Molten glass refining apparatus
AssigneeSaint-Gobain Industries
InventorRene Mattmuller
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The improvement in an apparatus for refining glass being fed along a channel wherein the molten glass is foamed throughout its thickness, the improvement involving an increase in the width of the channel at the location of foaming. Also, the channel is provided with submerged electrodes disposed on opposite sides of the channel adjacent the bottom for heating the molten mass to produce the foaming.
Claims17
The improvement in an apparatus for refining glass comprising:
- (a) an elongated continuous flow refining channel in which a molten vitreous mass is introduced at one end thereof and flowed horizontally therethrough to an exit at its other end;
- (b) a localized foaming zone extending along a predetermined length of said channel and spaced from the one end thereof, said foaming zone having a width appreciably wider than the channel upstream of said foaming zone;
- and
- (c) heating means submerged along the length of said channel for subjecting the flowing molten mass in said foaming zone to an expansion of at least 50% of its initial molten volume by foaming the flowing molten mass in said foaming zone throughout its entire volume as the mass moves along the channel from its one end to the other end.
In an apparatus for rapidly refining glass of the type having an elongated continuous channel in which a molten vitreous mass is introduced at one end thereof, flowed horizontally therethrough and subjected to an expansion of at least 50% of its initial molten volume by foaming the molten mass throughout its entire volume as the mass moves along the channel from its one end to the other end, the improvement comprising:
- (a) a plurality of pairs of submerged electrodes horizontally positioned throughout the length of the channel is opposed relation along opposite sides of the channel and adjacent the bottom thereof.
The improvement in an apparatus for refining glass comprising:
- (a) an elongated continuous flow refining channel in which a molten vitreous mass is introduced at one end thereof and flowed horizontally therethrough to an exit at its other end;
- (b) a localized foaming zone extending along a predetermined length of said channel adjacent said one end thereof;
- (c) first heating means disposed longitudinally along said channel in said foaming zone at a location spaced from the sides and bottom of said channel and below the surface of said vitreous mass for rapidly heating the flowing vitreous mass to cause its entire volume to pass totally to the foam state while in said foaming zone;
- (d) second heating means disposed longitudinally along the remainder of the channel longitudinally of said foaming zone for heating the flowing vitreous mass;
- and
- (e) said first and second heating means being positioned relative to the sides and bottom of said channel and of a sufficient power to generate sufficient heat and produce active transverse thermal convection in said flowing vitreous mass along said channel preventing longitudinal currents tending to mix the vitreous mass of one area of said channel with that of another.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.