Foundry sand reducer and reclaimer

Claim 1

THE METHOD OF REDUCING INTO INDIVIDUAL GRAINS, LARGE LUMPS OF FOUNDRY SAND GRAINS COATED WITH ORGANIC METERIAL AND FOUNDRY BINDERS FROMED BY CHEMICAL REACTION IN THE MOLD AND RECLAIMING THE GRAINS INTO REUSABLE FOUNDRY SAND WITHOUT IMPACT FORCES SUFFICIENTLY SEVERE TO FRACTURE THE SAND GRAINS COMPRISING: VIBRATING SAID LARGE LUMPS OF FOUNDRY SAND TO PRODUCE AGGLOMERATES OF SAND GRAINS AND INDIVIDUAL GRAINS IN A FIRST ZONE, PASSING SAID SAND GRAINS TO A SECOND ZONE, VIBRATING SAID GRAINS IN SAID SECOND ZONE TO MAINTAIN SAID GRAINS SUBSTANTIALLY CONTINUALLY IN AN UNSUPPORTED STATE, CONTACTING SUBSTANTIALLY EACH OF SAID GRAINS WITH ADJACENT GRAINS WHILE IN SAID UNSUPPORTED STATE FOR AT LEAST 10 SECONDS TO REDUCE THE AGGLOMERATES TO INDIVIDUAL GRAINS BY CLEAVING SAID AGGLOMERATES ALONG THE INTERFACE OF THE BINDER, AND SIMULTANEOUSLY ABRADING SAID GRAINS WITH ADJAECNT GRAINS TO REMOVE A SUFFICIENT AMOUNT OF BINDER COATED ON SAID GRAINS TO PERMIT COMMERCIAL FOUNDRY REUSE, AND THEREAFTER COLLECTING SAID INDIVIDUAL SAND GRAINS.

Claim 17

An apparatus for reducing the size of large lumps of foundry sand formed from sand grains coated with conventional foundry organic materials and reclaiming said grains by removing a substantial portion of said organic material from said grains without impact forces upon said lumps and grains, said apparatus comprising: a base, a frame mounted on said base for vibratory movement relative to said base, vibratory means mounted on said base and connected to said frame for vibrating said frame, means connected to said frame and forming a first zone to reduce said large lumps to smaller size by vibration, means connected to said vibrating frame forming a second zone having a bed for receiving the discharge from said first zone, said bed being vibrated sufficiently by said vibratory means to produce a substantially unsupported mass of said grains in a fluidized state, whereby said grains are simultaneously abraded by adjacent grains to remove said organic material.