US3454077A

US3454077A - Casting machine with concentric channel shaft

Info

Publication number: US3454077A
Application number: US615513A
Authority: US
Inventors: Daniel B Cofer; George C Ward; Dale D Proctor; Thomas L Bray
Original assignee: Southwire Co LLC
Current assignee: Southwire Co LLC
Priority date: 1967-02-13
Filing date: 1967-02-13
Publication date: 1969-07-08
Anticipated expiration: 1986-07-08

Description

J y 1969 D. B COFER ETAL 3,454,077

CASTING MACHINE WITH CONCENTRIC CHANNEL SHAFT Filed Feb. 13, 1967 Sheet United States Patent US. Cl. 164278 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to casting machines and more particularly to a casting machine having a casting wheel with a peripheral groove in which molten metal is solidified by coolant which passes to and from the casting wheel in a plurality of concentric annular channels provided by one or more channel members coaxially positioned within the shaft means used to rotate the casting wheel.

In those prior art casting machines in which the casting wheel is sprayed with coolant, the cooling arrangements have characteristically used large quantities of coolant and have frequently not provided efiicient cooling of the molten metal. However, the solidification of molten metal in the peripheral groove of a casting wheel requires the economical and efficient cooling of the molten metal if practical casting of molten metal is to be achieved with casting machines.

It is for this reason that various other cooling arrangements for cooling the molten metal in the peripheral groove of a casting wheel have been proposed and used with casting machines in the prior art. However, none of these other cooling arrangements have provided a casting machine which is entirely satisfactory.

This is because attempts in the prior art to avoid the excessive use of coolant and to achieve more efficient cooling of molten metal by using coolant in a plurality of channels within a casting wheel rather than coolant sprayed against the casting wheel have generally been characterized by complicated cooling arrangements with an excessive number of liquid tight seals which require almost constant maintenance to prevent the loss of coolant and to achieve maximum efficiency. Thus, the resulting prior art casting machines have been complicated and difiicult to maintain.

The invention disclosed herein is a casting machine which overcomes these and other difficulties encountered in the prior art in that it provides a compact casting machine in which the delivery of coolant to and from a plurality of coolant channels positioned in the casting wheel is achieved without requiring the use of an excessive number of liquid tight seals. Thus, the invention provides a casting machine which is not difiicult to maintain even though it also provides for the efficient cooling of molten metal with a minimum loss of coolant.

These improvements in a casting machine are provided by a casting machine in which the shaft means by which the casting wheel is supported and rotated and a plurality of channel members define a plurality of annular channels which serve with a plurality of tube members to selectively join a plurality of fixedly positioned chamber members and a plurality of coolant channels in the casting wheel. The cooling arrangement provided by the "ice invention is such that the only liquid tight seals required between stationary and moving elements of a casting machine are relatively easy to maintain seals between channel members and chamber members. Moreover, even though the invention provides for the delivery to and from the casting wheel of coolant in separate channels, all the coolant passes to and from the casting wheel within the shaft means so that the casting machine is relatively uncomplicated and so that no easy to damage fittings are exposed.

These and other features and advantages of the invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings in which like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout and in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the casting wheel and the casting wheel support of a casting machine embodying the invention disclosed herein;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the coolant exchange area of the casting wheel support shown in FIG. 1.

These figures and the following detailed description disclose a specific embodiment of the invention but the invention is not limited to thedetails disclosed since it may be embodied in other equivalent forms.

The invention disclosed herein is a casting machine 10 which is only partially shown in the figures and described herein because it is generally conventional. Moreover, the invention will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art once the casting Wheel 11 and the casting wheel support 12 of a casting machine 10 embodying the invention is understood. Accordingly, only the casting wheel 11 and the casting wheel support 12 of a casting machine 10 embodying the invention are shown in the figures and described herein.

In that embodiment of the invention disclosed herein, the casting wheel 11 includes an annular member 13 having a peripheral groove 14 closed by a band 15 in conventional manner. The annular member 13 is positioned between a disc plate 16 and a ring plate 17 and has a plurality of coolant channels 18'formed within it adjacent the peripheral groove 14. It will be understood that molten metal (not shown) within the peripheral groove 14 will be solidified by the transfer of heat from the molten metal through the annular member 13 to coolant (not shown) within the coolant channels 18.

