Biaxial concrete masonry casting method
AssigneeNational Concrete Masonry Association
InventorJorge Pardo
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods for biaxially (or triaxially) casting concrete masonry ("CM") products like CM blocks which have twin cavities formed by a pair of face shells and three webs interconnecting same with the twin cavities extending in the direction of the axis of casting of the CM block include using in the mold cavity one or more main mold cores which incorporate structure for extending and retracting a plunger or the like to provide one or more temporary mold cores laterally extending into the mold cavity from one or more main mold cores along a second axis which is normal to the axis of casting during certain selected phases of the CM casting process so as to form openings extending through one or more webs in the direction of the second axis.
Claims15
A biaxial casting method 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 which are boundaried by said webs and portions of said face shells and extend through said CM block in the direction of an axis of casting of such block, said method using an apparatus adapted to be disposed in the mold of a CM casting machine with 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 the second pair of said side walls, and said apparatus comprising:
- 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 which has a plan configuration like the plan of said CM block to be made, with the vertical axis of said mold cores extending in the direction of said axis of casting of said CM block to be made;
- at least one of said mold cores containing means for laterally projecting from within the periphery of said mold core to outwardly of at least one side of said mold core in like longitudinal direction as said first longer mold side walls to provide a temporary mold core laterally extending into said mold cavity in a direction transverse to said axis of casting;
- compressor/stripper means vertically movable with respect to said mold box and mold cores, pallet means vertically and laterally movable with respect to the bottom of said mold box, and CM material feed means laterally movable to above said mold box and away therefrom;
- said biaxial casting method for making said CM block comprising:
- (a) disposing a pallet with respect to said mold box to provide a mold bottom;
- extending said laterally projecting means from at least one of said mold cores into said mold cavity to provide said temporary mold core laterally extending into said mold cavity along an axis transverse to said axis of casting;
- feeding CM mix into said mold cavity from said feeder means;
- and vertically lowering said compressor/stripper means and compressing said CM mix in said mold cavity to form a CM block having an opening extending through at least one of said webs of said CM block;
- and
- (b) retracting said laterally projecting means to within said periphery of said mold core containing same to remove said temporary mold core from said mold cavity;
- sensing with a sensing means whether said laterally projecting means has fully retracted from said mold cavity;
- moving said compressor/stripper means and said pallet downward to strip from said mold box said CM block disposed on said pallet when said sensing means has sensed that said laterally projecting means has fully retracted from said mold cavity;
- transferring said CM block and pallet laterally away from below said mold box;
- placing another pallet below said mold box and vertically raising said pallet to said mold box to provide a mold bottom;
- and vertically raising said compressor/stripper means from said mold box and disposing it out of the path of said laterally movable CM material feed means.
A biaxial casting method 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 which are boundaried by said webs and portions of said face shells and extend through said CM block in the direction of the axis of casting of said CM block, said method comprising:
- (a) providing a CM casting machine with a 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 the second pair of said side walls;
- (b) providing at least two mold cores substantially vertically disposed in said mold with 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 each other and other walls of said mold cores being spaced from side walls of said mold box so as to form a mold cavity which has a plan configuration similar to the plan configuration of said CM block to be made, with the vertical axis of said mold cores extending in the direction of said axis of casting of said CM block to be made, at least one of said mold cores containing means for laterally projecting from within the periphery of said mold core to outwardly of at least one side of said mold core in direction of a second axis which extends in like longitudinal direction as said first longer mold side walls and substantially normal to said axis of casting to provide a temporary mold core laterally extendable into said mold cavity in said direction of said second axis;
- (c) providing a mold bottom for said mold box;
- (d) extending said laterally projecting means outwardly from at least one of said mold cores into said mold cavity to provide said temporary mold core laterally extending into said mold cavity along said second axis;
- (e) feeding CM mix into said mold cavity;
- (f) compressing said CM mix in said mold cavity to form said CM block having an opening extending through at least one of said webs of said CM block;
- (g) retracting said laterally projecting means to within said periphery of said mold core containing same to remove said temporary mold core from said mold cavity and sensing with a sensing means whether said laterally projecting means has fully retracted from said mold cavity;
- (h) removing said mold bottom when said sensing means has sensed that said laterally projecting means has fully retracted from said mold cavity;
- and
- (i) removing said cast CM block from said mold box.
A biaxial casting method for making a concrete masonry block including a pair of opposing spaced face shells with at least three spaced webs extending transversely to interconnect said shells and form at least two cavities bounded by said webs and portions of said face shells, said cavities extending through said block in the direction of the axis of casting of said block, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a CM casting machine with a 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 the second pair of said walls and providing at least two mold cores substantially vertically disposed in said mold;
- (b) providing a mold bottom for said mold box;
- (c) extending a laterally projecting means outwardly from at least one of said mold cores into the mold cavity to provide a temporary mold core laterally extending into said mold cavity along an axis generally perpendicular to said casting axis;
- (d) feeding concrete mix into said mold cavity;
- (e) compressing said mix in said mold cavity to form said block having an opening extending through at least one of said webs of said block;
- (f) retracting said laterally projecting means from said concrete mix in said mold cavity to within the periphery of said mold core containing same to remove said temporary mold core from said mold cavity and sensing with a sensing means whether said laterally projecting means has fully retracted from said mold cavity;
- (g) removing said mold bottom when said sensing means has sensed that said laterally projecting means has fully retracted from said mold cavity;
- and
- (h) removing said cast block from said mold box.
A biaxial casting method for making a concrete masonry block including at least one face shell with apparatus adapted to be disposed in a mold of a CM casting machine with said mold including a mold box comprising side wall means, said 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 said mold core means into said mold cavity, comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a mold bottom for said casting apparatus;
- (b) extending said laterally projecting means from said mold core means into said mold cavity to provide a temporary mold core extending into said mold cavity along a first axis;
- (c) feeding concrete mix into said mold cavity along a second axis angularly offset from said first axis;
- (d) compressing said mix into said mold cavity to form said concrete masonry block;
- (e) retracting said laterally projecting means to within the periphery of said mold core means to remove said laterally projecting means from said mold cavity;
- (f) sensing with a sensing means whether said laterally projecting means has completely retracted from said mold cavity;
- (g) removing said mold bottom only when said sensing means has sensed that said laterally projecting means has completely retracted in accordance with step (f);
- and
- (h) removing said cast concrete block from said mold box.
The biaxial casting method of 4, wherein said mold includes a pair of substantially identical said mold core means with said laterally projecting means being respectively extendable and retractable along two different angularly offset first axes, and comprising the further step of extending said respective laterally projecting means along their respective first axis to provide a triaxially cast block.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.