This invention relates to a drum for separating and cooling castings and molding sand or the_like, with means to feed castings and sand simultaneously to one axial end of the drum and means to discharge castings and sand separat ly at the other end of the drum, with a foraminous liner wit in the drum and sand raising vanes between the liner and the closed dru wall around it, which liner extends axially over more than half, the length of the drum.

Such a drum is known from the Netherlands patent speci- fication 128.904. Therein the foraminous liner terminates axially in a point before the sand discharge part of the dru which in usual manner consists of a foraminous terminal part of the drumwall which is entirely closed over the remainder of its length. Sand and castings at the discharge end of said liner fall therefrom immediately into the foraminous sand discharge part thereof, from which the sand is gradually dis¬ charged through the openings and in which the castings, thus gradually liberated from sand, are moved to the discharge edge of the drum. In such a drum a lot of noise and dust is generated.

Moreover there is the necessity to take up the sand discharge from the drum over a wide zone axially of the drum, e.g. with the aid of a wide conveyor belt, and there is much wear. Such a drum should be relatively long. It is an object of the invention to improve such a drum in the said respects and to this end a drum as given in the preamble is according to the invention characterized in that the closed drumwall has at its axial downstream end a sand discharge edge concentrated in one short axial zone of the drum, that the liner extends without sudden change of diamete past this sand discharge edge, that the theoretical maximum sand level in the drum, determined by the straight connecting line between the lowest point of the sand discharge opening intersects the foraminous liner near the discharge end of the drum and that the sand raising vanes terminate in the

stream direction at a distance before the concerning inter¬ secting point.

The separation of sand and castings thereby takes plac in the interior of the drum, gradually and within the liner, the castings moving on gradually and the dust quantity gene rated is small. This dust is discharged with the air flow, which is usually caused to flow through the drum and most frequently in the direction opposite to the movement of castings and sand. The noise caused by the sliding or rolli castings mainly when separated from the sand is damped con¬ siderably by the drumwall around them in this area, which damping is increased by the sand being present outside the liner in this downstream end of the drum. The sand is taken up when discharged from the drum concentrated in a narrow zone with little generation of dust only. The drum may be relatively short. The part of the foraminous liner near the discharge end being most subjected to wear may if desired easily be renewed or replaced, to which end this part may b easily detachable from the remainder of the structure of th drum.

It is remarked that a foraminous liner for separating sand and castings with a sand discharge concentrated axiall in such a separating drum is known from German published application 2.751.500. Said liner has a considerable cone angle (about 60 ) and joins the closed drumwall directly near the downstream end of the drum. This structure is in¬ tended for allowing the sand to pass through the perforatio of said liner in a condition in which it is still somewhat humid and is taken up in a widened sand take-up part of the drum rotating therewith, from which it flows through opening in a wall perpendicular to the drum axis to a stationary sand take-up casing, in which flow it is aided by a strong airflow which cools the sand further while using the heat of evaporation of the moisture still present therein. When applying the invention it is possible to dry the sand already in a more upstream zone of the drum to such an extent that it flows easily in both directions through the foraminous liner, even with the same drum length, so that

the sand is easily taken upwards by the sand raising vanes to be sprayed (to rain) over the castings. By choosing the space between liner and closed drumwall- around it sufficien ly wide it is thus possible to ^" spray sand over the castings over substantially the entire horizontal inner space of the drum, and on the other hand,by not making this space too wide, the castings remain sufficiently embedded in sand and it is thereby more easy to obtain an optimum effect and mutual adjustment as to cooling of the castings and cooling and drying ^" of the sand.

Preferably the liner at the upstream end joins withou sudden change of diameter a closed drum part upstream there of, in which closed drum part castings and sand remain in intimate contact for a uniform cooling of the castings by the sand and a beginning of the drying of the sand, which allows introduction of the castings into the drum at a very high temperature and which considerably limits wear of the liner.

