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:
Jun. 05, 2007
Filed:
Aug. 31, 2004
John Fernihough, Ennetbaden, CH;
John Fernihough, Ennetbaden, CH;
ALSTOM, Paris, FR;
Abstract
An apparatus for manufacturing a directionally solidified columnar grained article with a reduced amount of secondary misorientation of the columnar grains. The apparatus includes a casting assembly comprising a mold with a cavity, a selector section at a lower end of the mold, a heating chamber and a cooling chamber. The mold is fed with a liquid metal and then moved from the heating chamber to the cooling chamber where the columnar grained article is solidified. The article is solidified with at least two dendrites (or grains) emerging from the selector section and entering the main cavity of the shell mold. Further, the selector section is configured so that no dendrite or grain grows from the bottom of the selector section into the shell mold cavity along a continuous path of purely vertical growth.