford accessibility for a pair of traveling bridge cranes 4 and 14 on a common track 6 to all three stations or subsections of the plant, namely, the furnace area 8 and the pouring area 34 to a point sli~htly past the tube holding furnaces ~6.
The charge is transported fxom the scrap storage bins 2 to charging scale 5, and then to ~he melting furnaces 10 by crane 4.
: The furnaces 10, preferably three in number, are each preferably of twen~y-five ton (2~.5 metric ton) capacity and will supply a heat sufficient to pour approximately 40 castings of at least 815 pounds (370 kg.) each. In this example, the castings to be poured are `........... railway car wheels and the plant is designed to produce approximately 335 wheels per eight hour shift, or 1,005 - castings per twenty-four hour wor~in~ day. As the melting tLme of each furnace is approximately one And on -half hours and the cycle of operation of the mold EJB:cd 6/12/78 proces~ing operation, hereinafter described in detail, is approximately 40 complete molds at the rate of one per minute, by alternating the heats from the three furnaces, _ it will be seen that in less than one hour one of the furnaces will produce a heat sufficient to form 40 castings ~' or one complete cycle with respe~t to the processing of complete molds, Referring now to Figure lb of the drawings, it will be seen that a tube processing area 25 is located immedi-ately adjacent and to the left of pouring station ~0. This area includes tube processing area 25, which includes tube repairing area 27 and tube preheating area 29. Preheating area 29 contains three'tube preheating urnaces 28~ each capable of holding three tubes. Area 29 also contains two tube holding furnaces 26, each capable of holding one cover-tube assembly. Tube preheating furnaces 28 are used in heating the ceramic pouring tubes used in the pouring operation. This insures the availability of hot t,ubes for insertion into pouring covers and also for -- 20 use at the pouring station tank 22 in event of a failure ~- of the tube in use. The tube holding furnaces 26 are used to maintain temperature of the pouring tube. This insures the availability of a pouring cover for use on a pouring tank 22 to be brought onto the turntable -6-~

~JB:cd 6/12/i8 ~23~

at pouring station 20. The location of the tube processing area affords accessibility for two cranes 23 and 24 traveling longitudinally on a common track 21.
Crane 23, ~s seen in Figure lb, is known as the tube handling crane, and is used to transfer the pouring tubes f and covers from the tube processing and repair area to nd from preheaters 28. Crane 24 is known as the pouring crane and is used to transfer the pouring tubes to the pouring tank 22 in the pouring station 20. Crane 24 is also provided with a subcrane or transversely traveling mechanism (not shown) which is operable to transfer molds to and from the pouring station 20 from conveyors 30 and 32 in a manner hereinafter described.
Disposed adjacent opposite sides of pouring station ` 20 are a pair of aligned reciprocating pusher conveyors extending generally transversely of the oundry plant.
The re~iprocating pushing conveyor 30 on the lower side of the drawing is employed in the pre-pour operation~ and the reciprocating L shaped pusher conveyor 32 on the upper side of the drawing is employed in the post-pouring `~ operation.
; Each reciprocating pushing con~eyor (not shown in detail) is of the con~entional type comprising a plurality o rollers for supporting the mold sections and a hydrauli cally actuated reciprocating beam disposed below the ~3 ~

rollers and having a plurality of dogs for connection to ~he mold sections on the rollers. The beam ls moved in one dlrection a predetermined distance, in the case of conveyors 30 and 32 the distance is about S feet (1.5 m.).
In operation, this beam moves 1~5 m., thereby advancing each mold section to which it is connected a distance of 1.5 m. or one station. After moving forward 1.5 m. or one increment, the beam returns to its original position, with-out moving the mold sections, and repeats the original movement. Thus it will be apparent that once a mold section is placed on position (e) of c:onveyor 30 or positior. (a') of conveyor 32, it passes through all of the intermediate stations on the co~eyor.
Inasmuch as the disposition of the facilities and equipment of the molding and finishing room sections or the foundry plant, like those of the melting room section, are interwoven in their operation, it is believed that the invention can best be described by explaining the various operations of a co~plete cycle in the casting process at the same time, in order to avoid unnecess~ry repetition~
- ~ To return irst briefly to the operation of the melting room racilities, it will be understood that the charge is transported from the scrap storage bins 2 to the melting furnaces 10 by crane 4.

