Loos′en-ing-bar.
(Founding.) A stiff bar with a point or screw which stands in a hole in the pattern, and extends upward through the top box. After ramming up, and before lifting the top part, this bar is struck alternately from opposite sides with a short, heavy piece of iron, so as to loosen the pattern slightly in the sand, after which it is removed. This operation facilitates the separation of the sand from the pattern, and lessens the amount of mending required. See molding.