CASTING MACHINE WITH LOW PROFILE CONVEYOR

Disclosed herein is a continuous casting machine having a casting wheel with a groove closed by a band to form a casting mold and including a conveying means for conveying cast metal between the casting mold and a substantially horizontal path in a manner that reduces voids in the cast metal, that reduces the concentrations of dissolved gases in the cast metal, that increases the production rate of the casting machine, and that facilitates the initial removal of the cast metal from the casting mold while at the same time providing for convenient and efficient pouring of molten metal into the casting mold. Specifically, the conveying means in the casting machine disclosed is a low-profile conveyor positioned and shaped to place the cast metal leaving the casting mold in a predetermined arcuate path which provides for relatively little vertical displacement of the cast metal above the casting wheel, which extends the length of the portion of the circumference of the casting wheel which may be used as the casting mold, which is a path into which cast metal leaving the casting mold will initially pass with a minimum of manual guidance, and which provides for the passage of the cast metal over pouring apparatus used for pouring molten metal into the casting mold. Also disclosed herein are a method of casting molten metal and a method of manufacturing a casting machine which embody the same invention as the casting machine.