Cast steel railway wheel
A cast steel railway wheel includes a hub that has an axial bore. A rim is concentric with the bore. A plate extends substantially radially from the hub to the rim. The plate has a front face and a rear face. The plate has a plurality of spokes that extend between the hub and the rim. Adjacent spokes have different thicknesses defined between the front face and the rear face.
1. A casting assembly for making a cast steel railway wheel comprising:
a ladle for holding a molten metal;
a mold for receiving the molten metal from the ladle, the mold having a cope section and a drag section with a mold cavity defined therebetween shaped to form the railway wheel, the cope section having a first cavity face defining part of the mold cavity, the drag section having a second cavity face defining part of the mold cavity, at least one of the first and second cavity faces having a series of circumferentially positioned and alternating bosses and cavities that form corresponding ridges and voids on the surface of the railway wheel when cast, and wherein the mold cavity has a substantially constant thickness between the first and second cavity faces along the bosses when traveling radially outward along the bosses and wherein the mold cavity has a generally decreasing thickness between the first and second cavity faces along the cavities when travelling radially outward along the cavities.
2. The casting assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a hub core assembly received in the mold at a radially centrally location of the mold cavity, the hub core assembly having a hub riser configured to receive excess molten metal during casting, the hub riser supplying the excess molten metal to the mold cavity during cooling and solidification of the railway wheel, wherein a greater volume of molten metal pours into the mold cavity through the area aligned with the cavities than through the area aligned with the bosses.
3. The casting assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first cavity face is generally smooth and does not include bosses and cavities, the second cavity face includes the bosses and cavities.
4. The casting assembly of claim 1 , wherein shoulders extend between the bosses and cavities, the shoulders being generally perpendicular to the corresponding first or second cavity face.
5. The casting assembly of claim 1 , wherein the bosses comprise approximately half of the corresponding cavity face and the cavities comprise approximately half of the corresponding cavity face.
6. The casting assembly of claim 1 , wherein the bosses and cavities define approximately equal truncated sectors of the corresponding cavity face.