Second series "ERIE" with gate mark?

[Jack C.]

Took a closer look at one of our "every day" skillets, did a little research, and realized that it's a very old #9 "ERIE" second or third series (no visible maker's mark, but needs a good cleaning to be sure). Along the bottom is a prett big gate mark. Is this unusual on these?
Thanks,
Jack

 

[Doug D.]

That would make it a recast.

 

[DonnaM]

Doug, what is a "recast?"

 

[SpurgeonH]

Donna,
That's where somebody took a skillet and made a mold out of it and cast a new skillet. A gate mark is made when they pull it out of the mold. (Or at least that is my understanding of it.)

 

[KevinE]

http://www.castironcollector.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1031

Erie never made any (known) bottom gated skillets. Someone used an Erie skillet as a pattern to make another skillet---hence the bottom gate.

 

[EricC]

A gate mark is made when they pull it out of the mold. (Or at least that is my understanding of it.)

I may be wrong but by my understanding, gate marks indicate the spot where molten iron is introduced into the mold during casting, the opening in the mold through which is iron is poured. Since this is an opening in the mold, it creates a protrusion in the casting, which is then ground down. Pre-1900s thereabouts, standard methods had this gate located on what became the bottom of the pan, thus "bottom gate marked".

Afterwards it was changed to side-gating, where the iron is introduced on what became the side of the pan at the lip, which let them grind down the gate mark to be more invisible.

But even though the industry had converted to side-gating, smaller one-offs still used the older method, and thus a recast could be made with a bottom gate mark.

AFAIK...