US1746285A - Pot wiper for slug-casting machines - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 11, 1930. E. M. RODRIGUEZ 1,746,285

POT WIBER FOR SLUG CASTING IACHINES Filed ep 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb. 11, 1930.

POT WIPE'R FOR SLUG CASTING IACHINES I Filed p 192a 5Sheets-Sheet 2 E. M. RODRIGUEZ 1,746,285

Feb. 11, 1930.

E. M. RODRIG UEZ POT WIPER FOR SLUG CASTIRQ MACHINES Fiied Se t. 6, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Feb. 11,1930

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicr.

ERNEsTo M. RODRIGUEZ, or MIXCOAC, ivinxrco, ASSIGNOR T0 MERGEN'IHALER LINo- TYPE COMPANY, A CORPORATION on NEW YORK POT WIPEB, FOR SLUG-UASTING MACHINES 'Applicatien filed. September This invention relates to slug casting machines, such as linotype machines of the general organization represented in Letters Patent No. 436,532 to O. Mergenthaler, wherein circulating matrices are released from a magazine in the order in which their characters are to appear in print, the composed line transferred to the face of amold, the mold filled with molten metal to form a slug or linotype against the matrices which produce the type characters thereon, and the matrices thereafter returned through distributing mechanism to the magazine from which they started. In this class of machines, the molds are mounted in a carrier or disk rotatably mounted on a slide, commonly known as the mold slide, which isadvanced from the rear before each casting operation to press the active mold against the composed line of matrices atthe front. Usually the ad- Vance of the mold is immediately followed by the advance of the melting pot, which brings its mouth-piece tightly up against the back of the mold, preparatory to the descent of the pump plunger and the casting of the slug. It has been found'in practice that flakes or fins of type metal frequently form upon. the mouth-piece of the pot, and if allowed to accumulate, result in imperfect lock ups, back squirts, etc. c

The present invention is directed to an automatic wiper which is constructed, mounted and operated in an improved manner to keep the pot mouth clean and free of meta] accumulations. To this end, the improved wiper iscarried by and rotatable with the mold disk so as to sweep across and clean the pot mouth after each casting operation, being movable relatively to the mold carrier toward and from the pot mouth under the control of a stationary cam track extending concentrically about the fixed hub of the mold disk. Theseand other improvements will be described in detail in the specification to follow, and the novel features thereof set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, the invention has been shownonly in preferred form and by way of example, and as applied to a machine of the linotype class, but obvious- 6, 1928. Serial No. 304,249.

ly many changes and alterations may be made therein and in its mode of application with casting'mechanism of a linotype machine and the parts associated therewith, showing the relative positions of the mold disk, the pot mouth, and the pot mouth wiper in the operative stroke of the. latter, the mold disk being shown in sectionon the line 1-1 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the mold disk and its driving pinion, and the improved pot mouth Wiper in action, the pot mouth being shown in dotted lines at the rear;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 33 of Figs. 1 and 2; v p

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional plan view taken on the line 4t4 of Fig. 2, showing the cam track for retracting the pot mouth wiper; i i

Fig. 5 is a front elevation on an enlarged scale of a portion of the mold disk, showing the relation of the pot mouth wiper thereon to the cam track; i

Fig. 6 is a sectional View of the same taken on the line 66 of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic face view of the mold disk to show the normal positions of the pot mouth wiperwhen the different molds are brought into action.

As shown in Fig. 1, the mold carrier or disk A, of ordinary construction, is equipped with a plurality of molds, four in the present instance, as, a, a and a any one of which may be selected for use as desired. At each cycle of operation of the machine, the intermittently driven pinion 13, arranged in mesh with the toothed periphery of the disk, rotates the latter in a counterclockwise direction, first by a quarter turn to present the active mold in its horizontal casting position, and thereafter by a three-quarter turn to carry it around to its original vertical position for the ejection of the cast slug.

Before. each casting operation, the disk A is advanced by the forward movement of the mold slide B to press the front face of the active mold, say, the mold a (which then occupies a horizontal position) firmly against the composed line of matrices X in the first elevator C, the composed line being tightly clamped at the time between the usual vice jaws (not shown) to prevent the leakage of metal through the line during castingi At about the same time, the melting pot D is swung forward to press its mouth-piece D tightly against the back of the mold. In this look up condition of the parts, molten metal is forced from the pot through its mouth-piece into the mold and up against the composed line of matrices at the front for the casting of the slug. After the casting operation, both the melting pot and the mold disk are retracted and the latter given a three-quarter turn as before started, to locate the mold in ejecting position. In this turning movement of the disk, the mold is moved past a stationary knife located behind the disk and which acts to trim the base of the contained slug. The parts described and their mode of operation are well known in the art and constitute no part of the present invention.