~J~:cd 4/~

S'~'~

The casting operation is initiated by tapping a heat from one of the furnaces 10 through spout 12 to a ladle (not shown) hanging on crane 14 above pit 15, which is just slightly below ground floor le~el, and the ladle is transported by crane 14 to slagging station 17 where slag is removed and then lowered into one of two below floor pouring tanks locations 16 or 18.
- T.he now empty pouring tank 22 previously in use is ~hen rolled to the empty location 16 or 18. Filled pouring tank 22 then is rolled over tracks 17 or 19 to pouring station 20, A pouring tube and tank cover assembly (not shown) are ~ransported by crane 24 to the pouring tank location 22 where the recently filled tank awaits. The tube and : 15 cover assembly are lowered into the tank 22 with the tube disposed to ex~end down into the filled ladle and with the cover closing the top of the tank around the tube, A drag assembly comprising a mold drag section and retainer (not shown, but hereinafter refèrred to as a drag) is transported by conveyor 30 from position (e) ~ i~. thereon to close down position (c) or (e) therein, whereat ; ~~ either one of a pair of longitudinally traveling mold close doT~n cranes 36 pick up a cope assembly comprising of a mold cope sec~ion and retainer (not shown, but hereinafter referred to as a eope) from position 38 of cope conveyor ~JB:cd 6/12/~8 ~ ~ 3 ~7~

146 or position 40 of cope conveyor 148 and places it on the adjacent drag to close down the mold. The assembled mold is then transported by conveyor 30 to position (a) thereon where it is picked up by crane 24 and placed on " 5 the tank cover in position over pouring tan~ 22. After the mold is checked and miscellaneous steps~ not essential parts of this invention, are completed, the mold is filled and is then transported by pouring crane 24 to position (a') of conveyor 32 as a new mold is placed over tank ~2.
During pouring of successive molds, the crane 24 remains over the tank 22 with the mold sections being carried by the subcrane (not shown) of crane 24.
The complete mold containing the casting (not shown) is then moved by conveyor 32 :Erom position (a') to position (1') thereon. At position (1') the copé is picked up by a trans~ersely t~a~eling mold splitting crane 42 and trans-ported to the a~jacent end of a roller type cope conveyor 44 which ~oves the cope along to an automatic feed control device or stop 90. Conveyor 44, like the other con~eyors herein~fter referred to, is a power driven roller type conveyor. Stop 90, like other stops or feed control devices hereinafter referred to, co~prises either a mechanism including arms movable into a position to engage and bloc~ further movement of an article traveling along the conveyor or a mechanism to stop a segment of EJB:cd 6/l~

.

~23~

the conveyor itself. The stops can be released auto-matically or manually, as necessary, so as to release one article at a time.
After the cope has been removed and placed on cope conveyor 44, the drag containing the casting is mo~ed by conveyor 32 to position (n') thereon at which point the casting is picked up from the drag by a transversely traveling hot wheel transfer crane 46 and placed on the end of one o~ three chain driven wheel kiln slot type conveyors 48.
A~ter the wheel has been removed, the drag is moved fr~m conveyor 32 at position (o') thereof by conveyor 50, at the end of conveyor 32 Conveyor 50 moves the drag to the powered lifting turn~able 52, which in turn lifts the drag free of the conveyor, ro~ates the drag 90 counter-cloc~wise and deposits the drag back on turntable 52 for travel to conveyor 54.
In order to describe the remainder o the plant ~ facilities and their operations 3 the processing routes of the drags, copes and castings, respectively, will be dis-cussed in that order.
Conveyor 54 3 a roller flight chain driven type con-veyor, transports the drags along to stop 56, behind which drags on conveyor 54 can accumulate to be released one at a time by s~op 56 to sandblasting station 58. The drag EJ~:c~ 6/

~3 ~

then proceeds to drag inspection station 60 where the drag is automatically tipped up at an angle to permit the removal of any foreign material and general inspection of the drag. The drag is then returned to the horizontal position with the mold cavity facing upwardly.
After the cleaning operation, the drag is moved to stop 62, where it is released to turntable 64, Turntable 64 (not shown in,detail) like all of the other turntables, hereinafter described, comprises a base and table rotatable thereon provided wi~h powered rollers which receive an article to be moved, stop ~ moving while the table rotates, and then move the article o~f the table to another set of powered rollers which move the article on to the next conveyor. The turntables can be set to operate auto-matically or by manual push button so as to move only one article at a ~ime as it is released by a feed control device. Here the drag is rotated 90 counterclockwise and then passed on to conveyor 65. Conveyor 65 moves the drag to stop 66, whereupon the drag is released to turntable 68. Here the drag is rotated 90 counterclock-' wise and then passed on to conveyor 69. Conveyor 69 advances the drag to stop 70. Stop 70 releases the drags one at a time to drag spraying station 72, which can accommodate two drags at a time. At spraying station 72, the drag cavity surface is sprayed with a mold coating.

