The CAP4 automatic casting furnace produced by the company Cime-Crescenzi is an instrument that allows casting operations to be carried out directly on the production line, thereby preserving the quality of the cast iron and protecting it against the possible effects of oxidation and/or fading, maintaining the cast iron in a nitrogen-based protective atmosphere. The cast iron is picked up from the bottom of the central four-ton slip tank via a gate; this also guarantees that the cast iron is kept cleaner. The control system is fully automatic and verifies, by means of a heat chamber, that the flask has been filled and regulates the casting speed in order to obtain the best possible filling conditions (e.g. keeping the gate stick full at all times). All the filling parameters for the code being cast are memorised in the control system which displays the ideal casting temperatures for the code in question. In order to obtain the desired temperatures, the operator regulates the power fed to the furnace, reducing or increasing the transfer of heat towards the cast iron contained in the central tank. The furnace is equipped with a screw inoculator that feeds the final inoculation onto the cast iron flow as it is lowered into the flask. The inoculator is integrally fitted to the furnace and this ensures that the flow of inoculating material is fed directly onto the cast iron flow. The quantity and speed at which the inoculating material is fed is controlled by the furnace system on the basis of the weight of the plate and the desired filling parameters