Method of vibrating metal during casting

Claim 1

A PROCESS OF SIMULTANEOUSLY CASTING AND VIBRATING AN INGOT OF METAL FOR THE PURPOSE OF REFINING THE GRAIN OF SAID METAL, COMPRISING THE SIMULTANEOUS APPLICATION OF THE FOLLOWING TREATMENTS: (A) MAINTAINING A SOLID INGOT OF SAID METAL IN A VERTICAL POSITION IN AN INGOT MOLD; (B) SUPPLYING THE UPPER END OF SAID INGOT WITH MOLTEN METAL; (C) MECHANICALLY VIBRATING A BAR OF MAGNETOSTRICTIVE METAL AND TRANSMITTING THE VIBRATIONS TO SAID INGOT SOLELY THROUGH INTERMEDIATE RIGID ELEMENTS RIGIDLY CONNECTED TOGETHER; (D) CONTINOUSLY MODULATING THE FREQUENCY F OF THE VIBRATIONS, WHEREBY THE FREQUENCY VALUE IS BETWEEN VALUES F(1-K) AND F(1+K), K BEING A VALUE LESS THAN 1/2; (E) STEP-WISE CONTROLLING THE VALUE OF THE FREQUENCY F EVERY TIME THAT THE INGOT LENGTH HAS INCREASED BY 2K, BEING THE WAVELENGTH OF THE ELASTIC WAVE IN THE INGOT, TO EQUALIZE, AT LEAST ROUGHLY, SAID FREQUENCY F WITH THE NATURAL FREQUENCY FO OF THE INGOT, AT THAT TIME, WHEREBY THE VALUE FO/F IS CONSTANTLY MAINTAINED BETWEEN TWO LIMITS SUFFICIENTLY CLOSE TO UNITY AND TO EACH OTHER TO CORRESPOND TO RELATIVELY HIGH VALUES OF THE OSCILLATION AMPILTUDE; (F) PERMANENTLY COOLING THE SOLID PORTION OF THE INGOT TO SOLIDIFY THE MOLTEN METAL WHILE SAID INGOT IS BEING VIBRATED, SAID SOLID PORTION ACTING CONSTANTLY AS A SUPPORT FOR THE SUPPLY OF MOLTEN METAL; (G) AND CONTINUOUSLY DISPLACING SAID INGOT MOLD AND SAID INGOT RELATIVELY TO EACH OTHER, THEREBY CONSTANTLY MAINTAINING IN SAID INGOT MOLD THE PORTION OF THE INGOT IN THE PROCESS OF SOLIDIFICATION.