US3411171A

US3411171A - Material handling apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3411171A
Application number: US554077A
Authority: US
Inventors: Musschoot Albert; Marvin G Thomson
Original assignee: General Kinematics Corp
Current assignee: General Kinematics Corp
Priority date: 1966-05-31
Filing date: 1966-05-31
Publication date: 1968-11-19
Anticipated expiration: 1985-11-19

Description

Nov. 19, 1968 A.MUsSCHooT ETAL l 3,411,171

MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS Filed May 31, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet l Harz/fn G. 7h omsofz NOV. 19, 1968 A MUSSCHOQT ET AL 3,411,171

MATERI AL HANDLING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 31, 196e United States Patent O 3,411,171 MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS Albert Musschoot, Barrington, and Marvin G. Thomson, Prospect Heights, Ill., assignors to General Kinematics Corporation, a corporation of Illinois Filed May 31, 1966, Ser. No. 554,077 2 Claims. (Cl. 15-94) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE The present apparatus provides a vibratory conveyor for large castings, which conveyor serves to orient the castings in a predetermined alignment, to separate said therefrom, and to convey the castings to a desired point of delivery. Additionally, the invention provides means for receiving the sand expelled from castings, for breaking up any lumps from the sand, and then conveying the sand to a desired point.

This invention relates to material handling apparatus and more particularly to an apparatus specifically designed to handle castings immediately after their ejection from a casting flask, with the apparatus serving the additional purpose of separating the sand from the casting and rendering the former suitable for reuse in the foundry process.

It is a general object of the present invention to produce new and improved material handling apparatus of the character described.

Modern foundries are coming more and more to the utilization of automatic molding machines as a step looking to the ultimate automation of foundry casting processes. The size of molds used for castings is constantly increasing as the art progresses, and better apparatus for handling the castings direct from the mold is required. Additionally, it is desirable that means be provided for rendering the sand used in the casting process, and which is ejected from the ask along with the casting, reusable in the foundry process and thus reduce the cost of operation.

It has been the practice to eject a casting and its accompanying sand on a horizontally oriented vibrating deck having perforated holes in its bottom. This system has not been completely successful inasmuch as in many cases the sand is in the form of hard lumps of a size greater than the size of the perforations and hence the lumps are not passed therethrough nor is the sand rendered reusable. Additionally, the former equipment moved the castings to the end of the shake-out bed in completely disoriented and random fashion.

According to the present invention, however, there is provided an apparatus which completely separates sand from the casting even though the sand be in the form of relatively large lumps, and which furthermore not only reduces the lumps to reusable size, the apparatus also Orients the castings as it delivers them to the delivery end of the apparatus so that they may be handled thereat by other automatic devices.

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from the following description and drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a composite side elevational view partially broken away for clarity of illustration of an apparatus embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section taken along line 3 3 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a vertical section taken along line 4 4 of FIG. 1.

While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in ice many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail a specific embodiment, with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiment illustrated. The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring now to the drawings there is shown an article conveyor 10 positioned adjacent a sand conveyor 11 with the larticle conveyor including a longitudinally extending conveyor bed 12 transversely inclined as shown particularly in FIGS. 3 and 4. A wall 13 extends along the upper edge of the bed 12 with the wall inclining inwardly as shown. Positioned along the lower edge of the bed 12 is a perforate -article arresting means in the form of a rail 14 with the rail being arranged so as to retain articles on the bed 12 while permitting sand particles and lumps to pass therebeneath.

Castings ejected from a flask are placed upon the bed 12 at a punch out location 15 at one end thereof and are moved by means hereinafter described along the bed to a push oli area 16 where they may be pushed off to be received by subsequent article handling means. An end rail 17 locates the end of the push ol area.

