Molding chamber for green sand molds

Abstract

A tubular sand molding chamber having two conventional movable walls one mounted on a piston for compacting and expelling the cake and the other pivotably mounted on a displaceable hinge arm for opening the chamber, but having side walls that are also movable is disclosed. Each movable side wall includes a plate (11) mounted on a respective plate-holder (12) that is connected to guides (13) for sliding the side wall on a fixed support (14) through the action of a respective hydraulic cylinder (15), in such a manner that the effective width of the chamber be adapted to different cake sizes, in order to minimize the consumption of sand. However, the movable end wall that are mounted on a faceplate (20) affixed to a hydraulic cylinder and pivotably mounted on the hinge arm, respectively, for the compacting and expelling the sand cake, have replaceable plate assemblies. Respective replaceable plate assemblies include pattern plates having respective individual plate-holder frames, so that the replaceable plate assemblies selectably provide different widths, and the replaceable plate assemblies are attached to a faceplate (20) having a fixed width equal to or less than the minimum usable width of the chamber.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.