Continuous sand muller

Claim 1

A continuous muller including a sand conveyor and a mixing head rotatably mounted to said sand conveyor for mixing foundry sand and binder additives for core and mold production, said mixing head comprising: a support frame having a pair of parallel, spaced side plates and a support plate extending transversely between said side plates; a first and a second preblending means, each of said preblending means including an elongated cylindrical tube secured to said frame and having a sand inlet aperture adjacent the forward end of said tube and a sand outlet adjacent the rear end of said tube, a high-speed, high-intensity premixing auger means rotatably mounted within said tube for blending and continuously conveying a sand and additive mixture from the forward inlet to the rear outlet, and a binder additive inlet intersecting said tube at an angle with respect to the tube longitudinal center line and at a point adjacent to and downstream from said sand inlet aperture, said cylindrical tubes of said preblending assemblies being positioned in the same horizontal plane; means for securing said preblending tubes to said frame including a head plate positioned in front of said preblending tubes and a plurality of tie rods extending through said head plate and said support plate; a primary mixing means positioned below and extending parallel with said first and second preblending means, said primary mixing means including a primary elongated cylindrical tube secured to said frame having an inlet aperture at the rear thereof and positioned below said outlets of said preblending means, an outlet aperture adjacent the forward end thereof, a premix outlet tube connecting said preblending means outlets with said primary tube inlet, and high-speed, high-intensity, primary auger means rotatably mounted within said primary tube for thoroughly combining said preblended mixtures and continuously conveying said combined mixture to said primary tube outlet; means for securing said primary tube to said frame including a primary head plate positioned in front of said primary tube and a plurality of tie rods extending through said primary head plate and said support plate thereby securing said primary tube to said frame; a single, high-speed, drive means supported on said frame for rotating said preblending auger means and said primary auger means; a resin additive supply means connected to one of said binder inlets for supplying a metered quantity of resin; and a catalyst additive supply means connected to the other of said binder inlets for supplying a metered quantity of catalyst.