Biaxial concrete masonry casting apparatus
AssigneeNational Concrete Masonry Association
InventorJorge Pardo
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The biaxial CM casting apparatus utilizes one or more main mold cores having an automatically extensible and retractable plunger or like structure extending laterally into the mold cavity from the one or more main mold cores along an axis substantially orthogonal to the axis of casting during certain selected phases of the CM casting process to form one or more openings or other structural changes in the casted concrete which openings or changes extend in the direction of a second axis normal to the casting axis.
Claims27
A biaxial casting apparatus for making a concrete-masonry or CM block including a pair of opposing spaced face shells with at least three spaced webs extending transversely to and interconnecting said face shells and forming at least two cavities bounded by said webs and portions of said face shells, said cavities extending through the CM block in parallel to said webs and face shells, said apparatus adapted to be disposed in a mold of a CM casting machine, said mold including a mold box comprising four substantially vertically disposed side walls disposed in substantially rectangular plan configuration with a first pair of said side walls being longer than a second pair of said side walls, and a movable bottom defining the bottom of a mold cavity during casting, said biaxial casting apparatus comprising:
- (a) at least two mold cores substantially vertically disposed in said mold, said mold cores having substantially vertically disposed side walls arranged in substantially rectangular plan configuration, with a wall of each of said mold cores spaced from a wall of an adjacent mold core, and other walls of said mold cores being spaced from side walls of said mold box so as to form a mold cavity in which the CM block is to be made;
- (b) at least a first one of said mold cores containing means for laterally projecting outwardly from at least one side wall of said mold core during selected phases of a CM casting process using said apparatus so that said means provides a temporary mold core laterally extending into said mold cavity along an axis transverse to said side walls of said core during said selected phases of using said apparatus in casting a CM block so as to form an opening extending transversely through at least one of the adjacent webs of the resultant CM block;
- and
- (c) control means for sequentially (1) extending said laterally projecting means into said mold cavity and (2) retracting said laterally projecting means from said mold cavity following introduction of liquid concrete into said mold cavity in contact with said laterally projecting means, said control means including means for sensing full retraction of the laterally projecting means from the mold cavity to thereby enable prevention of removal of the movable bottom in response to failure of said laterally projecting means to fully retract as sensed by said sensing means.
A biaxial casting apparatus for making a concrete masonry block including at least one face shell with at least one spacer web extending transversely from said face shell to form at least one space defined by said at least one web and portions of said at least one face shell, said space extending approximately through the height of the block in parallel to said web and face shell, said apparatus adapted to be disposed in the mold of a concrete casting machine with said mold including a mold box comprising substantially vertically disposed walls and a movable bottom, said biaxial casting apparatus comprising:
- (a) at least one mold core substantially vertically disposed in said mold, said mold core having substantially vertically disposed side walls with a side wall of said at least one mold core spaced from a wall of said mold box to form a mold cavity therewith;
- (b) said at least one mold core containing means for laterally projecting outwardly from a side wall of the mold core during selected phases of casting said block using said apparatus so that said means provides a temporary mold core extending laterally into said mold cavity;
- and
- (c) control means for selectively (1) extending said laterally projecting means into said mold cavity and (2) retracting said laterally projecting means from said mold cavity following introduction of liquid concrete into said mold cavity, said control means including means for sensing full retraction of the laterally projecting means from the mold cavity to thereby enable prevention of removal of the movable bottom in response to failure of said laterally projecting means to fully retract as sensed by said sensing means.
A biaxial casting apparatus for making a concrete masonry or CM block including at least one face shell, said apparatus adapted to be disposed in the mold of a CM casting machine with said mold including a mold box comprising side wall means and a movable bottom, said biaxial casting apparatus comprising at least one mold core means forming a mold cavity with said side wall means, said mold core means including means for laterally projecting outwardly from the side wall means of the mold core means into the mold cavity along an axis transverse to the side wall means of said mold core means during selected phases of using said apparatus and casting a concrete masonry block;
- and control means for selectively extending and retracting said laterally projecting means, said control means including means for sensing full retraction of the laterally projecting means from the mold cavity to thereby enable prevention of removal of the movable bottom in response to failure of said laterally projecting means to fully retract as sensed by said sensing means.
A concrete mold core assembly for making a concrete masonry block, said assembly comprising a mold box including side wall means for forming at least part of a mold cavity;
- at least one mold core having substantially vertically disposed wall means establishing with said side wall means a mold cavity open at top and bottom ends thereof, an axis extending vertically between the top and bottom ends being an axis of casting;
- said at least one mold core means containing means for laterally projecting outwardly from said vertically disposed wall means of the mold core into the mold cavity along an axis transverse to the casting axis;
- a materials feed tray movable into an overhead position above the mold box to feed liquid concrete into the mold cavity;
- a pallet movable into position adjacent the bottom end of the mold cavity to establish a mold cavity bottom to retain said liquid concrete in the mold cavity to form the block;
- a compression stripper shoe movable in the direction of the axis of casting to strip a cast concrete masonry block from the mold cavity in coordination with said pallet being moved to a spaced location away from the mold cavity bottom end;
- and control means for selectively extending said laterally projecting means into said mold cavity, said control means being operable to retract said laterally projecting means from said mold cavity following introduction of liquid concrete into said mold cavity, retraction of said laterally projecting means from said mold cavity occuring prior to removal of said pallet from the mold cavity bottom, said control means including means for sensing full retraction of the laterally projecting means from the mold cavity to thereby enable prevention of removal of the pallet in response to failure of said laterally projecting means to fully retract as sensed by said sensing means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.