US3362677A

US3362677A - Spring holder

Info

Publication number: US3362677A
Application number: US447126A
Authority: US
Inventors: Jr William M Folberth
Original assignee: Progress Wire Products Co
Current assignee: Progress Wire Products Co
Priority date: 1965-04-12
Filing date: 1965-04-12
Publication date: 1968-01-09
Anticipated expiration: 1985-01-09

Description

Jan- 9 1968 w. FOLBERTH, JR 3,352,577

SPRING HOLDER Filed April 12, 1965 BYM Sg/HS, ma MY United States Patent Office 3,362,677 Patented dan. 9, 1968 3,362,677 SPRING HLDER William M. Folherth, Er., Lakewood, Ohio, assigner to Progress Wire Products Co., Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Apr. 12, 1965, Ser. No. 447,126 6 Claims. (Cl. 249-202) ABS lf CT OF THE DISCLOSURE A wire product device for use in connection with hot top means for ingot molds and particularly a unitary wire structure adapted to be stressed in use for securing and holding heat insulating sideboards around the inside of the upper end of an ingot mold.

It is common practice in pouring molten metal into ingot molds to take steps to retard the cooling of the molten metal at the top of the mold while cooling and solidiflcaion of the remainder of the ingot takes place. By doing this, the characteristic shrinkage of the cavity at the open end of the ingot is reduced and the ingot yield increased. One yway of providing a hot top means is to line inside surfaces of the upper end of the ingot mold with insulating material or insulating sideboards. The upper ends of ingot molds are conventionally rectangular in plan and four separate sideboards are used. Such sideboards help to maintain the temperature of the molten metal in the top of the mold by impeding the transfer of heat from the molten metal to the mold.

Certain problems occur in using insulating sideboards, however. The sideboards are positioned and secured before the ingot mold is filled with molten metal. They must be fastened securely enough to resist being floated away and up from the wall by the rising molten metal as the ingot is poured. Any means for securing the sideboards to the inner surface of the mold must not encrouch upon the open upper end of the mold nor interfere with pouring molten metal into the mold. It is also important that the sideboards are able to be so secured easily, quickly, and inexpensively.

Therefore, it is a general object of this invention to provide means for holding insulating sideboards and the like inside the upper ends of ingot molds, which means overcome the problems mentioned above. A particular object is to provide such means by an assembly of wire components separately formed and fastened together to provide a unitary device able to satisfactorily and simultaneously secure a number of separate sideboards on all sides of the inside or inwardly facing surfaces of the upper end of an ingot mold. Another object of this invention is to provide such as holding device that is resiliently overstressed to enable it to be conveniently installed within the open top of an ingot mold with sideboards in position, and which is then relieved of some of the overstress to bring it to a condition of lesser resilient stress and into pressing engagement with the sideboards which in turn are pressed against the inside walls of the mold. Another object is to provide such a wire holding device that intrudes but slightly into the opening in the upper end of an ingot mold when installed in place to secure insulating sideboards. Yet another object is to provide such a unitary wire sideboard holder that is easily and inexpensively installed and which itself is relatively inexpensive to make and use.

. These and other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the -disclosures of the accompanying drawings and the following specification and claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE l is a perspective view of a wire sideboard holding device embodying the invention and shown in an unstressed condition;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view in enlarged scale of a portion of the holding device shown in FIGURE 1 and showing parts of the holder as they are held in a stressed condition during installation;

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of the upper open end of an ingot mold showing the holding device of FIGURES 1 and 2 positioned in the mouth of the mold engaging and securing insulating sideboards to its upper inside wall surfaces; and

FIGURE 4 is a partial side elevation view in enlarged scale and partly in section taken in the plane of line 4-4 of FIGURE 3.

As shown in FIGURE l, the wire holding device comprises a rectangular frame 10 of heavy wire. Attached to each of the four corners of frame 10 is a resilient circular spring 11. Each spring assembly 11 is formed of a piece of heavy wire bent through about 450. This forms a resilient loop 12 somewhere near the middle of the wire piece from which two

arms

13 and 14 extend and are resiliently supported in the plane of loop 12. In its unstressed condition, the included angle between

arms

13 and 14 of each spring 11 is preferably somewhat greater than The free ends of each of

arms

13 and 14 are each turned back upon themselves and away from the included angle and between them to form

small eyes

15 and 16, respectively. Also, one of the arms, such as arm 13 as designated and shown in the drawings, is preferably shorter than the other, or arm 14 as shown, the relative proportions of

arms

13 and 14 corresponding generally to the relative proportions of the width and length of rectangular framework 1t).

