Patent ID: 6148640
Filing Date: 2000-11-21
Classification: C03B,Y02P

Abstract:
A method of making chopped fiber from a molten material comprising passing the molten material through holes or tips in at least three generally aligned fiberizers, pulling said fibers away from each of the fiberizers and gathering and turning the fibers from at least some of the fiberizers with a turning wheel located generally below each fiberizer to form at least one strand of fibers from each of the at least some of the fiberizers, and chopping the strands of fibers into desired lengths by feeding each strand into a chopper, said chopper having a strand accelerator roll, a back up roll and a blade roll wherein each of the at least three strands are pulled by said accelerator roll on the chopper and then fed into a nip between said back up roll and said blade roll after being accelerated by the accelerator roll, the improvement comprising removing all of the strands from the chopper when the chopper is to be shut down for maintenance by removing the at least three strands coming from the three or more fiberizers from the chopper and putting all of the strands into a set of pull rolls which continue to pull all of the strands, stopping and maintaining the chopper, said set of pull rolls being located between a plane that intersects the strands and the center of a fiberizer closest to said chopper and said chopper, wherein axes of the pull rolls in said set of pull rolls being at a level vertically lower than axes of said blade roll and said back up roll of said chopper, an axis of one pull roll being movable with respect to an axis of the other pull roll and a working surface of one pull roll being biased towards a working surface of the other pull roll, and then starting the chopper back up, removing all of the strands from said set of pull rolls and starting them back into the chopper.