Cyclicly-operable machine adapted to produce and assemble cope and drag mold parts

In a cyclicly-operable mold-forming [mechanism] machine for simultaneously and successively producing cope and drag mold parts and thereafter assembling such parts to produce a composite mold, in combination, a framework establishing a working station where the mold parts are produced and a stripping station where said mold parts are assembled, a match plate support located at said working station, a pattern-carrying match plate resting normally on said support, and upper and lower squeeze plates above and below said support, an upper reaction platen and a lower lifting platen located at said stripping station, a rotatable turntable mounted on said framework midway between said stations, a plurality of pairs of upper and lower vertically spaced and relatively fixed flask supports eccentrically mounted on said turntable in circumferentially spaced relationship, cope and drag flask sections normally resting by gravity respectively on each pair of upper and lower supports, means for successively indexing said turntable throughout a predetermined degree in order to bring one pair of flask supports into vertical register with said match plate at said working station with the flask sections thereon straddling said match plate and simultaneously to interpose another pair of flask supports between said platens at the stripping station, means at said working station and operative in between turntable-indexing operations to move said match plate, the flask sections which straddle the same, and the squeeze plates relatively to one another and in such manner as to lift said match plate and flask sections vertically from their respective supports, to assemble said match plates and flask sections to define upper and lower flask cavities on opposite sides of the match plate, to introduce sand by air under pressure simultaneously into such cavities and then compress the [same] sand in the cavities to produce cope and drag mold parts within the flask sections, and to restore the match plate and flask sections with the mold parts therein to their normal positions on their respective supports, and means at said stripping station and effective in between turntable-indexing operations to move said flask sections and platens relatively to one another so as to lift the flask sections vertically from their respective supports, to assemble the flask sections with the mold parts thereon upon each other and thus establish a composite mold, to force the latter from the assembled flask sections, and to restore the empty flask sections to their normal positions on their respective supports.

In a cyclicly-operable mold-forming machine for simultaneously producing cope and drag mold parts and thereafter assembling them to produce a composite mold, in combination, a framework establishing a working station where the mold parts are produced and a stripping station where the said mold parts are assembled, a match plate support located at said working station, a pattern-carrying match plate associated with said support, upper and lower squeeze plates positioned above and below said support, an upper reaction platen and a lower lifting platen located at said stripping station, a flask carrier having a pair of upper and lower vertically spaced and relatively fixed flask supports, cope and drag flask sections normally resting on said flask supports respectively and positioned in spaced apart relation, said carrier being movable between a first position wherein said flask supports straddle the match plate support and a second position wherein said flask supports are interposed between said platens, means located at said working station and operative when the carrier is in its first position to establish successive stages of relative movement between the match plate, the flask sections, and the squeeze plates including a first stage wherein the drag flask section and the lower squeeze plate move upwardly so that said drag flask section, match plate and cope flask section are lifted successively from their respective supports and are assembled upon one another to define cope and drag flask cavities into which molding sand is blown simultaneously , a second stage wherein the lower squeeze plate alone moves upwardly and effectively compresses the sand in said cavities against the upper squeeze plate in order to produce cope and drag mold parts, and a third stage wherein the lower squeeze plate and said flask sections with the mold parts therein move downwardly to restore the cope flask section, the match plate and the drag flask section successively to their respective supports, [and] means located at said stripping station and operative when the carrier is in its second position to establish successive stages of relative movement between the flask sections and the platens including a first stage wherein the lifting platen moves upwardly so that the drag flask section with its contained drag mold part and the cope flask section with its contained cope mold part are lifted successively from their respective supports and assembled upon each other in order thereby to assemble the composite mold and clamp the latter between the lift and reaction platens, a second stage wherein the flask sections are moved upwardly to strip the same from the clamped mold, and a third stage wherein said lifting platen, flask sections and mold move downwardly so as to restore the cope and drag flask sections in an empty condition to their respective supports and carry the mold downwardly while resting on said lifting platen to a level below the drag flask section for lateral ejection from the stripping station , and means for successively moving the carrier between its first and second positions .

In a cyclicly-operable mold-forming machine for simultaneously and successively producing cope and drag mold parts and thereafter assembling such parts to produce a composite mold, in combination, a framework including a pair of laterally spaced sides which are generally C-shaped in configuration and [presents] embody horizontal upper and lower legs and vertical connecting bight portions, the region existing forwardly of the bight portions and between said upper and lower legs of said [side supports] sides establishing a working station, a pair of laterally spaced vertical corner posts positioned forwardly of said [side supports] sides , an upper frame extending between said upper legs and the corner posts, and a lower frame extending between said lower legs and the corner posts, the region of said framework adjacent to and rearwardly of said corner posts establishing a stripping station, the regions on opposite sides of said framework and laterally outside the confines thereof establishing a pair of dwell stations, said stations being quadrilaterally arranged about a vertical axis substantially midway between said working and stripping stations, a turntable mounted for rotation about said vertical axis and including a central column, an upper spider and a lower spider, each spider including a series of four radially extending spider arms, adjacent arms extending at a right angle to each other and the arms of the upper spider extending parallel to and overlying the arms of the lower spider, a series of four cope flask sections normally supported in chordal fashion on said upper spider with their ends loosely resting on adjacent spider arms, a series of four drag flask sections similarly normally supported in chordal fashion on said lower spider and directly underlying the cope flask sections whereby the cope and drag flask sections are paired vertically, means for indexing said turntable successively through an angle of 90.degree. whereby successive indexing operations of the turntable will cause the paired flask sections to travel in a circular path leading into and extending out of said stations, means operative immediately after each indexing operation for locking the turntable in a fixed position wherein each of said paired flask sections is effectively disposed at one of said stations, a match plate support fixedly disposed in said working station, a match plate normally resting on said support and adapted to be straddled by each pair of flask sections when the latter are disposed at the working station, means located at said working station and operative in between turntable-indexing operations, first, to lift the match plate and the two associated flask sections from their respective supports, then, to assemble said flask sections in order to define upper and lower flask cavities on opposite sides of the match plate, then, simultaneously to [introduce] blow molding sand into such cavities , [and] then to compress the [same] sand in said cavities in order to produce cope and drag mold parts, and finally, to restore the match plate and said associated flask sections with the mold parts therein to their normal positions on their respective supports, and means located at said stripping station and operative in between turntable-indexing operations, first, to lift the associated flask sections [from] with the mold parts therein from their respective supports, then, to assemble said flask sections upon each other in order to establish a composite mold, then, to force the composite mold from the assembled associated flask sections, and finally to restore the empty flask sections to their normal positions on their respective supports.