The improved pot mouth wiper comprises a lever E supported in a radial position in the mold disk A and pivoted thereto between its ends by means of a pin 6 and a pair of small ears 6 extending forwardly from the face of the disk. The outer or wiping end of the lever E stands between the adjacent molds a and a the lower corners of which are cut away as shown in Fig. 2 to afford clearance for the shank of the lever, and the lever is adapted in its pivotal movements to pass through a radial slot F formed in the mold disk, so that it may cooperate with the pot mouth at the rear. A wiping pad e of asbestos or other suitable material is applied to the outer end of the lever in position to sweep across and clean the pot mouth in the turning movements of the mold disk. The inner end of the lever E terminates in a short arm or nose 6 which is acted on by a spring 6 seated in a socket in the front of the disk and bearing against the inner side of the nose, the tendency of the spring being to swing the lever on its pivot and move its outer end rearwardly relatively to the mold disk to cause the wiping pad thereon to contact with the pot mouth.

The wiping end of the lever E is retracted from the pot mouth after the completion of its wiping stroke by means of a concentric cam track or groove G formed in a cap plate H fixed to the face of the stationary hub B carried by the mold slide B and on which the mold disk rotates. This cam track G extends throughout the major portion of its and in the turning movements of the mold disk, it bears against the nose 6 on the inner end of the wiper lever and maintains the latter in its retracted position, as best shown in Fig. 6. The continuity of the cam track is interrupted by a gap g, which is of such length, and is so located with reference to the pot mouth, that the wiper lever will be released and permitted to be swung rearwardly by its actuating spring at the moment that the wiper pad, in the turning movements of the mold disk, arrives at the right hand end of the pot mouth as viewed in Fig. 2, and then later retracted by the cam track against the force of the spring at the moment that the wiper pad leaves the opposite end of the pot mouth. The separated ends of the cam track are flared outwardly, as at g and g (see Fig. 4) in order to facilitate its cooperation with the wiper lever, the flared end 9 functioning by its engagement with the nose 6 to retract the wiper lever as the wiping pad 0 leaves the pot mouth I), and the flared end 9 functioning to release the wiper lever in a gradual manner as the wiper pad approaches the opposite end of the pot mouth. It is pointed out, however, that the relation of the flared surfaces 9 and g to the pot mouth is such that the wiper lever will not be released and allowed to be actuated by its spring before the end of the pot mouth is reached in the advancing movement of the wiper, and will not be retracted at theother end of the pot month before the wiper padl has passed entirely across the same and completed its wiping action.

In the foregoing description, it has been assumed that the mold a is the one selected for action, so that the normal position of the mouth wiper is between the molds a and a as indicated by the full lines y in Fig. 7 the wiping action on the pot mouth taking place near the end of the three-quarter turn of the mold disk which carries the mold a from its horizontal casting position back to its original vertical position at the right as represented in said figure. If, however, the mold a is selected for action, the normal position of the mouth wiper will be as shown by dotted lines at y, the wiping action still occurring in the three-quarter turn of the mold disk, altho a quarter turn earlier than before. In selecting the molds a or a the normal positions of the wiper will be as shown by the dotted lines at 7 and 7 respectively. In the case of mold (i the wiping action on the pot mouth will take place as the mold moves from ejecting to casting position, since the first quarter turn given to the mold disk will carry the wiper from its normal position at y across the pot mouth. It is seen, therefore, that with any one of the molds of the series selected for action, the wiper will act at some stage in the cycle of operation to clean the pot mouth between successive castings, the

cam track in each case releasing the Wiper to initiate its action at the moment that it reaches one end of the pot mouth, and acting to retract it as it passes the other end of the pot mouth on the completion of the wiping action. In the circumstances, the normal position of the wiper is of no great importance, it being possible to place it in any one of the positions indicated in Fig.7 for any one of the molds. In any case, the pot wiper will be maintained in its retracted position throughout the rotation of the mold disk, except during the time the wiper pad is carried by the disk past the pot mouth, at which time the cam track, due to the presence of the gap 9, frees the wiper lever and allows the'spring e to press the wiper pad yieldingly against the pot mouth.

