VACUUM BELT HUGGER FOR CASTING OF RIBBON

摘要

A continuous casting assembly has a pair of contiguously counter-rotating belts for controllably forming a continuous cast metal ribbon. One of the belts is chilled and forms a casting surface for the cast ribbon, while the other belt is intimately positioned to hug the ribbon and improve the quality of the ribbon. The two belts are squeezed together to compress the ribbon by evacuating between the belts and allowing the atmospheric pressure to act on the opposite surfaces of the belts. A sealing box adjacent the lateral edges of the belts includes elongated floating seals and provides the evacuation by connection to a vacuum source. The floating seals are formed of plastic rods and are retained in the sealing box by end wiper seals which also serve to seal against the belts at the ends of the box.