EJB:cd 6/12/78 ~ ~3~'7~

Although the details are not shown, it will be under-stood that the drag spraying station or boo~h (as well as the hereinafter described cope spraying station~ is _ equipped with automatic means to lift and rotate the drag as the mold coating is applied.
( After the drag spraying operation is completed, the drag is moved to transfer car 73, which is movable on tracks 74 to permit the drag to move onto one of conveyors 76 or 78. The drag is then moved by conveyor 76 or 78 to stop 80 or 8h, respectively. Conveyors 76 and 78 (like-wise cope conveyors 146 and 148) are completely covered with a mold holding oven capable of heating or cooling as necessary. From there one drag at~a time can be released and placed onto one of ~urntables 82 or 86. The drag is rotated 90 counterclockwise and move~ to position (e) of conveyor 30, thus ending the cycle for p.ocessing of the drag.
After the cope has been picked up by crane 42 from position (1') of conveyor 32, it is moved along by con-veyor 44 to stop 90. From stop 90 each cope can be - released one at a timP to enter riser knockout stations 92 and 94. There the metal rîsers are automatically removed along with the spent sand core liners and the cope is then moved onto roller flight chain type conveyor 96. The cope is moved along by conveyor 96 to stop 98, ~ - -EJB:cd 6/1~/78 ~ ~ ~ 3 ~`7~

from which it enters turntable 100 After being turned 90 counterclockwise on turntable 100~ the cope is moved onto conveyor 102 which contains a temperature sensor (not shown). The cope is moved to stop 104, and onto turntable 106. After being turned 90 clockwise, the cope is moved onto conveyor 108. As the cope is moved along ~onveyor 108, the cope pauses benea~h dispensers 107 and 109, which have facility to fill the cope dome lining as required with sand and bake the cope dome.
The cope then passes to one of the corebakers 110 or 112.
After baking, the cope continues along conveyor 108 to roll over station 114, where tne cope is automatically tipped over to a cavity up position so .that excess sand is dumped from the riser holes. The cope then moves onto conveyor 116. Conveyor 116 moves the cope to stop 118, from which it is released onto turntable 120. After being rotated 90 clock~ise on turntable 120, the cope moves to cope cleaning station 122. After the cleaning operation, the cope is moved onto turntable 124 where it is rotated 90 cloc~wise. The cope then moves onto conveyor 126 and is moved to ~top 128. The cope is , ~ `
~_ released from stop 128 to enter rollover clean out station 130~ where the cope is once again tipped over to remove sand in the cavity left from the cope cleaner. It then exits from 130 with its cavity side up. ~:.

1: J b . I_ (i t) / 1' 1 ~ ~

3L~235 ~

The cope then enters onto conveyor 132 which moves the cope along to stop 133. The cope is released onto turntable 134 where it is turned 90 counterclockwise and then enters ont~ con~eyor 136. ~rom conveyor 136 3 the cope enters turntable 138 on which it is rota~ed 90 counterclockwise~ From turntable 138, the cope enters cope spraying station 140 which can accommodate two copes in a manner similar to the drag spraying station 72.
Here the mold coating is applied. From cope spraying station 140, the cope is moved into stopper setting station 142, where the stopper assembly is inserted.
The cope exits from station 142 with the cavity side down and enters transfer car 144, which is movable on tracks 145 to permit the cope to move onto one of two conveyors 146 or 148 covered by mold holding ovens similar to drag holding ovens over conveyors 76 and 78. The cope is then ved by conveyor 146 or 148 to stop 150 or 152, respectively, or until contacting cope immediately ahead. From there one cope at a time can be released to positions 38 or 40 Lor pickup by one of the closedown cranes 36. This ends the cycle for processing of the cope.
Thus it will be seen that there are provided generally parallel cope and drag pr~cessing assembly line type routes compactly and efficiently arranged and disposed in two generally rectilinear closed circuits with the drag circuit being circumjacent the cope circuit.