The bed 12 is supported upon vertical frame members 18 and horizontal frame members 19 with the latter being mounted for vibratory conveying movement on pivoted arms 20 and coil springs 21, ythe latter items being secured to a base member 22. As seen in FIG. 1, an electric motor 23 is provided to drive by means of a belt 24 an eccentric shaft 25 secured to the frame members 18 so that rotation of the motor and hence rotation of the shaft causes vibratory movement of the bed 12.

The sand conveyor is provided with a lip 26 underlying the lower edge of the bed 12 so as to direct sand passing under the rail 14 into a hopper 27. Sand in the hopper drops downwardly into a sand lump breaker 28 of the type described and claimed in our copending application Ser. No. 382,875 tiled Iuly 15, 1964 now Patent No. 3,335,861, issued Aug. 15, 1`967. As illustrated herein, the lump breaker 28 is supported for vibratory movement on pivoted arms 29 and coil springs 30 in turn supported on base member 31. Sand passes through the lump breaker 28 Where the lumps are retained and broken into smaller portions by vibratory movement of the lump breaker so that eventually sand particles drop through the lump breaker 28 onto a conveyor belt 32 mounted on rollers 33 which convey the sand to a place of storage for reuse. The lump breaker 28 is vibrated as described in said copending application by means of an electric motor, drive, and eccentric shaft, similar to the system 23-25 described above. Any sand which does not fall over the lower edge of the inclined bed 12 is conveyed to the end thereof where it falls into a chute 35 which connects with the upstream end of the sand conveyor 11.

In operation, the casting indicated as 40 in FIG. 4 is lowered vertically onto the punch out area 15 and hence is conveyed to the push off area by the vibratory conveying action of the bed 12 which vibrates in the direction indicated by the arrow 41 in FIG. 1. The vibratory movement causes the casting not only to move toward the push o area but to slide to the lower portion of the bed 12 at which it is arrested by the rail 14, which arresting movement of course Orients the casting in the manner shown. The vibratory movement shakes sand loose from the casting and drops it from the bed over the lower edge thereof into the sand conveying apparatus 11. Any lumps in the foundry sand are broken up by said vibratory movement and thus the sand is rendered suitable for reuse.

When the article arrives at the push o area 16 it is, of course, not only positioned against the rail 14 but it is also oriented relative thereto so as to be accurately aligned for pickup by other material handling apparatus.

The particular apparatus illustrated handles automobile engine cylinder blocks, castings of some considerable size, and the particular shape of the Wall 13 has been designed so as to orient the cylinder blocks lengthwise. The particular location and conguration of the wall 13 may be changed when castings of different shape or size are to be handled.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for separating sand from a cast article comprising a longitudinally extending conveyor, means supporting the conveyor in a transversely inclined position, article arresting means extending along the lower edge of the conveyor, said article arresting means being perforate to permit sand to pass therethrough, means positioned below said lower edge to receive sand passing through the arresting means, a second longitudinally extending conveyor extending parallel to the rst mentioned conveyor and positioned below said sand receiving means, means for vibrating the first mentioned conveyor along a path inclined thereto to convey sand-bearing articles from one end of the rst mentioned conveyor toward the other end and to separate sand therefrom, and a sand lump breaking apparatus positioned intermediate said sand receiving means and said first mentioned conveyor.

2. Apparatus for separating sand from a cast article comprising a longitudinally extending conveyor, means supporting the conveyor in a transversely inclined position, article arresting means extending along the lower edge of the conveyor, said article arresting means being perforate to permit sand to pass therethrough, means positioned below said lower edge to receive sand passing through the arresting means, means for vibrating the conveyor along a path inclined thereto to convey sand-bearing articles from one end of the conveyor toward the other end and to separate sand therefrom, and vibratory sand lump breaking apparatus positioned intermediate said lower edge and the said receiving means, said receiving means including a second conveyor to carry screened sand to acollector.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,119,596 6/1938 Mintertet al.

WALTER A. SCHEEL, Primary Examiner.

LEON G. MACHLIN, Assistant Examiner'.