Block mold having moveable liner

A mold assembly for manufacturing dry-cast concrete blocks in an automated dry-cast block machine, the mold assembly comprising:

• a plurality of liner plates forming a mold cavity, each liner plate corresponding to and forming a perimeter side of the mold cavity, wherein at least one of the liner plates is moveable horizontally toward and away from and interior of the mold cavity, the mold cavity having an open top and an open bottom in vertical directions relative to the movement of the at least one moveable liner plate;
• a drive element routed about at least a portion of the perimeter sides of the mold cavity and forming a continuous loop, wherein the drive element is driven back and forth about the loop to provide a first linear force in a first horizontal direction and a second linear force in a second horizontal direction opposite the first direction substantially in parallel with each perimeter side along which the drive element is routed;
• a drive source coupled and configured to drive the drive element back and forth about the loop;
• and
• a secondary drive assembly configured to engage the least one moveable liner plate and to employ the first linear force and the second linear force to drive the at least one moveable liner plate horizontally toward and away from the interior of the mold cavity.

A mold assembly for manufacturing dry-cast concrete blocks in an automated dry-cast block machine, the mold assembly comprising:

• a plurality of liner plates forming a first mold cavity, each liner plate corresponding to a perimeter side of the mold cavity, wherein each of the liner plates is moveable toward and away from an interior of the mold cavity;
• a master drive element disposed about the external perimeter of all sides of the mold cavity and forming a continuous loop, wherein the master drive element is driven horizontally back and forth about the perimeter of the mold cavity to provide, parallel to each perimeter side of the mold cavity, a first linear force in a first horizontal direction and a second linear force in a second horizontal direction opposite the first horizontal direction;
• and
• a plurality of drive assemblies disposed along the perimeter sides of and external to the mold cavity, one drive assembly corresponding to the each of the moveable liner plates and including:
• a first drive element which converts the first and second linear forces provided by the master drive element substantially parallel to the corresponding perimeter side to rotation about a rotational axis which is substantially normal to the perimeter side;
• and
• a second drive element threadably coupled to the first drive element, wherein the second drive element is configured to move linearly back and forth along the rotational axis in response to rotation of the first drive element so as to move the corresponding moveable liner plate coupled thereto horizontally toward and away from the interior of the mold cavity.