Patent GB-400818-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to displacement glass feeders
IPC: C03B7/082
Filed: 1933-02-03
Abstract: 400,818. Glass manufacture. KUCERA, P., 106, Stewart Avenue, Pittsburg, U.S.A. Feb. 3, 1933, No. 3317. Convention date, March 1, 1932. [Class 56.] Relates to a glass-feeder of the kind in which a bell is partly submerged in the molten glass above a discharge outlet, and suction and compression are applied alternately to the interior of the bell to control the discharge of glass through the outlet. According to the present invention, the same body of air is repeatedly shifted to and from the interior of the bell in order to create the impulses that form the glass into " gobs " as it is discharged through the outlet. The apparatus comprises a forehearth 1, Fig. 3, one end of which terminates in a well 2 having a discharge outlet below which shear blades 61, 62 are arranged. A bell 10 dips into the glass above the outlet and screw nuts 21, 22, Figs. 3 and 4, are provided to enable the bell to be moved in vertical and horizontal directions, respectively, in order to adjust its position in relation to the outlet. The interior of the bell is connected by a tube 23 to a cylinder 24, Fig. 4, which is joined by a passage 89 with another cylinder 26. The cylinder 24 contains a float 93 having a valve 94 that closes the opening to the tube 23 when the float is raised. A piston or plunger 27 slides through an opening in the head of the cylinder 26 and is connected by a link 28 to a pivoted lever 29, Fig. 3, along which sliders 31, 32 can be moved by means of screws 33, 34 respectively. The slider 31 is connected to a vertical rod 38<1> by rods 38, 43 between which a spring 45 is disposed, and the slider 32 is connected to a vertical rod 39, by a rod 39<1> the length of which can be altered by a hand-wheel 49. The rods 38<1>, 39<1> are reciprocated in a vertical direction by cams 41, 42, respectively. The cam 42 is keyed to a countershaft 52, but the cam 41 is loosely mounted on the shaft and it is driven by it through a differential gear 57 which enables the dwell of the plunger 27 to be adjusted. Another differential 71, transmits the drive from the shaft to a cam 70 which operates the shear blades 62, 61. The cylinders 24, 26 contain a fluid, such as glycerine or oil, and the fluid also fills an enlargement of 86 the upper end of the cylinder 26 to prevent leakage of air around the plunger 27. A vertical passage 87 connects the passage 89 with the enlargement 86 through a port 88 and a spring-controlled ball valve 90. The valve 94 prevents fluid from being forced into the tube 23, and the valve 90 allows the fluid to flow into the enlargement 86 when the valve 94 is closed. The bottom of the cylinder 24 may also be fitted with a valve which admits air to the cylinder. In operation, the plunger 27 is reciprocated by the rocking of the lever 29, and the impulses of the plunger are transmitted by the fluid, and the air in the tube 23, to the air within the bell 10. The pulsations thus caused in the air within the bell control the formation of gobs in the glass flowing through the outlet. The size and shape of the gobs can be altered by adjusting the position of the bell above the outlet, the position of the sliders 31, 32, and the stroke and dwell of the plunger 27. The differential 72 enables the time of operation of the shears to be synchronized with the impulse mechanism. A valve a operated by the cam 70 is connected with the timing-device of a ware-forming machine.