The casting wheel support 12 includes a shaft means 19 rotatably mounted in

bearing members

20 and 21 which are in turn positioned on a support frame 22. A mounting plate 23 is positioned on the shaft means 19 and the shaft means 19 is inserted through an aperture 24 in the disc plate 16 with the mounting plate 23 bolted or otherwise attached to the disc plate 16. Thus, rotation of the shaft means 19 results in rotation of the casting wheel 11. Rotation of the shaft means 19 is achieved by mounting a worm gear 25 on the shaft means 19 to be driven by a worm 26 which is in turn driven in conventional manner by a power source (not shown).

In a casting machine 10 embodying the invention disclosed herein, the shaft means 19 is hollow and terminates at that end most distant from the casting wheel 11 in the interior 27 of 'an inner chamber member 28 fixedly positioned on the support frame 22. The shaft -means 19 extends into the inner chamber member 28 through an aperture 29 and a sealing element 30 provides a liquid-tight seal at the aperture'29 between the stationary inner chamber member 28 and the rotating shaft 3 means 19. It will be understood that the interior 19 of the shaft means 19 is continuous with the interior 27 of the inner chamber members 28.

A disc member 31 having a plurality of radial channels 32 continuous with the interior 19 of the shaft means 19 is positioned at that end of the shaft means 19 which extends through the aperture 24 in the disc plate 16. Extending through the disc member 31, the shaft means 19, and the inner chamber member 28 is a hollow first channel member 33. The first channel member 33 is fixedly positioned within the disc member 31 for rotation with the disc member 31 and the shaft means 19 and is rotatably supported in the inner chamber member 28 by bearing members 34' in a bearing housing 34 positioned within the inner chamber member 28 and into which the first channel member 33 is inserted through an aperture 35 having a sealing element 36 which provides a liquid-tight seal at the aperture 35 between the stationary bearing housing 34 and the rotating first channel member 33.

The first channel member 33 extends from the bearing housing 34 and outwardly of the inner chamber member 28 through an aperture 37 having a sealing element 38 and terminates within an intermediate chamber member 39. The sealing element 38 provides a liquid-tight seal at the aperture 37 between the stationary bearing housing 34 and the rotating first channel member 33. At its other end extending through the disc member 31, the first channel member 33 is closed by a cap 40 and has radial channels 41. It will be understood that a radial channel 41 is continuous with the interior 42 of the first channel member 33 which is in turn continuous with the interior 43 of the intermediate chamber member 39.

Extending fixedly through the cap 40- and within the first channel member 33 and the intermediate chamber member 39 is a second channel member 44 having that end extending beyond the intermediate chamber member 39 rotatably supported in a bearing and sealing element 45 positioned within an aperture 46 in the intermediate chamber member 39. The bearing and sealing element 45 provides a liquid-tight seal at the aperture 46 between the stationary intermediate chamber member 39 and the rotating second channel member 44 and that end of the second channel member 44 extending beyond the intermediate chamber member 39 terminates within an outer chamber member 47 fixedly positioned on the intermediate chamber member 39. It will be understood that the interior 48 of the second channel member 44 and the interior 49 of outer chamber member 47 are continuous. Moreover, it will be understood that the channel members 33 and 44 are positioned coaxially with the shaft means 19 and that the shaft means 19 and the plurality of channel members 33 and 44 serve to define a plurality of annular channels 50' and 51, and a circular channel 52 of varying length. The annular and

circular channels

50, 51, and 52 are terminated at their ends adjacent the casting wheel 11 by the disc member 31, the cap 40-, and a tube fitting 53 respectively and at their other ends in the inner chamber member 28, the intermediate chamber member 39, and the outer chamber member 47 respectively.

In addition, it will be understood that even though the shaft means 19 and the plurality of channel members 33 and 44 rotate with the casting Wheel 11, a liquid-tight seal is provided between the annular and

circular channels

50, 51 and 52 and the

interiors

27, 43, and 49 of the

stationary chamber members

28, 39, and 47' respectively. Thus, a coolant exchange area 55 is provided for the exchange of coolant between moving elements and stationary elements of the casting wheel with only relatively simple and easy to maintain sealing elements such as the sealing elements 30, 36, 38, and 45 being required to prevent the loss of coolant.

