561,461. Disconnectable pipe couplings. WILLIAMS, W. J. Oct. 7, 1942, No. 14101. [Class 99 (i)] [Also in Group XXII] A rotary moulding machine has a rotor 23, Figs. 1 and 2, carrying pattern plates 25, means for intermittently driving the rotor about a horizontal axis 20, means for performing the operations incidental to the formation and removal of a half mould in successive rest periods. At each rest period a flask 38 is inserted in the pocket 24 at position I and retained by spring catches 35. At position II a measured charge of sand is dumped, by the semi-rotation of a drum 48, into the flask, jarring plungers 75, are operated by fluid supplied by a pipe 74,'make-and-break coupling 76a, and cock 102a operated by a cam 244, and the margin of the sand in the flask is compressed by a frame 61 which is moved down by levers 61, shaft 64a, lever 65, spring- returned rod 67, and cam 225, the pattern plate 25 being supported by bars 33. During the movement of a mould from position II, its surface is slightly consolidatedby a spring- pressed roller 114. At position III a hollow board 148 is supplied from a.pile in a shoot 150 by a spring arm 154 of a spring-returned lever 156 which is oscillated by a pin, 162, on a rotating cam 135, the board 148 being forced into the flask by a spring-returned slide 136, operated by the cam 135. During the movement from position III, the board is retained by a spring-pressed segment 117 and at position IV it is received by a hollow table 171. Adjacent this position flask-retaining catches 35 are withdrawn by fixed cams 36 and the bars 33, which have inclined slots 32, Fig. 4, engaged by pins 30a fixed in the rotor and are normally pressed by fixed cam 34 towards frame member 22, are moved away from this member by a fixed cam 134 thereon and are thereby separated so that they no longer engage the pattern plate, and at position IV this is lifted from the mould by the platesupport 26 and piston 27, Fig. 2, which is moved by a hydraulic plunger 71 being forced in by a cam 94. A spring-pressed tongue 98 then engages a slot 71a in the plunger and retains it in its innermost position. While the plate 26 is being raised, a vibrator 29 is actuated by fluid supplied through a flexible pipe 29a, make-and-break coupling 76 and cock 102, operated by a cam 246. During the drawing operation the table 171 is kept in position by air supplied to its ram 247 by a cock 233 which is kept open by a cam 242, but, after this has been turned through two-thirds of its revolution, it allows the cock 233 to close and an exhaust cock 234 to open so that the table 171 lowers the mould onto 'conveyer belts 172. During the next movement of the rotor, the shaft 201, which is driven from the rotor shaft 20 by a chain 195 and gears 197, 198, is given one revolution thereby traversing the belt 172 and mould and turning a cam 239 which, after about one third of its rotation, -raises an arm 238 thus turning on the cock 233 to raise the table and, after #th of its rotation, releasing said arm, the cock 233 being by this time held open by the cam 242. During the movement of the. empty pocket 24 from position IV, the slot in the plunger 71 slides from the tongue 98 onto a fixed rail 94a, Figs. 2 and 4, by which it is pulled out, to allow the piston 27 and pattern plate to fall into their original position, and is so retained until it again reaches position IV. During this movement also the catches 35 are released and the bars 33 returned to their pattern-supporting position. The supports 26 are hollow to accommodate each a doublefaced pattern-plate and, if a cope is being formed, the corresponding support has fixed pins 41 which pass through holes in the plate 25 and handles 37. The rotor 23, the camshafts 219, 224, and measuring drum 48 are intermittently rotated by mutilated gears and the, cam-shaft 203 is continuously-rotated. Normally each. pocket 24 is supplied with a flask as it reaches position I, but sometimes it may be convenient to use only one. pocket, the drum-rotating mechanism being modined so that it delivers sand only to the pocket in use. The position of the rotor 23 is corrected, after' a rotation of something over 90‹ given to it by a mutilated gear 192, by a spring-returned rod 230, Fig. 5, which is advanced by cam 231 to engage a ratchet 227 and turn the rotor 23 in reverse direction till a second ratchet 226, carried thereby, is arrested by a fixed pawl 228. The make-and-break couplings 76a and 76 each comprise a socket on the member 22 containing a rubber &c. block with a passage through it to its exposed face and a spring- pressed nozzle carried by the rotor 23 so that as this rotates the nozzle engages an incline on the socket and comes to rest in engagement with the rubber block and with the passage therein in alignment with the passage through the' nozzle.