- ~J~ cd 6/l~i iG

The purpose of enclosure 160 in Figure lc is to pre-heat new or remachined molds. Three con~eyors 162 are provided to move new and remachined molds through the pre heat furnace. Monorail 165 is the means whereby molds are f 5 placed in and removed from the process cycle.
: Generally indicated at 166 on Figure lc is mold repair shop where old and new molds are remachined and assembled in a known manner.
Figures lb and lc show the processing of the casting, which in this example is a steel railway car wheel, after it leaves the pouring station 20, The wheels are poured and then they are placed on one of three power slat type conveyors 48 of the wheel kiln 170 by hot wheel transfer crane 46~
; 15 The wheel kiln, although enclosed to retain some heat therein, is not pro~ided with any heating means and its sole purpose is to permit the still hot wheels placed therein to cool gradually. As the wheels leave the wheel kiln 170 on one of the power slat conveyors '8, they enter a transfer car 172 which travels on tracks 173. From transfer car 172, the wheels enter a dumping station 174.
This is the first of several s~ations for processing and finishing the wheels.
After passing through dumping station 174 where the wheel is tipped to a vertical position to dispose of ~J L~ u ~ / 1 , / C) ~ ~35 7~

debris therein, the wheels enter pipe cut off sta~ion 176.
Next, the wheels enter sprue removal stations 178 and 180.
It will be understood that although the wheel must pass through both sprue removal stations 178 and 180, the actual sprue removal for one wheel ls accomplished at one of these stations. Each wheel then enters chipping station 182 where the residual riser material left from the sprue removal is chipped off.
The wheels then travel vertically to down ender station 184, where the wheels are set on their horizontal sides once again with flange up. The wheels then progress to stamping press 186 where they are hot stamped with the necessary markings such as date, serial number and wheel size. Next the wheels progress along conveyor 190 to one of three hub cutter stations 188. Each wheel stops at one of the three hub cutter stations 188 where a bore is cut through the cen~er of the wheel hub. From there the wheels continue down conveyor 190 to a lift 191.
There the height of the con~eyor is raised to continue

2~ to lowerator 192, where the conveyor height is lowered.
Fro~ lowerator lg2, the wheels continue to station 194 where they are rolled over back to the original flange down positi.on. The wheels then pass to conveyor 196 and to stop 198 The wheels are released from stop ~5 198 one at a time ~o roll ~orward and to be picked up automatically by a manipulator, indicated generally at EJB.cd 6/12/78 202, and transferred to rotating heat treatment furnace 200. The furnace is provided with a plurality of indexed stops so that each time one wheel is rotated from one position to the next, another wheel is automatically '~ 5 added by the manipulator 202 and another wheel is auto-matically removed from the furnace by a second manipuLator 204 and placed on a conveyor 205 to roll by gravity beneath transer conveyor 206.
The castings remain in the rotating furnace 200 for a heat treatment that lasts approximately 1-lt2 hours, which represents the time for one complete revolution of the furnace hearth.
As the wheels are carried by transfer conveyor 206, they can be directed to an opt:ional rim treatment process by en~ering horizontal conveyor 208. As the wheels are moved along conveyor 208, they enter roLlover 209 where the wheel is turned to a flange side up position. Fro~
rollo~er 209 the wheels enter conveyor 214 and are passed to one of a series of quenching stations 212. The wheels then enter turntable 216 which rotates and then exit onto ~_ conveyor 218, From there, wheels en~er onto turntab`Le 220 and then are passed to collveyor 222. At the end of con :-veyor 222, the wheels are up ended to a vertical position for entry into draw furnace 224. The rim treated wheels in passing through draw furnace 224 are tempered for EJB:cd 6/12/i8 ~ 3~'7~

about two hours. Upon exiting draw furnace 224, the rim treated wheels enter horizontal conveyor 226 and pass a series of hub cooling stations 228. The hubs of the wheels are cooled by the application of a fine spray of water for a short period o~ time. All the time that the wheels are on coIlveyor 226 the entire surface of each wheel is, of course, air cooled by the atmosphere surrounding the con veyor which is at ambient temperature~ The wheels move along conveyor 226 to upender 230.
: 10 As an alternative to the rim treatment process, the wheels on transfer conveyor 2()6 can be allowed to pass conveyor 208 and instead move onto slat conveyor 240.
When on conveyor 240, the wheels do not receive any rim treatment and move along to upender 242, As the wheels reach upending devices 230 and 242, the wheels are removed by a lift truck or similar means device (not shown) and moved to a storage and cooling area indicated generally at 250. There ~he wheels are placed vertically on edge to cool. The storage area is capable of holding all the wheels cast in ~hree eight-hour shifts, or approximately 1,005 wheels.
From the storage area, the wheels are moved by a lift tr~ck or similar means to a checker plate station 260. The wheels then pass to a lift station 261. From lift station 261, the wheels pass via a vertical conveyor 262. Vertical l ~ v i~ Ll ~ 23 ~