The specific arrangement of the annular and circular channels '50, 51, and 52 relative to the coolant channels 18 of a casting wheel 11 and relative to various conventional sources of coolant (not shown) will depend upon the operating conditions of the casting machine 10. However, in that embodiment of the invention disclosed herein, the circular channel 52 is joined through the tube fitting 53 and a tube member 56 to the coolant channel 18a, the annular channel 51 is joined through tube fittings 57 and tube members 58 to the coolant channels 18b and 180, and the annular channel 50 is joined by tube fittings 59 and tube members 60 to all of the coolant channels 18. Thus, with the supply of coolant to the interior 49 of the outer chamber member 47 and of coolant to the interior 43 of the intermediate chamber member 39 through

supply pipes

59 and 60, coolant will be delivered to the coolant channel 18a separately from the coolant channels 18b and and will pass from all of the coolant channels 18 to the interior 27 of the inner chamber member 28 for return to the coolant supply (not shown) through a discharge pipe 61.

-It will be understood that the number of separate coolant paths which may be simultaneously provided to and from a plurality of coolant channels 18 in a casting Wheel 11 is dependent only upon the number of annular and

circular channels

50, 51, and 52 provided by an embodiment of the invention and that this is in turn dependent simply upon the number of channel members 33 and 44 coaxially positioned within the shaft means 19. It will also be understood that regardless of the number of channel members 33 and 44, there is a

chamber member

28, 39, and 47 positioned along the axis of rotation of the shaft means 19 in which each of the channel members 33 and 44 terminates and with respect to which the channel member 33 or 44' rotates. However, it will also be understood that regardless of the number of annular and

circular channels

50, 51, and 52 within the shaft means 19, the casting machine '10 is relatively compact and free from damage which would cause loss of coolant.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many variations may be made in the embodiments chosen for the purpose of illustrating the present invention without departing from the scope thereof as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed as invention is:

1. In a casting machine having a casting wheel with a plurality of coolant channels adjacent a peripheral groove in which molten metal is received, hollow shaft means for rotating said casting wheel about the axis of rotation of said shaft means; a plurality of hollow channel members positioned within said shaft means for rotation with said casting wheel and having their interiors operatively joined to said plurality of coolant channels; and coolant means for supplying coolant to the interior of each of said channel members; said coolant means including a plurality of hollow chamber members fixedly positioned in sequence along said axis of rotation of said shaft means and each with its interior continuous with the interior of one of said channel members.

2. The casting machine of claim 1 in which that one of said channel members having the smallest diameter is of greater length than said shaft means and others of said channel members and terminates at one end in the interior of that chamber member most distant from said casting wheel.

3. The casting machine of claim 2 in which said one of said channel members is extended at its other end beyond said shaft means and said others of said channel members.

4. The casting machine of claim 3 in which the interior of said one of said channel members is operatively joined at said other end to one of said coolant channels by a tube member.

5. The casting machine of claim 4 in which the interior of said shaft means terminates in the interior of that chan ber member least distant from said casting wheel.

6. The casting machine of claim 5 in which the interior of said shaft means is joined by a tube member to all of said coolant channels.

7. In a casting machine having a casting wheel in which a metal is cooled by a cooling means as the casting wheel rotates about an axis of rotation, a shaft and a channel member positioned relative to each other to form a plurality of channels which are substantially concentric with each other about the axis of rotation of the casting wheel and each of which is operatively connected to the cooling means for the flow of a coolant through it between the cooling means and one of a plurality of separate coolant receiving chambers which are formed by a chamber forming means and which are positioned in sequence along the axis of rotation of the casting wheel.

8. In a casting machine having a casting wheel in which a metal is cooled by a cooling means as thecasting wheel rotates about an axis of rotation, chamber forming means for forming a plurality of coolant receiving chambers positioned in sequence along the axis of rotation of the casting 20 wheel, and channel forming means for forming a plurality of channels which are concentric with each other about the axis of rotation of the casting wheel and each of which operatively connects the cooling means to one of the plurality of coolant receiving chambers.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,206,930 7/1940 Webster 164278 X 2,561,636 7/1951 Pyk 16487 X 2,710,433 6/1955 Properzi 164-283 X 2,749,584 6/1956 Fey et a1 164278 2,816,344 12/1957 Pisoni 164283 X 2,865,067 12/1958 Properzi 164-278 3,318,369 5/1967 Bray et al 164--283 FOREIGN PATENTS 536,316 1/1957 Canada.

J. SPENCER OVERHOLSER, Primary Examiner.

R. SPENCER ANNEAR, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 164283