Springs 11 are xedly attached to framework 10 by superimposing a corner 17 of framework 10 on a resilient loop 12 of spring 11 and welding the two together at their intersections indicated in FIGURE 2, for example, at 18 and 19. When frame 10 and spring assemblies 11 are arranged as described above and the

arms

13 and 14 of the springs are freely extended and otherwise unstressed, the arms reach outwardly and away from frame 10 at an angle somewhat less than 90 thereto and preferably at only a slight acute angle. The resilient loops 12 permit all of the

arms

13 and 14 to be moved toward that part of frame 1t) adjacent their own point of attachment thereto and thereby to be stressed and develop a force tending to resist their inward displacement.

Arms

13 and 14 and frame 10 all lie in the same general plane close thereto.

FIGURE 3 of the drawings shows the wire holding device described above in holding position in the upper open rectangular end of an ingot mold M and securing four sideboards S to the inner wall surfaces W of mold M. Ingot mold M as shown is intended to be representative of ingot molds in general employed in the iron and steel industry, for example. It will be understood, of course, that the wire holding device comprehended by this invention can be shaped and proportioned for use in connection with ingot molds of different shapes and proportions than mold M shown in the drawings.

As seen in FIGURES 3 and 4, the wire spring holder is positioned in the mouth of mold M with

arms

13 and 14 of springs 11 all displaced inwardly toward frame 1t) from their unstressed positions and in resiliently urged and pressing engagement with the inwardly facing surfaces of sideboards S. Contact between

arms

13 and 14 and sideboards S is preferably made by

eyes

16 and 17 as shown. Each sideboard S is engaged by two

eyes

15 or 16 at the ends of an arm from each of two circular spring assemblies 11. In this manner, the wire holding device holds and secures the four sideboards S along and against the inwardly facing wall surfaces W of mold M.

It is apparent from the installed View of the holding device in FIGURE 3 that the frame 10 must have lesser outside dimensions than the inside clearances between the inwardly facing surfaces of the sideboards S when in place against the wall of the mold. Further, the relevant frame and spring assembly 11 dimensions must permit all the

arms

13 and 14 to be drawn toward the frame far enough and held in a stressed condition to allow the holding device to be fitted and installed in the mold and within the lining of the sideboards. Also, when the arms are released from the installation position and stressed condition, they must reach and engage the sideboards at a point short of their free and unstressed position and at a point where they are resiliently stressed and exert a force against the sideboards able to hold and secure them against the mold walls.

In order to install and secure four sideboards in an ingot mold by using the holding device described above, the sideboards must rst be supported in position around the upper inner wall surfaces W of mold M as seen in FIG- URES 3 and 4. This may be accomplished, for example, by hanging sideboards S on wires passing over the side of the mold M. The overall dimensions of the wire spring holding device when in its unstressed condition as shown in FIGURE l are greater than the inside dimensions of mold M and, therefore, must be reduced to permit the placement of the spring holding device inside the mouth of mold M and between the inwardly facing surfaces of sideboards S as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4. This can be accomplished by drawing and tying together with cord 4or wire pairs of eyes on the ends of

arms

13 and 14 disposed on opposite sides of framework lil. For example, as indicated schematically by phatom lines in FIGURE 1, the two eyes 15 on shorter arms 13 at opposite ends of the frame 1t) and both designated P are drawn toward each other by a tie E passing between them. Similarly, both eyes 15 designated Q are drawn and tied together, stressing their respective arms 13 by moving them inward and toward framework 1t). Also, pairs designated R and T of the four eyes 16 on the end of arms 14 are drawn and tied together. The pattern of tying is shown in FIGURE 1 for convenience and it must be remembered that in FIGURE 1 the

arms

13 and 14 are not shown in their drawn together and tied position. FIGURE 2, however, shows in enlarged detail one corner 17 of framework 10 and a circular spring assembly 11.

Arms

13 and 14 are shown drawn inwardly toward and tied to frame 10 in their installation position.

Arms

13 and 14 in FIGURE 2 are in their most stressed condition, with their fully unstressed position relative thereto indicated by phantom lines. In FIGURE 3,

arms

13 and 14 are shown in a stressed position that is between their two positions shown in FIGURE 2.

