US3482710A

US3482710A - Steel casting machine

Info

Publication number: US3482710A
Application number: US690583A
Authority: US
Inventors: Johann Wodl; Frohwald Berdan
Original assignee: Voestalpine AG
Current assignee: Voestalpine AG; Voest AG
Priority date: 1966-12-21
Filing date: 1967-12-14
Publication date: 1969-12-09
Anticipated expiration: 1986-12-09
Also published as: GB1206413A; AT267097B

Description

Dec. 9, 1969 J. WODL ETAL 3,482,710

' I STEEL'CASTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 14. 1967 F/G./ I

INVENTORS JoHANN W'pL BY Feouwnw B N TIIEIR 14Frauen/Eff;

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 United States Patent "ice 3,482,710 STEEL CASTING MACHINE Johann Wodl and Frohwald Berdan, Vienna, Austria, as-

signors to Vereinigte Osterreichische Eisenund Stahlwerke Aktiengesellschaft, Linz, Austria, a company of Austria Filed Dec. 14, 1967, Ser. No. 690,583 Claims priority, application Austria, Dec. 21, 1966, A 11,723/66 Int. Cl. B66c 19/00 US. Cl. 212130 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for carrying a ladle for pouring steel into molds is described. A H-shaped gantry has a pair of horizontal girders extending from the upper ends of the vertical legs and a trolley having a U-shaped configuration moves along the girders, the open side of the U facing the open upper end of the gantry. The trolley carries a pair of downwardly extending guide columns which hold a support for the ladle. The aligned open ends of the trolley and the gantry permit unhampered insertion of the ladle into the support.

The invention relates to a steel casting machine for pouring steel from bottom-tap casting ladles which are provided with stoppers, into moulds.

The usual casting work in steel making plants is at present carried out in such a way that several casting cranes travelling, in general, along a common craneway and carrying casting ladles are steered over moulds arranged in a row. In doing that, it often happens that one casting crane is hampered by another. A further disadvantage of the known working method resides in that the casting ladle does not stand sufficiently steady during casting since the suspension on ropes causes oscillations. Naturally, a crane cannot, with such working methods, be utilized to satisfaction.

The steel casting machine of the invention avoids these disadvantages and difiiculties. It is characterised by an H-shaped full or half gantry construction travelling on rails and a trolley travelling on the bridge girders of said construction and comprising a trolley frame, guide columns and a supporting device for the casting ladle, which is mounted to be vertically displaceable along said guide columns, said trolley-frame being U-shaped to enable insertion of a casting ladle.

Due to the H-shaped design of the gantry construction, a ladle carried along by the crane need, during entering and setting down, be lifted only to the level of the transverse beam of the H-shaped construction. The trolley frame is U-shaped, also with regard to an easy and unhampered entering of a ladle.

The supporting device for the casting ladle is suitably designed as a closed frame having stanchion blocks for receiving the ladle trunnions. The ladle frame may be made of two pairs of like beams, the front one of said beams, as viewed in the direction of entry of the stopperladle, being vertically staggered relative to the rear beam. The ladle frame is suitably guided on the guide columns by means of hinged arms, preferably with the aid of slide rails or rollers. According to a further characteristic of the invention, the ladle frame is liftand lowerably suspended on the guide columns in such a way that the suspension points lie below the bridge girders, and are in vertical alignment with the rails of the trolley.

The subject-matter of invention is illustrated in more detail in the drawing by way of an embodiment. FIG. 1 shows a lateral view of a steel casting machine comprising a half gantry construction; FIG. 2 is a top view; FIG.

3,482,710 Patented Dec. 9, 1969 3 shows a vertical sectional view along line III-HI in FIG. 1; and FIG. 4 is a top view onto the device for supporting a casting ladle.

Numeral 1 in the drawings denotes a half gantry construction movably arranged on

rails

2 and 2. The transverse beam 3 of the H-shaped construction is outlined in broken lines. The bridge girders 4 of the gantry construction are suitably designed as closed box-type sections, as evident from FIG. 3. A trolley 5 having a U-frame is movably arranged on the two bridge girders 4 of the gantry construction and rigidly connected to the guide columns 6. A frame-shaped construction 7 for receiving a stopper-ladle is suspended on the guide columns 6. The suspension points 8 and 8 lie below the bridge girder 4 and in vertical alignment with the wheels 9 of the trolley frame 5.

The frame construction 7 is adapted to be lifted and lowered by means of hydraulic cylinders 10. Instead of this hydraulic device, a rope haul or another commonly used lifting device might obviously be employed.

