Page 26 - Glace Bay Makes a Cannon for Louisbourg

ISSUE : Issue 12

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1975/12/1

all directions. I allow for the shrinkage of the metal in the core box*" The com? pleted pattern (really a beautiful object in itself) is moved from the shop to the foundry and painted with corewash* The pattern is made in two parts, each known as a half pattern* And the core box • the mold box • cast iron walls without a top or bottom • is also in two parts: the top part is known as the C'pe, and the bottom part is called the Drag* A floor of plank is put down and on it they sit the drag* A half pattern is placed on the plank and sand is shoveled in and rammed down until the Drag can hold no more* The sand con? tains oils and compounds to give it substance. The Drag is turned over (planks up) and the boards are removed, revealing the half pattern snug in sand* The other half of the pattern is fitted on and the walls of the Ck>pe are set on the Drag • and more sand is shoveled in* Roy Paglicia, Foreman, told us: "They are not separate molds • the Cope and the Drag* The Cope section is set on the Drag section • the wooden pat? tern remains* There are bars • called gaggers • all the way along help hold the sand in, because this Ck>pe section is going to be lifted 2 or 3 times* Gaggers are made out of about 1/2 inch square steel • and that goes down into that Ck??pe • right down almost touching the bottom, touching the top of the Drag. Well, vrtien the Cope lifts that rod helps to lift the sand too* We take the Ck>pe and turn it upside down and put it on the flatcar • and then we rap this pattern, back and forth, with a bar and hammer • just tap it loose so we can take it out of the sand* Ihe Drag is still on the floor, and we take the pattern out of the Drag the same way* So there you have your mold* So then we get a goulac • that is molasses water • and spray the Cope and Drag molds with this* That gives us a hardfaced finish* Ihen we get the corewash • Black Donald Corewash • I don't know why it's called that • it gives a smooth finish and prevents molten iron from eating into the sand • we spray the Cope and the Drag, and then it*8 put in to be baked*" i. The Huides on each side carry ' hot iron down into the Drag;the Barrel-core rests m the center. The Ck)pe and Drag are moved on the flatcar into the oven, a brick room with a coke fire burning in the corner* It will bake through the night* In the morning the flat- car is withdrawn* The Drag is shifted to the floor and sand is air-rammed around it Radiator & Cylinder Heads CAPE BRETON AUTO RADIATOR PHONE 564-6362 339 Rear Welton Street Svdney, N.S. Cape Breton's Magazine/26 J. W Stephens Limited lUILDERS SUPPLIfS HARDWARI AND PAINTS WOODWORKERS AND MIU WORK Phoiie the Lumber Number 564-5554 Syclr *y , fXoVd' Scotid' A member of the BOLD organization

Cape Breton's Magazine