Apparatus for aligning and seating the shot cylinder in a metal die casting machine

Claim 1

In a hot chamber metal die casting machine, which includes a melting pot with a gooseneck therein, the combination of: a. a gooseneck seat positioned at the metal injection end of the gooseneck, the seat being defined by a wall surface which tapers inwardly and downwardly to a bore in the gooseneck; b. a shot cylinder which has an upper and lower end, the lower end being adapted to engage the tapered wall surface of the gooseneck seat; c. a means which vertically aligns the shot cylinder in the gooseneck seat, the said cylinder alignment means including a sleeve member which has an upper and lower end, the lower end engaging the upper end of the shot cylinder, and a flange member which has an upper and lower face, the lower face engaging the upper end of the sleeve member; d. a slidable piston in the shot cylinder which is adapted to force molten metal out of the shot cylinder into the gooseneck bore to make a metal shot; e. a means which vertically aligns the piston in the shot cylinder, the said piston alignment means including a stuffing box which seats against the upper face of the flange member and which encloses the slidable piston, and a bearing member which fits into the stuffing box and which engages the slidable piston; f. a means for holding down the shot cylinder to obtain sealing contact of the shot cylinder with the gooseneck seat while the metal shot is being made, the said shot cylinder hold-down means including at least two rod members which each have an upper and lower end, the lower end of each rod member engaging the upper face of the flange member, a cross bar member which has a top side and a bottom side, the bottom side engaging the upper end of each rod member, and at least two piston members, each piston member being attached to opposite ends of the top side of the cross bar member.