conveyor 262 is similar to other vertical conveyors hereinafter referred to 9 and comprises a rail and side supports which permlt the wheel to roll downward thereon.
The vertical conveyor itself does not move. From vertical conveyor 262, the wheels move downward to an apex grinding station 264, where the initial apex grinding is performed.
The wheels then pass through a vertical turntable 266 to a cleaning machine 268 where scale is removed ro~ the wheels.
From cleaning machine 268, the wheels pass via ver~ical conveyor 270 to an elevator 272 where they are raised for entry into the magnetic particle testing station 274 where the wheels are tested and marked under ultra-violet lighting for surface discontinuities. The wheels ~hen pass to an ultrasonic testing station 276 to scan for subsurface discontinuities. At this station, the wheels are selected to pass to one of three processing lines.
Prior to the processing lines, the wheels pass through an automatic Brinell testing station 278. Wheels that must be scrapped are passed through turntables 280 and 312 to turntable 314, then to turntable 316 and on to . .
scrap escapement lift 318. Wheels that are essentially devoid of discontinuities are passed through turntable 280 to turntable 312 and on to turntable 310 as further described below. The wheels entering vertical turntable EJ i~ d 3S''~'3L

280 that need further grinding are sent through turntable 280 ~o turntable 282 as further described below.
Specîfically~ the wheels needing further grinding pass via turntable 280 to turntable 282 and onto one of four ( 5 turntables 284. Lift 308 is provided between the second and third turntables. The wheels are directed by one of the turntables 284 to one of four vertical conveyors 286.
Passing via one of conveyors 286, the wheels pass through additional grinding stations 288 and 290. Fro~ there, the whee:Ls are directed by one o the turntables 292 to a turntable 294 and on to lift 300. The wheels pass from lift 300 to magnetic particle testing station 302 and ultrasonic testing station 304 for tests similar to those described previously. From the testing stations 302 and 304, the wheels that must be scrapped are selected to ~: pass through turntables 282 and 310 and onto turntable 316. From there the scrapped wheels pass to scrap escapement lift 318.
If the wheels need extensive àdditional grinding, they can again pass through turntables 284 and onto : : grinding machines 288 and 290 But if the wheels are .; acceptable, they pass to turntable 310 where they join the acceptable wheels ~ro~ turntable 312 in inal processing.

~3 ~ 7~

From turntable 310, the acceptable wheels pass to a downending station 320 where the wheel is lowered to a horizontal position. The wheels are passed one at a time to automatic warpage testing station 322. Acceptable wheels pass on to upending station 324 where they are returned to a vertical position. The wheels then pass into a superficial grinding station 326, turntable 328 and superficial grinding station 330. At grinding stations 326 and 330, any minor grinding is performed as required to complete the grinding of the wheel.
Turntable 328 rotates the wheel 180 between the ~wo grinding stations. From grinding station 330, the wheels pass to turntable 332. From here, wheels can be passed directly via vertical conveyo-r 342 to turntable 344, and onto vertical conveyor 348 and turntable 3S0~ From here, the wheels pass through the peening and boring operations described below. If a delay in peening and boring is desired, the wheels can be passed from turntable 332 onto vertical conveyor 334 to elevator 335. From there, the wheels pass to ver~ical txansfer car 336 and into one of the vertical storage conveyors 338. From vertical storage conveyors 338, the wheels pass to vertical transfer car 340 and onto vertical conveyor 341. Fro~ vertical conveyor 341~ the ~heels pass onto turntable 351 and onto turntable 350.

