# US 4,396,561 A · Process for manufacturing mineral-wool mats

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- Number: US 4,396,561 A
- Document ID: US4396561A
- Status: Granted
- Kind: A
- Application number: 06/195,626
- Filed: 1980-10-09
- Granted: 1983-08-02
- Earliest claimed: 1979-10-15
- Inventors: Horst Liebert
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US4396561A

## CPC

- D04H 1/4209: Inorganic fibres
- C03B 1/00: Preparing the batches (chemical compositions C03C)
- C03B 37/055: {by projecting onto and spinning off the outer surface of the rotating body}
- C03B 37/10: Non-chemical treatment (surface treatment of fibres or filaments made from glass, minerals or slags C03C25/00)
- D04H 1/00: Non-woven fabrics formed wholly or mainly of staple fibres or like relatively short fibres
- D04H 1/4226: characterised by the apparatus for manufacturing the glass fleece
- D04H 1/645: Impregnation followed by a solidification process
- D04H: MAKING TEXTILE FABRICS, e.g. FROM FIBRES OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL (weaving D03; knitting D04B; braiding D04C; net-making D04G; sewing D05B; tufting D05C; finishing non-woven fabrics D06); FABRICS MADE BY SUCH PROCESSES OR APPARATUS, e.g. FELTS, NON-WOVEN FABRICS; COTTON-WOOL; WADDING {; NON-WOVEN FABRICS FROM STAPLE FIBRES, FILAMENTS OR YARNS, BONDED WITH AT LEAST ONE WEB-LIKE MATERIAL DURING THEIR CONSOLIDATION}(non-woven fabrics having an intermediate or external layer of a different kind, e.g. of woven fabric, B32B)
- C03B: MANUFACTURE, SHAPING, OR SUPPLEMENTARY PROCESSES

## Abstract

In the manufacture of mineral-wool mats or slabs, the raw materials are melted in a melting furnace and are spun to fibers in a spinner. The fibers, after admixture of a resin binder, are deposited so as to be formed to wool mats in a collecting chamber, then cured, trimmed at the sides and cut up into lengths. Both during spinning and during trimming, cutting up into lengths and a subsequent final inspection and check for defects, waste products arise. In order not to have to deliver these waste products, as hitherto, to a proper dump but, instead, to be able to recycle them direct to the production process, the waste products are broken up into smaller pieces and/or unravelled, heated and then briquetted while hot, whereupon the briquettes, possibly after cooling down and interim storage, are combined with the raw materials which are to be melted and thus returned via the melting furnace into the production process.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A process for salvaging treated waste products from the manufacture of mineral wool mats in which raw materials are melted in a melting furnace and then continuously spun into fibers in a spinner, a first category of treated mineral waste products, including slag from said melting furnace and slag and loose fibers from said spinner, being produced during said melting and spinning,
in which the fibers thus spun are thereafter mixed with a binder and while still at temperatures near the melting point are deposited as a continuous wool mat, then cured, and thereafter trimmed at the sides, cut up into desired lengths and finally inspected,
and in which a second category of treated mineral waste products, including collected loose fibers with binder, pieces of bonded fibrous mats resulting from the trimming and cutting up of the wool mat into lengths, and rejected defective whole mats, is produced during said depositing, trimming, cutting and inspecting,
and for preparing said treated waste products for re-use in said manufacture, which comprises:
(a) gathering said first category of treated mineral waste products resulting from said melting and spinning;
(b) maintaining said first category of mineral waste products at a temperature near the melting point of said products;
(c) breaking the pieces of mineral waste products in said first category up into smaller pieces while still at a temperature near said melting point;
(d) gathering said second category of treated mineral waste products that results from said mixing with a binder, trimming, sizing and final inspection;
(e) pulling apart the pieces in said second category of mineral waste products;
(f) pre-heating the pieces in said second category of mineral waste products in loosened-up form;
(g) adding said pulled-apart pieces in said second category of treated mineral waste products to said first category of treated mineral waste products;
(h) further reheating all said mineral waste products that have been added together to plasticizing temperature to compensate for any cooling;
(i) transforming all said reheated treated mineral waste products into briquettes while hot; and
(j) subsequently adding said briquettes to additional quantities of said raw materials to be melted in said manufacture of mineral wool mats.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1 in which said briquettes are stored for a period of time prior to being added to said additional quantities of raw materials.