The invention will now be explained in more detail wit reference to the enclosed drawings which by way of example and somewhat diagrammatically show a drum according to the invention in different possibilities of embodiment. In said drawings:

Fig. 1 is an axial section through and partially elevation of a drum according to the invention in a first embodiment; Fig. 2 is an axial section through the lower half of a drum according to the invention in a second embodiment; and Fig. 3 is an axial section of the lower half of the drum in a third embodiment. In Fig. 1 it is diagrammatically shown how a drum 1 has riding rings 2, by which it is supported in usual and wellknown manner in a frame not shown on rolers, said drum moreover having a toothed ring 3 for being rotated by en¬ gagement of said ring with a pinion not shown, driven e.g. by an electric motor to rotate the drum about its horizontal or almost horizontal axis.

At the left end in Fig. 1 the drum has a feed opening • for sand and castings. Near this opening the drum has a

conically widening inlet part 26 . The closed cylindrical dru part 31 changes without change of diameter in a foraminous cylindrical liner 27 joining at the discharge end directly the conically narrowing foraminous part 8, which joins the closed part 9 for discharging the castings over the dis¬ charge edge 10. Around the foraminous part 27 there is a closed drum part 28 which at its downstream end is connected rigidly by a flange connection 29 to the conically narrowing closed drum part 5 which terminates in a sand discharge edge 11. Between- the cylindrical foraminous part 27 and the coni¬ cal foraminous part 8 there may also be a detachable flange connection as indicated by 30, which connection has openings to allow sand to pass. In the space between the cylindrical parts 27 and 28 sand raising vanes 17 are provided. These may be simple strips of metal in radial position entirely or almost entirely bridging the space between the parts 27 and 28 and which may extend in the longitudinal direction paral¬ lel the the axis of the drum. The space between the parts 27 and 28 takes up sand, which thereupon is discharged graduall to the inner space within the foraminous part 27 on rotation of the drum to be sprayed over the castings. The theoretical sand level 13, determined by a straight connecting line be¬ tween the lower point of opening * and the lower point of sand discharge edge 11 intersects the conically narrowing foraminous liner 8, so that in this area a separation be¬ tween sand and castings takes place, so that the castings, if necessary with the aid of one or more helical strips or other parts protruding into the drum indicated by 12 and known as such, are moved upwardly from the bed of sand to reach the discharge edge 10 therefor via part 9.

If the liner 8 has to be replaced it is possible to loosen the flange connections 29 and 30 to introduce a new liner 8. If wear takes place only in the more downstream par of the liner 8 it would be possible to position the flange connection 30 more to the downstream end, in v ich case the cylindrical foraminous part 27 of the liner may be rigidly connected to the first, upstream part of the conical liner 8 If the cylindrical foraminous liner 27 has to be

replaced,it is possible to detach this from- the outside at the junction of the closed drum parts 31 and 28, after which they may be moved axially away from each other. It would al be possible to manufacture and assemble the closed drum par 28 as a separate and separately detachable part to replace it by a part of another diameter, e.g. if the device has to operate with an other proportion between quantity of sand and volume of the castings. Said part 28 may e.g. be built up of two semi-cylindrical halves to be connected by e.g. a flange connection in a plane through the axis of the drum It is possible of course to mount the riding rings 2 on other parts of the drum. The right hand ring 2 may e.g. be provided on the conical part 5 of the drum, which may have the advantage of the smaller diameter thus possible. All such details are chosen depending on questions of wear, frequency of replacement etc.

Below the discharge edges 10 and 11 suitable conveying means such as belts may be provided for taking up sand and castings respectively. If it is desired to lower the sand level in the drum, e.g. if it is desired to have a great quantity of sand pass the drum rapidly, e.g. after a period of inactivity, in whic sand and castings have been cooling in the drum, or if molds which have had time to cool somewhere else for some reason have to emptied and sand and castings therein have to be separated without cooling, it is possible to lower the sand discharge edge of the drum temporarily, e.g. by dividing the conical part 5 so that it has a separate part 7 connected by an easily detachable flange connection 6 to the remainder thereof. In that case the theoretical maximum sand level in the drum is indicated by dot-and-dash-line 14.