The design of the receiving device for the ladle is evident in more detail from FIGS. 1 and 4. It is designed as a closed frame comprising a pair of

longitudinal beams

11, 12, and a pair of

transverse beams

13 and 14 as well as further

transverse beams

15, 16 and cross pieces 17. The stanchion blocks for the ladle trunnions are designated by 18.

As evident from FIG. 1, beam 12 is vertically transposed relative to beam 11. It lies at the level of the transverse beam 3 of the H-shaped construction so that the ladle 19, which is shown in broken lines suspended on the crane, can be deposited on the ladle frame without lifting or with only a very small lifting movement.

The ladle frame is guided on the guide columns 6 by means of articulated arms 20 in order to avoid any oscillations of the stopper-ladle. Guidance can be accomplished by means of slide rails or, as shown in FIG. 3, by means of rollers 21 and rails 22. The arms 20 and the ladle frame 7 are hingedly connected by means of bolts in order to avoid any clamping forces caused by nonuniform lifting or lowering.

In order to achieve an increased stability of the machine, supporting rollers 23 are provided on the guide columns 6, said rollers running on rails arranged on the underside of the bridge girders 4.

The steel casting machine of the invention functions in such a way that a number of moulds are arranged in a row between the rails of the gantry construction so that the machine can travel along above the moulds. By means of the crane shown in broken lines, a stopper-ladle 19 is then insertedin the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1at such a level that it just passes above the transverse beam 3. As the frame of the trolley 5 is U-shaped, as described, entering is not hampered by the upper part of the construction. The stopper-ladle need thus not be lifted to or beyond the level of the trolley frame and lowered again. The described vertically staggered arrangement of the beam 12 in relation to the beam 11 also facilitates entering of the stopper-ladle. It can be placed squarely upon the ladle frame without any difliculties, the stanchion blocks supporting the ladle trunnions holding it in position. The crane may now be moved away and employed for other work. Casting itself is carried out without crane, the necessary motions, in particular corrective motions of the stopper-ladle perpendicularly of the gantry rails, as may be necessary in serving the moulds, being effected by a corresponding movement of the trolley frame, upward or downward motions of the stopper-ladle being rendered possible by the suspension on the guide columns. The machine of the invention enables the consecutive filling of moulds of different sizes placed in arbitrary sequence. Essential advantages in comparison with present casting methods are thus achieved with regard to the casting speed as well as with regard to the better utilization of the avail? able cranes.

What We claim is:

1. A steel casting machine for pouring steel from a stopper ladle, comprising a gantry travelling on rails and having a pair of vertical legs connected by a transverse beam located a distance below the upper ends of said legs, said legs and beam forming a substantially H-shaped gantry construction, a horizontal bridge girder connected to the upper end of each of said legs, and a U-shaped trolley movably mounted on said bridge girders and comprising a trolley frame, guide columns extending substantially vertically downward from said trolley frame and a supporting device for said stopper ladle arranged to be vertically displaceable along said guide columns, said H- shaped gantry and U-shaped trolley providing an open end to permit the unhampered insertion of said stopper ladle.

2. A steel casting machine as set forth in claim 1, wherein the supporting device for said stopper ladle is a closed, frame construction having stanchion blocks for receiving the ladle trunnions.

3. A steel casting machine for pouring steel from stopper ladles, comprising a gantry travelling on rails and having a pair of vertical legs connected by a transverse beam located a distance below the upper ends of said legs, said legs and beam forming a substantially H-shaped gantry construction, a horizontal bridge girder connected to the upper end of each of said legs, and a trolley movably mounted on said bridge girders and comprising a trolley frame open on one end in U-fashion to enable entry of a stopper ladle and having wheels for engagement with corresponding rails atop of said bridge girders, guide columns extending substantially vertically downward from said trolley frame, and a supporting device for said stopper ladle arranged to be vertically displaceable along said guide columns, said supporting device comprising a rectangular frame including front and rear beams which are vertically staggered in the direction of entry of said stopper ladle.

4. A steel casting machine as set forth in claim 3, wherein said supporting device is guided on said guide columns by means of arms hinged to said rectangular frame and having means for displaceable engagement with said guide columns.

5. A steel casting machine according to claim 3, where in lifting and lowering means for vertical displacement of said supporting device along said guide columns are connected with one end on said rectangular frame and with another end on said guide columns, the points of connection lying below said bridge girders and in vertical alignment with said wheels of said trolley frame.

6. A steel casting machine as set forth in claim 3, wherein supporting rollers are provided on said guide columns for bracing said columns against said bridge girders.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS HARVEY C. HORNSBY, Primary Examiner U. S. Cl. X.R.