GB428720A - Improvements in and relating to a method and apparatus for the production of glass wool or other inorganic fibrous material - Google Patents

Abstract

428,720. Glass wool. TRIGGS, W. W., 57, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London.-(Owens- Illinois Glass Co.; 961, Wall Street, Toledo, Ohio, U.S.A.) March 2,1934, No. 6705. [Class 56] [See also Groups V, XII, and XIII] Threads or fibres of glass or other inorganic material are made by drawing a continuously flowing stream of the molten material into a very fine thread by means of an elastic force applied to the surface of the stream in the general direction of its flow. The glass or other material is melted in a furnace which comprises a doghouse 13, Fig. 5, for the introduction of the batch, a melting chamber 12, and a refining chamber 15 which is separated from the chamber 12 by a wall 16 provided with a throat 17. The glass flows from the chamber 15 into a forehearth 18 having an outlet 23 beneath which a refractory bushing 24 is secured. The furnace is heated by means of burners 14, 21. The bushing 24 is formed with a V-shaped channel 26, Fig. 7, which is lined with a plate 27 of platinum. A series of very small apertures 30 through the lower edge of the platinum lining permit a continuous flow of glass, and the platinum is electrically heated in order to raise the temperature of the glass. A strainer 38 of platinum gauze prevents stones &c. from interrupting the flow through the apertures. A blower 40, arranged beneath the channel 26, comprises blocks 41 formed with pressure chambers 42 which communicate by means of narrow channels 48 with a passage 44. Air or steam under pressure is supplied to the chambers 42 and issues from the channels 48 in converging sheets which pass downwards through the passage 44. The blasts of gas, moving at high velocity, envelop the small streams of glass, flowing downwards through the passage 44, and draw them into continuous threads of very fine diameter. The apparatus may be used for producing a loosely matted mass of fibres which weighs less than one pound to a cubic foot of volume. The elasticity is such that the mass can be compressed to less than half its volume, but expands to its original volume when the pressure is removed.