The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 13, 1998
Filed:
Jul. 31, 1996
Patrick D King, Rantoul, IL (US);
Vesuvius Crucible Company, Wilmington, DE (US);
Abstract
An improved beaver-tail tube assembly is provided that is easily exchanged in place over a thin-slab casting mold by means of a conventional tube changer. The tube assembly includes a rectangular plate, and a tube body having a circular upper end that is mounted to an orifice in the plate for receiving molten metal, and a lower end that is elongated along its width for discharging molten metal into the elongated opening of a thin-slab casting mold. In the tube assembly of the invention, the upper end of the tube body is mounted to the opening in the plate so that the longitudinal axis of the elongated bottom end of the tube body is oriented at an angle of between about 25.degree. and 55.degree. with respect to a line orthogonal to the parallel sides of the plate. Such an angular mounting allows two or more tube assemblies of the invention to be arranged in a row which allows the plates of adjacent tube assemblies to engage one another, but does not allow contact between the elongated discharge ends of the tube bodies of the assemblies. This feature in turn allows a conventional tube changer to exchange one of the improved beaver-tail tube assemblies of the invention with another over a thin-slab casting mold without the need for spacers or modifications to the tube changer.