Apparatus for and a method of producing moulding sand for moulds
AssigneeMonica Diana Reynolds
InventorHerbert W. Reynolds
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A mould forming mix of ingredients including sand, a binder, and a catalyst blend is produced. The catalyst blend includes at least two catalysts one of which is slow acting and the other of which is fast acting. The ratio of the fast and slow catalysts used to make up the catalyst blend depends on the time to hardening required, and the temperature of the sand. A data processor is used to combine information concerning the hardening time, the temperature, and the rate at which materials are fed to a mixing unit, and to process the information in order to operate catalyst suppliers which supply the fast and slow catalysts.
Claims11
Apparatus for producing a mould forming mix of ingredients including a matrix material, a binder, and a catalyst blend comprised of first and second catalysts, said apparatus including feed rate determining means for determining the rate at which at least one of those ingredients is fed to a mixing chamber, at any one time, temperature sensing means operative to sense the temperature on a continuing basis of said matrix material as that material is being supplied, hardening time control means operable to select a hardening time for said mix, first and second catalyst feed means operable to feed said first and second catalysts at variable rates, and catalyst mix control means responsive to information gained from said feed rate determining means, said temperature sensing means and said hardening time control means to automatically establish and control the relative rates at which said first and second catalyst feed means supply said first and second catalysts respectively to result in a ratio of ingredients which will harden at a rate compatible with said selected hardening time.
A method of producing a mould forming mix including the steps of:
- separately feeding each of a plurality of mix ingredients to a mixing chamber, said ingredients including a matrix material, a binder, and at least first and second catalysts, said first catalyst being a relatively fast acting catalyst and said second catalyst being a relatively slow acting catalyst,
- determining the rate at which at least the binder or matrix material is fed to said mixing chamber,
- determining on a continuing basis the temperature at which said matrix material is fed to said mixing chamber,
- selecting a hardening time for said mould forming mix with a hardening time control means, and automatically controlling the rate and proportion at which each of said first and second catalysts are fed to said mixing chamber by means of a catalyst mix control means,
- said catalyst mix control means being automatically responsive to said rate, temperature and hardening time information so that the resultant mix in said mixing chamber will harden at a rate compatible with said selected hardening time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.