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Constant tension band for casting machine
| Details |
Inventors: Ware, Peter W.;
Assignee: Southwire Company (Carrollton, GA)
Primary Examiner: Baldwin; Robert D.
Assistant Examiner: Batten, Jr.; J. Reed
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Hanegan; Herbert M., Tate; Stanley L., Linne; Robert S.
In a continuous molten metal casting apparatus of the wheel-band type, wherein an elongated endless metal band partially closes a groove inscribed about the periphery of the rotatable casting wheel, an apparatus to apply and maintain a fixed, determinable tension to the elongated, endless band. The tension apparatus of the present invention permits the use of greatly elongated casting bands, maintaining a tension thereon, even during electrical power or air pressure supply failure, to thus provide improved band life. The tension wheel is rotatably mounted upon a carriage which slides on a pair of bellows-enclosed shafts, the carriage riding on a plurality of ball bushings. A dual-action air cylinder, attached at one end to the carriage and the other to the tension mechanism frame, operatively tensions the band through the wheel and carriage assembly. A spring loaded pawl attached to the carriage is restrained from engagement with a frame mounted rack during normal operation, which pawl engages the rack to constrain release of band tension should the air supply fail during operation. The apparatus is of a configuration such that it may be used or retrofitted with a great many of the various wheel-band casting machine configurations of past and present manufacture. |
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION Briefly described, the present invention comprises a casting machine generally known in the metal casting art as being of the wheel-band type, with which a normal or greatly extended length band of ordinary low carbon steel may be maintained at a fixed, determinable tension against the casting wheel, without regard to minor eccentricities of the casting or idler wheels.
The apparatus of the present invention is further directed to facilitate the experimental determination of the optimum tension to be applied to ordinary material casting bands of varying width, thickness, composition, or other properties.
Thus it is an object of this invention to provide a casting machine of the wheel-band type for the continuous casting of molten metal or other substances, which casting machine includes a band, band tensioning arrangement, and a band-wheel arrangement that permits the maintenance of the optimum tension for any given band or band material and wheel combination.
Still another object of this invention is the provision of a combination of apparatus elements enabling simple, rapid and accurate determination of band tension during machine operation, which collected tension records may be used as a data base in determining optimum band tension.
Yet another object of this invention is the reduction of casting machine downtime for replacement of a band or of a wheel by optimizing the band tension and therefore band life.
Still another object of this invention is the elimination, through the use of a fail-safe mechanism, of certain hazardous machine operation situations in the event of the loss of electrical power or air pressure supplied to the tensioning apparatus, or caused by eccentricities in the casting or idler wheels.
Another object of this invention is the elimination of hazardous machine operation situations which occasionally arise from poor band/wheel sealing with out-of-round casting wheels, accomplished by the inherent accommodation of the constantly tensioned band to sealingly engage such out-of-round casting wheels, thereby preventing molten metal spills or splashes, and explosions caused thereby
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Heat Accumulators 
