Apparatus and method for continuously casting a member from a settable material
OwnerJoseph NORRIS, Roderick MCDONALDinventors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for continuously casting a solid member is disclosed. The apparatus may include a mould forming support configured to form an open channel, a flexible conveyor having a feed end and a peel off end extending across the mould forming support along its length. The conveyor conforms to the configuration of the mould forming support along its length to form an open channel mould which receives a settable material that is displaced along the conveyor belt and forms a solid member. A method of continuously casting a solid member is also disclosed.
Claims20
A method for continuously casting a solid concrete member from a settable cementitious material that forms concrete when cured, comprising:
- providing a conveyor having a feed end and a peel off end, the conveyor comprising a flexible conveyor belt that is displaced in a conveying direction from the feed end to the peel off end,
- deforming the conveyor belt so that it is configured in the form of an open channel mould near the feed end and travels in the conveying direction, the open channel mould comprising substantially vertical side walls and a substantially horizontal bottom wall,
- feeding the settable cementitious material into the open channel mould and displacing the settable cementitious material along the conveyor to the peel off end,
- curing the settable cementitious material during displacement along the conveyor so that the cementitious material forms at least part of an elongate solid concrete member before it reaches the peel off end, and
- separating the formed solid concrete member from the open channel mould by deforming the conveyor belt to separate the vertical side walls from the solid member and changing the angle or orientation of the conveyor belt at the peel off end to separate the bottom wall from the solid member.
An apparatus for casting a solid concrete member from a settable cementitious material that cured to form concrete, the apparatus comprising:
- a conveyor having a feed end and a peel off end, the conveyor comprising a flexible conveyor belt that is displaced in a conveying direction from the feed end to the peel off end;
- and
- a feeder for feeding a flowable settable material onto the conveyor,
- wherein the conveyor belt is deformed into a main casting section forming an open channel mould of substantially constant cross sectional configuration with substantially vertical side walls and a substantially horizontal bottom wall, and the conveyor belt is formed into a peel off transition section towards the peel off end which is different from the open channel mould to separate the conveyor belt from a solid concrete member formed on the conveyor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.