FEEDERS FOR MOLTEN GLASS

Abstract: Apparatus for dispensing gobs of molten glass at an adjustable rate includes a basin (4) of refractory material into which flows molten glass from a glassmaking furnace. The basin has an inner wall tapering downwardly/inwardly towards a bottom orifice (3) from which the gobs are dispensed. Rotatable within the basin is a helical screw (20) of complementary shape, of which the thread projects into the annular space between the screw and basin. In addition to being rotatable in either direction, to accelerate or retard the flow of glass, the screw may be moved along its axis to adjust the cross-sectional area of the glass-flow passage.

Description: FEEDERS FOR MOLTEN GLASS This invention relates to feeders for molten glass. In continuous manufacture of glass articles, molten glass needs to be withdrawn in successive portions from a large body of glass. Each portion, called a gob, is then worked into the appropriate glass article. In order to produce articles of consistent quality, it is customary to manufacture successive articles from a large uniform bulk of molten glass and to extract successive gobs therefrom via a system of a feeder and an orifice in the base of the feeder through which the glass passes and at which gobs are formed. Molten glass in a form ready for manufacturing glass articles is highly viscous and generally needs to be positively urged through the orifice set in the base of the feeder in order to form a gob, though given time, since the orifice is simply left open, large gobs of glass will form. The size of such a gob is limited by the fact that as the gob gets heavier, it will neck and detach from the glass above. Conventionally, shears are provided below the orifice to avoid the formation of a long string of molten glass and to cut the stream into discrete gobs. In the manufacture of glass articles at relatively high production speeds, for example in glass container manufacture using independent section machines, gob takeoff rates are substantial, and it is customary to form gobs using a plunger system located within the feeder and chop them to size with appropriate shears immediately below the orifice in the floor of the feeder. The plunger ascends for the next stroke and during that ascent there is little or no viscous glass flowing through the orifice. For slower operations, for example where only occasional feed of glass is required to form a gob, the orifice may be associated with positive closure means to stop a gob forming when not wanted. DE-A-32 16 067 discloses an alternative approach to gob formation from a feeder where the plunger has on its surface a helical thread and is mounted not merely for vertical reciprocation but also for rotation about its axis. The flow of glass in a generally vertical cylindrical feeder may be accelerated downwardly towards the dispensing orifice by rotating the plunger in one sense, or flow may be retarded by rotating the plunger in the opposite sense. The plunger may be moved up and down as well as being rotated, and the presence of the helical thread on the outside of the plunger enhances the vertical pulling or pushing of the body of molten glass as the plunger is moved up and down. DE-A-36 20 082 describes in detail a similar arrangement. By careful control of such screw feed/plunger units, considerable control may be exercised over the rate at which gobs form and can be dispensed from the dispensing orifice. However, the range of possible dispensing speeds is relatively limited. The major thrust for dispensing tends to derive from the plunger action rather than the screw pumping action. According to the present invention a glass feeder comprises a basin for the reception of molten glass having a dispensing orifice in its base and a helical screw feeder set above the dispensing orifice and capable of rotating about its axis in either sense, characterised in that the exterior profile of the helical screw, and the interior profile of the region of the basin in which the screw is located, are conical, both tapering inwardly and downwardly. By virtue of this arrangement, the pumping action of the helical screw can be adjusted (by adjusting the vertical height of the screw relative to the bowl) as desired. Very high gob extrusion rates can be achieved, as well as very low ones. The helical screw can be made of a variety of materials, for example of an appropriate metal or of refractory material such as ceramic, or a combination of such materials. The height of the helical thread, i.e. its projection from the shaft or base on which it is set, may vary. The shaft or base may itself be cylindrical or frustoconical. The thread shape may be, in cross- section, oblong, square, trapezoid, or rounded. The distance of the crest of the thread from the inner wall of the basin may be constant or may be adjustable. The thread may be a single-throw thread or a multiple throw or multiple start thread. The invention is illustrated by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a vertical section through the end of a feeder constructed in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 shows an alternative construction of feeder of the present invention; Figure 3 shows a further alternative construction of feeder; Figure 4 shows a third alternative construction of feeder, and Figure 5 is a sectional view through another orm of screw feeder of the present invention. Figure 1 shows a pouring basin at the end of a glass feeder. The basin consists of a shaped monolithic refractory block 1 which is fitted at the outer end of a channel leading from a glass manufacturing furnace. The block is set in an external steel casing 2. The block consists of a conical basin having an orifice 3 at its base, a generally frustoconical sloping side wall 4 which merges via shoulder 5 with a vertical end wall to the feeder 6 which extends above the level of molten glass 7 in the feeder. At its other side, the basin is formed with a lip 10 which acts as a weir and which lies adjacent the in-feed channel. Mounted for rotation about a vertical axis extending through orifice 3 is a frustoconical screw 20. Screw 20 has a helical thread on it extending a little more than 360° about the vertical axis, the ends of the thread being blended into the generally frustoconical surface of the lower end of the screw. The external diameter of the crest of the thread decreases as the thread moves towards the lower end of the member 20. The crest of the thread thus describes a conically narrowing helical path which is a substantially constant distance from the respective inner wall of the lower portion 4 of the pouring basin. The screw 20 is mounted in a framework (not shown in