The construction is very simple and inexpensive to manufacture and yet strong and durable and efficient in operation. Moreover, it lends itself to application to existing or standard machines without much alteration.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. 'In a slug casting machine, the combinationof .a melting pot having a discharge mouth, a rotary disk provided with a mold to cooperate with said mouth, a wiper-carried by the rotary disk in position to sweep across the pot mouth and movable relatively to the disk toward and from said mouth, yielding means also carried by the disk for moving the wiper toward the pot mouth, and

means mounted independently of the disk at the forward side thereof for positively moving the wiper away from the pot mouth.

2. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a melting pot having a discharge mouth, a rotary disk provided. with a mold to cooperate with said mouth, a wiper carried by the rotary disk in position to sweep across the pot mouth and movable relatively to the disk toward and from said mouth, a spring also carried by the disk and acting on the Wiper to move it toward the pot mouth, and a stationary cam arranged at the forward side of the disk for acting on the wiper to positively move it away from the pot mouth.

8. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a melting pot having a discharge mouth, a rotary disk provided with a mold to cooperate with said pot mouth, a stationary bearing hub on which said disk is rotatably mounted, a cap plate attached to the front face of said stationary bearing hub to confine the disk facewise thereon, a wiper carried by the rotary disk in position to sweep across the pot month, said wiper being movable relatively to the disk toward and from the pot mouth, and a cam track formed on said stationary cap plate and acting on the Wiper to move it relatively to the disk during the rotation of the latter.

4.. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a melting pot having a discharge mouth, a rotary disk provided with a mold to cooperate with said, pot mouth, a Wiper carriedby the rotary disk in position to sweep acrossthe pot mouth and movable relatively to the carrier toward and from said mouth, aspring also carried by the rotary disk and acting on the wiper to move it toward the pot mouth, and a stationary cam arranged at the forward side of the disk and acting onthe wiper to hold itagainst the force of the spring away from the pot mouth, said cam being formed to release the Wiper so that it can 'be'actedon by the spring when, in the rotary movement of the disk, the wiper reaches the pot mouth, and being formed to reengage thewiper to retract it against the action of the spring when the .wiper leaves the pot mouth. i H I 5. In a slug casting machine,the combina tion of a, melting pot having a discharge mouth, a rotarydisk providedwith a mold to cooperate with said mouth, a lever disposed radially of the disk and pivoted between its ends to the front of the same, .a

wiper pad on the outerend' of the lever adapted in the rotary movement of the disk to wipe the pot mouth, a spring also carried by the disk and acting on theinner end of the leverto hold the wiper pad in yielding engagement with the pot mouth, and asta tionary cam arranged attheforward side of the disk in position to engage the inner end of the lever to move and hold it in opposition to the spring during the rotation of the mold disk.

6. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a melting pot having a discharge mouth, a rotary disk provided with a mold tocooperate with said mouth, a wiper carried by the rotary disk in position to sweep across and wipe the pot mouth and movable relatively to the disk toward and from said mouth, a stationary cam arranged concentrically of the mold disk at the forward side thereof and adapted to engage the wiper to move and hold it relatively to the disk away from the pot mouth in the rotation of the disk, said cam being formed with a gap to towards the pot mouth at one point in the rotation of the disk, and means independent of the cam for moving the wiper against the pot mouth when so released.

7. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a melting pot having a discharge mouth, a rotary disk provided with a mold 1:15 release the wiper so that 1t may be moved said cam track being formed with a gap to release the wiper when it reaches the pot mouth, and the ends of said cam track being flared outwardly to facilitate its cooperation with the wiper, and means for moving the wiper toward the pot mouth as it passes across the gap in the cam track.

8. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a melting pot having a discharge mouth, a rotary disk provided with a mold to cooperate with said mouth, a bearing hub (m which said disk is rotatably mounted, a lever pivoted between its ends to said disk so that its outer end can move relatively to the disk toward and from the pot mouth, a wiping pad on the outer end of the lever adapted in the rotary movements of the disk to sweep across and wipe the pot mouth, a stationary concentric cam track attached to g; the front face of the bearing hub at the forward side of the disk and adapted to engage the inner end of the lever as the disk rotates and move and hold the wiping pad away from the pot mouth, said cam track being formed with a gap so disposed in relation to the pot mouth as to release the wiper lever when the pad reaches the pot mouth, and means acting on the wiper lever to move the wiping pad into 'contact'with the pot mouth when so released.

In testimony whereof, I have aflixed my signature hereto.

ERNESTO M. RODRIGUEZ.

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