Apparatus for producing dry-pressed moulding from a particulate or granular moulding material

In apparatus for producing moldings from a dry, particulate or granular material such as a ceramic molding composition, of the type comprising:

• a first mold half,
• a vacuum shooting head which, together with said first mold half, forms a loading cavity,
• vacuum applying means for applying a vacuum to said loading cavity to draw said molding material into said loading cavity where it is precompressed to form a premolding, and
• a second mold half, said second mold half being displaceable into and out of a working position in alignment with said first mold half and being movable towards said first mold half whereby to press a premolding in said first mold half to form a molding;
• the improvement wherein said vacuum shooting head, said second mold half and a removal head for removing said molding from said first mold half are all carried by a single carriage, said carriage being mounted on the press head of a press so as to be displaceable transversely of the pressing direction with respect to said first mold half,
• a base portion of said press carrying said first mold half such that by displacing said carriage with respect to said press head transversely of said pressing direction, said vacuum shooting head, said second mold half and said removal head are successively displaceable into alignment with said first mold half whereby, in use of said apparatus, said loading cavity can be filled and a premolding formed, and in succession, said premolding can be pressed to form a molding, and said molding can be removed from said first mold half, the arrangement being such that when said vacuum shooting head, and/or said second mold half are in alignment with said first mold half, said removal head is in a transfer position relative to a receiving surface whereby to transfer a molding formed during a preceding cycle to said receiving surface.