Ej~:cd 6/1

3~'7~

Next the wheels enter peening st~tion 352 where the wheels are subjected to a shot blasting. From peening station 352 the wheels pass to turntable 360 from which the wheels pass alternatively to one of downenders 361 or ( 5 362. If passing to downender 361, the wheel is placed horizontal and then moved to transfer car 372. From transfer car 372, the wheel is moved into boring mill 370 where the hub is bored. Boring mill 370 is powered by hydraulic equipment 371. The wheel then passes to transfer car 364 and onto conveyor 366. Before entering upender 375, the wheel is rol:Led over to dispose of boring chips. The wheel then passes to upender 375 and onto turntable 376. The next wheel will alternately come from downender 362. This wheel will be moved to trans fer car 364 and through boring mill 370. The wheel then moves to transfer car 372 and via conveyor 373 to upender 374. Similarly"as above, the wheel is rolled over to dispose of boring chips before entering upender 374O Here the whe~l is again placed vertically on its edge and moved to turntable 376.
From turntable 376, the wheels pass through hub chamfer station 378. The wheels then pass to final inspection station and scale 380. Here the wheels are taped, further inspected and stamped to indicate wheel diameter and bore size. From here, the whePls are ~iB:cd 6/12/78 ~5~ 35~

removed to a storage area indicated generally at 381. If desired, certain wheels requiring special boring can be moved ~o special wheel rest area 383 and then placed individually in special boring machine 379. The wheels ~ are then placed in storage area 381 and are ready for ( loading on railway cars, etc. (not shown).

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. In an arrangement for producing metal cast railway wheels by forcing molten metal by pressure upwardly into per-manent molds each comprising cope and drag mold sections and a pouring tube through which the metal is forced under pres-sure into the mold, the combination including:
a pouring station for producing the castings, an open conveyor circuit for transporting castings from the pour-ing station through a plurality of casting processing stations, said processing stations including an optional casting rim treatment station and a plurality of grinding stations;

EJB:kjc 3/9 a closed conveyor circuit for transporting the drag sections from the pouring station through a plurality of drag processing stations on a single conveyor and back to the pouring station on two conveyors;
another closed conveyor circuit for transporting the cope sections from the pouring station through a plurality of cope processing stations on a single conveyor and back to the pouring station on two conveyors;
said pouring station being disposed in a generally straight conveyor line which forms a common part of all three previously mentioned circuits;
a pouring tube and cover assembly station with pouring tube preheat station adjacent the conveyor line and in close proximity to the pouring station and means for transfer-ring preheated tubes and preheated pouring tank covers and pouring tubes to the pouring station as required;
a mold assembly station in said straight line path immediately preceding the pouring station;
a mold disassembly station in an L-shaped exten-sion of said conveyor path following said pouring station;
and a mold preheating station adjacent a portion of said drag conveyor circuit, wherein the improvement comprises said pouring station comprising a pouring location and two pouring tank filling locations, said pouring tank filling locations being joined to said pouring location by separate track means that enable a separate pouring tank to be rolled to and from each pouring tank filling location to said pouring location, and said conveyor circuit being adapted to trans-port a number of different diameter railway wheel castings by the adaption of certain sections of said conveyor to transport said wheel castings vertically.----2. A method of producing metal cast railway wheels comprising the steps of:
assembling a mold by placing a cope section on a drag section to close down the mold, moving said assembled mold along a conveyor to a pouring station, pressure pouring molten metal upwardly through a pouring tube into said mold from a covered pouring tank.
moving said filled mold along said conveyor to a mold disassembly station, where said cope is removed and said casting is lifted from said drag section, said cope section is placed on a cope conveyor and moved through a plurality of cope processing stations including cleaning core baking, application of mold wash and inspection, said cope is then moved to one of two conveyors from which it once again will be placed on a drag section to form a complete mold, after said casting is removed, said drag section is placed on a drag conveyor and moved through a plurality of drag processing stations including cleaning, application of mold wash and inspection, said drag is then moved to one of two conveyors from which is once again will be covered with a cope section to form a complete mold, after removal from said drag section, said casting is moved through a wheel kiln and several other processing stations, including sprue removal,hub cutting, optional heat treating and rim treating, cleaning, grinding and hub boring, wherein the improvement comprises the provision whereby said pouring tank may be moving into the pouring loca-tion along either of two tracks, and while said pouring tank is being utilized in the pouring operation, a second pouring tank is being filled and covered with a preheated pouring tube and tank cover at either of two pouring tank filling locations, so that when the pouring tank being utilized is emptied, it can be easily moved to one pouring tank filling location for refilling and the filled pouring tank can then be easily moved from the other pouring tank filling location to the pouring location, and said casting is moved through said plurality of processing stations by several vertical conveyor sections that enable the method to produce a number of different dia-meter railway wheel castings.--