Of course the lines 13 and 14 do not show real sand levels. The sand level will tend to have a small inclination of e.g. one to several degrees with respect to the horizonta and at the feed end near opening 4 the sand will usually be at a lower level, but for characterizing this device such theoretical sand levels are easily applicable criteria. Alwa such lines have to intersect the foraminous liner as indicat

to give a good separation of sand and castings.

It would be possible to make drum part 18 slightly coni cal Instead of cylindrical and it is possible to position the axis of the drum with some deviation to the horizontal, but usually this will not be necessary if only the sand discharge edge 11 in its lowest point is lower than the lowest point of the feed opening 4, so that there will alway be a sand flow towards the discharge end.

The cooling, feeding and evaporation of water and ex- change of heat between castings and sand in the cylindrical drum part 1 will not have to be described in. etail as this in essence does not differ τrom what happens in known drums for cooling sand and castings.

In Fig. 2 a foraminous liner 8 is shown extending over more than half of the length of the drum and having a part 16 joining at the upstream end the closed inner wall of the drum. Between this part 16 and the cylindrical drum wall 1 there are sand raising vanes 17, raising the sand on rotatio of the drum to spray it over the castings in this part 16. The closed conical part 5 of the drum wall has an opening 18 which may be closed by a slide valve 19 guidable to and fro in guides 20 between an open and a closed position, allowing at the beginning of or after a period of stagnation or stand still to discharge a considerable quantity of sand from the drum. It is possible to leave opening 18 open during some time while rotating the drum until the desired quantity of sand has been discharged.

In Fig. 3 it is shown that the foraminous liner 8 at its upstream end joins a cylindrical foraminous liner part 21 with sand raising vanes 17 between that part 21 and the closed wall of the drum. This cylindrical part 21 joins towards the feed end of the drum a conical part 22 having about the same cone angle as part 8 and which may or may not be foraminous. It joins the closed wall of the drum at the upstream end without sudden change of diameter. Preferably it is foraminous.

By this part 22 there is, in the same way as by the upstream end of the liner in part 16 of Fig. 2, an additiona

resistance for the flow of castings and sand to the dischar end, so that for certain compositions and dimensions of the- san and for certain castings such as small somewhat spherical castings there is a kind of milling action to avoid the formation of clods or lumps in the sand, which milling acti is better if part 22 be foraminous. The closed drum 1 is cylindrical over its entire length and terminates in the concentrated sand discharge edge 11 formed by the inner edge of a set of rings, in this case three rings 23, 24 and 25. Ring 25 is rigidly or detachably connected to the inner wall of the drum and within ring 25 there are the other rin 23 and 24 concentric with and detachable from the drum and from each other. It is thus possible to vary the theoretica sand level between the indicated lines 13, 14 and 15. The sand space between liner and drum in the area of the sand raising vanes 17 in Fig. 2 and in the space around the foraminous liner 8 in Fig. 3 widens in the downstream direction and this has the advantage that, if e.g. acciden¬ tally too much water is supplied to the drum,the sand runs less risk to form a coherent cake. It is possible to make the sand space between liner and drum widening downstream over the entire length, e.g. by giving parts of the drum a smaller cone angle than parts of the liner immediately with¬ in such drum parts. The sand raising vanes 17 may, as stated, be radial and extending in longitudinal direction parallel to the axis of the drum. They may however be inclined with respect to the radial direction to shovel up ore. ^' sand and, in longitudina direction, they may extend along helical lines to push the sand more towards the discharge end of the drum, but in most cases this is not necessary. It is sufficient to connect such vanes to one wall only, to the inner wall of the drum or to the outer wall of the liner, e.g. by welding.

The conical parts of the liner have a cone angle which is substantially smaller than 45°, preferably about 35 . This relates to the full cone angle, not to the angle with respect to the axis.

O PI

The radial dimension of the space between liner and drum preferably suffices the requirements as given in the appended claims. - .