Bedloe Industries LLC

Noland Brooks

F Andrew Nibouar

Jerry R Smerecky

Nick Salamasick

Kelly S Day

A method for manufacturing a railcar coupler knuckle includes, before casting, positioning an external chill within a cope mold portion and a drag mold portion offset from and adjacent internal walls of a pulling face and a throat of the cope and drag mold portions, thus producing a casting with reduced micro-shrinkage in at least the throat, a high-stress section of the casting. Use of subsurface chills produces an improved surface with fewer inclusions when compared to an equivalent surface produced in a process without use of a subsurface chill. The external chill may be a cone chill of a larger size to improve cooling and solidification at and below the surface. The external chill may also be a cylindrical and/or oblong chill with a tapered design that may correspond to the internal walls of the cope and drag mold portions between the pulling face and the throat.

Subsurface chills to improve railcar knuckle formation

A method for casting a thrower for a railcar coupler includes creating a mold box that is vertically parted in halves, each half defining a side of a thrower cavity and that includes at least a portion of a sprue at a location above the thrower cavity, the thrower cavity also being oriented vertically; pouring molten metal into the mold box through the sprue and into the thrower cavity while the mold is oriented vertically; and shaking out the mold box to release the thrower after the thrower has cooled. Creating the mold box may be executed through a cold shell process. The halves of the mold box may include reflective images of the sides of two thrower cavities and an ingate connected between the sprue and one of the two thrower cavities.

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Muskegon, MI, United States of America

Noland Brooks