When all of the

arms

13 and 14 have been drawn toward frame 10 and tied in the manner described above, the outside dimensions of the assembly are so reduced that it may be lowered into the mouth of the top of ingot mold M and inside the lining of sideboards S previously positioned therein. When frame 10 is so placed inside ingot mold M, the ties are cut and all of the

arms

13 and 14 spring outwardly and away from frame 10 and into resilient engagement with the sideboards S. When the

arms

13 and 14 have been released so that

eyes

15 and 16, respectively and in particular, engage and come into contact with sideboards S and when a position of equilibrium of the

movable arms

13 and 14 as interconnected by frame 10 is reached, the arms are in a stressed condition because they have not been permitted to return to their original `fully extended and unstressed positions. The arms in their sideboard supporting position are in substantially the same or somewhat lesser state of stress than they were when tied and drawn toward frame 10 as described above, but they are substantially stressed compared to their free and fully extended and unstressed condition described above.

With frame 1i! and

arms

13 and 14 supported thereon in position and securing sideboards S against the inwardly facing surfaces of ingot mold M, all of the sideboards are securely pressed against and secured to the walls of the mold. Laterally opposite sideboards S positioned within the mold are resiliently urged away from each other and against the sides of opposite inner surfaces of the mold by the resilient stress produced in the arms in contact with the sideboards. lt will be noted that although the forces holding and securing the sideboards in place act in directions passing through and across the central opening in the mold, the central opening is free and unobstructed by the arrangement and operation of frame 10, Thus, nothing obstructs or interferes with pouring the molten metal into the mold and the sideboards are securely held in place and against any tendency to float up and/ or away from the walls of the mold in the molten metal.

Spring wire or even heavy-gauge plain wire may be used to fabricate the holding device. I prefer plain wire of a gauge to provide mass enough to hold up under the heat of the molten metal as long as required. The holding devices are only used once so that I prefer to make them of as inexpensive a material as is commensurate with the effective functioning of the device.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes and modications can be made in the apparatus described herein without departing from the spirit and sco-pe of the invention.

l claim:

1. A device for holding and securing a plurality of sideboards to the inner surfaces of an ingot mold comprising:

an open, flat, continuous, substantially rigid frame surrounding and defining an unobstructed central openmg,

a plurality of sideboard-engaging arms,

a plurality of resilient supporting means for resiliently, movably connecting and supporting said arms to said frame at spaced apart points around, on and along said frame, said resilient means supporting said arms unstressed and outwardly extended from and at an angle with respect to said frame, said resilient means so supporting said arms for resiliently resisting stress-producing movement of said arms toward said frame and away from their unstressed extended position,

whereby said frame-supported arms are resiliently stressed when moved and held inward of their unstressed outward position to develop a force resisting their inward movement producing the resilient stress in them.

2. The device according to claim 1 in which each of said arms extends outwardly and away from said frame at an acute angle thereto and in the plane thereof.

3. The device according to claim 1 in which each of said resilient supporting means resiliently and movably interconnects and supports a pair of said arms.

4. The device according to claim 3 in which said frame is polyangular and supports and interconnects at each angle with one of said resilient supporting means, with each of said pairs `of arms supported thereby extending outwardly and away from said frame in opposite directions from said angle.

5. The device according to claim 3 in which each of said resilient supporting means and said pair of arms associated therewith comprises a wire bent through at least 360 to form a resilient loop between its two ends which comprise arms extending in angularly related different directions from said loop.

6. The device according to claim 5 in which said frame is substantially rectangular and has a resilient supporting means and its associated pair of said arms interconnected to said frame at and associated with each of its corners, said resilient loops and said `arrns lying in approximately the same general plane with said pair of arms associated with each resilient supporting means angularly related by an included angle of more than 90 and extending outwardly and away and in opposite directions from the associated corner `of said frame whereby an arm from each of two adjacent corners extends resiliently supported and unstressed on a path di'verging generally from and along each side of said frame and the forces resulting from the resilient stresses produced and developed by inward move-ment of an arm on one side of said frame is transmitted through said frame to its laterally opposite side and opposes any force resulting from the resilient stressing of an arm extending out from said laterally opposite side.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,084,828 6/1937 Teetor 267-15 3,092,883 6/1963 Ednell 299-199 3,162,913 12/1964 Witt 249-197 3,261,058 7/ 1966 Tisdale 249-202 I. SPENCER OVERHOLSER, Primary Examiner.

R. D. BALDWIN. Assistant Examiner.