Figure 1) above the pouring basin and is provided with an appropriate drive motor and gearing to enable it to be rotated in either sense. In addition, the entire framework may be raised or lowered with respect to the basin thus increasing or decreasing the clearance between the crest of the helical thread on screw 20 and the inner frustoconical wall of the basin. By appropriately controlling the rotational speed, and adjusting the vertical position of the screw 20, a desired flow pattern of glass passing through the orifice 3 can be obtained. At an appropriate point, a pair of shears mounted immediately below the orifice 3 may be operated to cut off the molten glass hanging from the orifice to form a gob of predictable weight and shape. Either before or after the operation of such shears, the movement of the screw 20 may be so controlled as to prevent any immediate further outflow of molten glass through the orifice 3 or even to retract protruding molten glass into that orifice. In Figures 2 to 4, like reference numerals are used to denote like parts. In Figure 2 some of the structure above the feeder and feeder basin is shown diagrammatically. Screw 20 is shown depending from a plunger chuck 40 which can be rotated about a vertical axis as desired when it is desired to force molten glass through orifice 3. The vertical height of chuck 40 is adjustable (by means not shown) to vary the distance between the crest of the helical thread on member 20 and the inner conical wall of monolithic basin 1, and so vary the pumping action for a given rotational speed of member 20. The glass in the feeder and feeder basin is covered by a refractory roof 41 with sources of heat 42 in it and a wall and lid assembly 44. Figures 3 and 4 show very diagrammatically other possible constructions. In both cases, a feeder 50 takes the form of a completely enclosed refractory channel wholly full of molten glass and terminating in a basin 51 within which a helically-threaded tapered screw 20 may rotate about a vertical axis. The level of the glass surface in feeder 51 is indicated at 52. The construction shown in Figure 4 is particularly useful where the vertical height between the free glass surface in the feeder and the dispensing orifice is restricted. Figure 5 is similar to Figure 1, with the major difference being the way in which the screw 20 is rotated. The screw head 54 has a hollow core, so that the wall 56 of the head is of substantially-uniform radial thickness. The head 54 is fast with a tubular plunger 58 having a belled neck 60 intended to be gripped by a chuck assembly. The chuck assembly includes an outer flanged cylinder 62 and an inner cylinder 82, with the plunger 58 between them. The upper flange of cylinder 62 is set on to a rotary collar 64 having a peripheral bevelled gear-ring 66 meshing with a driving bevel gear-ring 68 coupled to a rotary drive shaft 70. The collar 64, and with it the weight of the chuck assembly and plunger 58 and feed screw 20 are carried by a rotary ring 72 having its weight transferred by a train of ball bearings 74 to an annular support 76. Not only is the feed screw 20 rotatable in either direction and over a range of speeds, but the head is reciprocable along its vertical rotary axis. The helical thread 21 on the screw head is sufficiently close to the radially- outer sloping walls of the frustoconical outlet passage 78 that rotation of the screw head in the appropriate sense is able to stop completely the vertical movement of molten glass through the outlet passage. As the screw head is raised to its upper limit position rotation of the feed screw in either direction has significantly less effect on the flow of glass, so that a desired weight of gob can be formed very accurately by selecting a specific rate of rotation of the feed screw in one sense and a selected height of the feed screw from its lowest position. The operator of the gob-forming apparatus may be provided with a table setting of the different weights of gobs obtainable with fixed speeds and fixed heights, so that the operator can choose the appropriate parameters once told what weight of gobs are needed. Insofar as the rotary speed and the height control affect the flow of fused glass from the discharge orifice 3, the actual weight of each gob is controlled by operating the associated shears positioned immediately below the orifice 3 at carefully-timed intervals. Thus it will be seen that the present invention provides a method in which the weight of gobs issuing from the machine, and the rate at which they are produced, are under the control of the operator, leading to the production of an accurate gob feeder. All of the constructions shown are capable of being effectively used for the slow dispensing of gobs of glass, e.g. for hand crafting or blowing, of any desired practical size.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. Apparatus for dispensing gobs of molten glass on demand, including a basin for the molten glass, the basin having walls which taper inwardly and downwardly towards a gob-dispensing orifice, and a helical screw feeder set above and aligned with the orifice and adapted to be rotated in either sense, the screw feeder having an external shape which is complementary to that of the adjacent walls of the basin. 2. Dispenser apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, in which the external surface of the screw feeder is substantially parallel to the tapering walls of the basin. 3. Dispensing apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, in which the thread on the surface of the screw feeder extends through more than 360° about its axis. 4. Dispensing apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the height of the crest of the threads from the adjacent surface of the screw feeder varies along the length of the thread. 5. Dispensing apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the screw feeder may be detachably engaged with means positioned above the level of the molten glass in the basin for both rotating the screw feeder in either direction at an adjustable speed, and for raising and lowering it either step- wise or smoothly. 6. Dispensing apparatus as claimed in Claim 5, in which the screw feeder is fast or integral with a solid shaft able to have its remote end engaged by a rotary chuck. 7. Dispensing apparatus as claimed in Claim 5, in which the screw feeder is hollow and is fast or integral with a tubular shaft able to have its remote end engaged by a rotary clamp.

Inventors: AUERBECK JIRI, STANLEY GEORGE MICHAEL, AUERBECK, JIRI, STANLEY, GEORGE, MICHAEL
Applicants: BHF ENG LTD, BH-F (ENGINEERING) LIMITED
Application year: 1992
Main classification: C03B7
IPC codes: C03B7