US1791260A - Apparatus and method for making wire glass - Google Patents

Description

APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MAKING WIRE GLASS Filed May '7. 1929 l IN1 A INVENTOR GOHGE AUP/EN HIS ATTORNEYS .f /i I /////1,//////// l I Patented Feb. 1931l UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE GEORGE A URI'EN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO MISSISSIPPI GLASS COMPANY,

NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MAKING WIRE GLASS Application led May 7, 1929. Serial No. 361,042.

This invention pertains to the manufacture of wire glass, with special reference to the placing of the wire mesh in the sheet of glass in proper position and then holding it there.

It has been customary in the manufacture of wire glass by the two-pour Imethod, to first form a partially chilled sheet of glass of half the thickness of the finished sheet, then to feed the wire to lie on the upper surface of the half-sheet, and then add another layer of glass above the wire to form the finished sheet with the wire exactly' in the middle thereof. One problem in this process is in keeping the wire in the middle of the glass after it has been once placed there. The dificulty arises from the fact that the wire 'is laid on the outer or convex side of the half-sheet before it reaches the forming pass, and then, after leaving the pass and while t-he upper half-sheet is still more molten than the lower half sheet, the direction of motion of the finished sheet is changed, so that the wire is on the ,concave side of the first half-sheet and tends to pull out through the upper half-sheet with the result that the wire in the finished sheet is displaced from its central position and a defective product results.

The object of this invention is to overcome the above difficulty by keeping the wire always on the convex surface of the first halfsheet, which is com )aratively stiff, until the whole sheet has stiiened sufficiently to prevent movement of the wire.

Further and other objects and advantages will be apparent from the specification and claims, and from the accompanying drawings which show by way of illustration what is now considered to be the preferred form' of the invention.

The drawing is a somewhat diagrammatic cross-section of a sheet glass rolling machine arranged to roll wire glass by the two-pour process.

Molten metal 10 flows from the furnace at the left between lower roll 12 and upper roll 14 to form the first half-sheet 16, which is half the thickness of the finished sheet. This half-sheet is carried on roll 12 toward side roll 18,

the thickness of the half-sheet 16. While on which is set to form a sheet double roll 12, sheet-16 is partially stiffened by contact on its lower side with the roll and on its upper side with the air. tially stiffened condition, the wire mesh 2O is fed over rollers 22 and 24 onto the upper surface of sheet 16, and immediately thereafter sheet 16, with the wire on its upper surface, passes into and through molten metal 26, which Hows from the right, to the pass between rollers 12 and 18, where the finished sheet is formed, the wire being in the middle of that sheet, between the convex surface of sheet 16 and the concave surface of thenewly formed and comparatively molten half-sheet. y

After leaving the lower pass, it is customary to direct the finished sheet to the right of apron 30 and over rolls. 32 to the leer. This change of direction puts the wire on the convex side of the newly formed half-sheet, with the result that the wire being under some tension tends to become displaced from its former resting place on half-sheet 16 to some indefinite position in the newly formed and comparatively molten half-sheet, where it remains.

According to the present invention, the

completed sheet passes to the left of apron 30 and is guided close to roll 12 until the sheet is cooled and stiffened 'sufficiently to prevent displacement ofthe wire, whereupon the sheet passes into the leer over rolls 34. In this manner the wire is always maintained against the convex surface of the stiifened half-sheet 16, with the result that the wire is not displaced but remains central in the finished sheet. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiment and construction herein specified but may be used in other ways without departure from its spirit as defined by the following claims.

I claim- 1. In the process of forming wire glass, the steps of forming a first half-sheet, slightly stiffening said half-sheet by contact with a cooling roller, placing wire mesh on the convex surface of said stifl'ened half-sheet, forming the nished sheet hy adding another haiisheet to the outer surface of the first halfsheet whereby the wire is in the middle of the sheet, and thereafter so guiding said sheet that the convex surface of the first half-sheet is continuail presented to the Wire until the sheet is su ciently chilled to prevent the wire from leaving its original position in the sheet.

2. In a machine for formin wire glass, in combination, a pair of rolls orming a pass therebetween for forming a first half-sheet, means comprising one of said rolls for conducting said half-sheet from said pass, whereby said half-sheet is slightly stiHened, means for placin wire mesh on the convex surface of said sti' "cned half-sheet, and means com rising rolls forming a second roll pass for orming the finished sheet by adding another half-sheet outside of said wire, and means comprising a concave apron for subsequently guiding said sheet to the leer, said guiding means acting to maintain the Wire on the convex surface of the first half-sheet until the sheet is suciently sti'ened to prevent displacement of the wire from its central position in the sheet.

in testimony whereof ii hereto ax my signature.

GEORGE AURIEN.

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