GB937323A - Apparatus for adjusting the operating conditions of tank furnaces - Google Patents

Abstract

937,323. Glass melting furnaces. G. HENRY. June 27, 1960 [June 26, 1959], No. 22469/60. Class 51 (2). [Also in Group XXIII] The operating conditions of a tank furnace are controlled by a vertically adjustable hollow screen comprised of vertical tubular members 26 suspended through a slot 13 in the arched roof of an intermediate zone between a washing zone 6 and a melting and refining zone 3 of the furnace, each tubular element having at least one inlet or outlet for a temperature regulating medium. The screen may be formed of separate elements 26 closed at the bottom, Fig. 4, and suspended by straps 27 from a beam 28 supported outside the furnace from pulleys 30 mounted on the furnace supporting structure 22. The interior of each element may be divided by a transverse partition 40, Fig. 7, pipes 44 for coolant passing through the partition, which may be mounted in an inner sleeve sliding within the element, Fig. 11, not shown. The space above the partition 40 may be filled with insulating material. The elements may be of polygonal cross-section, Fig. 10, with a pointed nose part, containing the coolant pipes 44, directed towards the washing zone. Each element may be open at the bottom, or the elements may have outlets 58, 59, Fig. 15, controlled by a rotary valve 62. Another form of element, Fig. 16, has a burner 71 mounted within it, together with a supply 68 for air or other coolant. The element has an outlet 67 and is rotatably mounted in an annular support 73. The elements may be fixed to toothed racks 79, Fig. 20, guided between rollers 81 in a wheeled frame 82 which can be moved transversely of the furnace. Each element may be raised or lowered by a pinion 85 engaging the rack 80 and driven by a worm gearing 86, 87. The tubular elements may be joined together to form a single plate with parallel ducts, Fig. 18, not shown.