Cooling means for a continuous casting mold assembly

Claim 1

A graphite mold assembly for continuous casting operations, such as continuous strip casting, comprising a graphite mold and a multipart cooling device detachably connected to said mold, wherein the improvement comprises said mold forming a casting space therein for the passage of a casting therethrough, said mold having oppositely directed spaced end faces intersected by the passage therethrough with one end face providing aN inlet to and the other end face an outlet from the casting space and side faces extending between said end faces with said side faces disposed in diverging relationship from thE inlet end face to the outlet end face, said cooling device comprising a cooling member disposed in contacting relationship with the outlet end face of said mold, a retaining device having surfaces conforming to the shape of and disposed in contacting relationship with the side faces of said mold, and means for providing closely fitting contact between said mold and said cooling member and retaining device, said retaining device comprising a plurality of separate first cooling elements each in contact with the side faces of said mold, said cooling member having a passageway therethrough in alignment with and forming a continuation of the casting space to said mold for conveying continuous castings from said mold, said cooling member comprising a plurality of second cooling elements disposed about the passageway through said cooling member, said first and second cooling elements having passageways for circulating a cooling medium therethrough, and means for regulating the flow of cooling medium through said first and second cooling elements whereby a variable cooling effect for the continuous casting processed through said mold can be obtained.