Contact:


 
Vila Boelter, Director of Human Resources (920) 398-2361
vboelter@precisionmetalsmiths.com

 

 Jerry Kovatch, President  (216) 481-8900
president@precisionmetalsmiths.com

 

 

 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

 

Precision Metalsmiths, Inc. receives patent.

 

Cleveland, Ohio and Markesan, Wisconsin June 2004 - Precision Metalsmiths, Inc. – PMI, with corporate headquarters in Cleveland, OH announces it has been awarded a new patent for investment casting.

 

A totally new, solid mold investment specifically developed for investment casting platinum jewelry, but also suitable for other applications, and for other high melting alloys such as cobalt chromium, nickel chromium and steels including stainless.

 

Precision Metalsmiths, Inc., (supplying materials through its subsidiary Wattsworks), announces the availability of a unique new solid mold investment material for casting platinum jewelry and for other uses.

 

This totally new investment material provides significant advantages over all of the existing platinum investments, whether of the older magnesium phosphate type, or the dental investments which have been adapted to jewelry casting or of the phosphoric acid types which up to now have been preferred for the most demanding work.

 

Compared to magnesium phosphate jewelry investments of the older type or the more recent dental adaptations, the new investment provides superior finishes, while still providing the capability to be invested and cast the same day.

 

Compared to the phosphoric acid investments, it provides the great advantage of being used with water. No acid or other liquid are required. The need for the expensive Hazmat packaging is eliminated, as is the need to stock and dilute phosphoric acid on the shop floor. Time is saved and a source of potential errors and accidents is eliminated. Although the investment contains silica, as the other platinum investments do, it contains no other hazardous substance.

 

The new investment provides added flexibility in processing. Molds can be invested and cast the same day, or they can be invested, fired overnight and cast the next day, or invested and held overnight, then fired and cast the next day. This provides great flexibility in scheduling or adjusting to unforeseen events.

 

After casting, the investment can be mostly removed by quenching the hot mold in water as is done with gold investments. Alternatively, it can be removed by manual knockout or water blasting.

 

These advantages over the phosphoric acid investments are achieved with no loss in quality. In fact, in many cases the results are actually improved.

 

The new investment is covered by US Patent 6,746,528, recently issued to Robert A. Horton and Claude H. Watts, and assigned to PMI.

 

 

Visit http://www.precisionmetalsmiths.com for more information on PMI.

 

Precision Metalsmiths, Inc. was founded in 1945 by Robert R. Miller.  PMI’s pioneering work in investment casting set the standard for its innovative approach to research and development.  More than 200 U.S. and foreign patents have been issued to PMI on casting methods, materials, and processing equipment.

 

PMI is recognized throughout the world as a leader in the investment casting¹ process and in related technologies.  PMI has both ferrous and non-ferrous capabilities at their facilities in Cleveland, Ohio and Markesan, Wisconsin with licensees worldwide.  Proprietary methods allow PMI to create near net shape metal parts with lower cost and consistently better quality than traditional investment casting.  PMI takes pride in their reputation for producing quality castings.  At PMI every casting becomes a testimonial to their commitment to quality.

 

PMI uses proprietary methods to create consistent, high quality investment castings. PMI’s unique systems are tailored to small sizes (fractions of an ounce to 10 pounds) and small to medium quantity (<100 to 100,000+) production runs. Extra fine surface finishes and extreme detail holding abilities sets PMI apart from ordinary investment castings.

 

¹An Investment casting is a near net shape made by the “lost wax” process that features cast-in-detail, tight tolerances, and excellent surface finish.  The term investment refers to the ceramic materials that are used to build a hollow shell into which molten metal is poured to make the casting.  Every casting requires a pattern which is wax welded onto a cylindrical shape.  The patterns are dipped into a ceramic slurry and coated with a stucco of fine sand.  The wax pattern is melted out of the shell and filled with molten metal.   The metal castings are finished according to customer’s specifications.

 

 

Corporate Headquarters
Precision Metalsmiths, Inc.
1081 East 200th Street
Cleveland, OH  44117
(216) 481-8900