Patent GB-508784-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to apparatus for the manufacture of blown glass articles
IPC: C03B9/29
Filed: 1937-12-04
Abstract: 508,784. Making hollow glassware. ROWLEY, H. E. G. (Soc. A R.L. Jerome & Bonnefoy & Cie.). Dec. 4, 1937, No. 33601. [Class 56] Relates to glass-blowing apparatus of the kind in which plastic glass is delivered on to a table provided with an aperture through which the glass sags, the emergent glass being blown to shape in a mould situated below the table. According to the invention, a series of apertured tables rotate about a vertical column, and an obturating device is provided to close in turn the aperture in each table while a change of glass on the table is spread out and cooled by a spreading device. The apertured tables 51, Fig. 1, are attached to a circular plate 6 secured to a sleeve 5 that rotates about the column 1. Vertical shafts 7, fixed to the plate 6, are secured at their upper ends to a worm-wheel 23 by which the plate 6 is rotated continuously. Blowheads 41 are carried by arms 8 which rotate on the shafts 7, and a spring 8<1> tends to keep each blowhead in an elevated position. A stationary cam 21 lowers the blowheads at appropriate times, and another stationary cam 19 swings the blowheads horizontally. Air is supplied to the blowheads by channels 45 in the worm-wheel 23 which are connected to the blowheads by flexible pipes 42 and to the air supply by members 47 on the column 1. The moulds 9<1>, which may be of metal or ceramic material, are supported by cylindrical supports 10 that oscillate on horizontal shafts 9 secured to the sleeve 5. Each mould 9<1> is carried by a hollow shaft 24 journalled in the support 10, and it is opened and closed by a hollow shaft 27 rotatable within the shaft 24. The shaft 27 is turned in one direction or another when a screwed rod 30, within the shaft 24, is raised by contact with a stationary cam 48 or is lowered by a spring. The mould is rotated during the blowing period by the engagement of a pinion 26, secured to the shaft 24, with a stationary rack 79. Cams 13, 14 formed on a fixed frame 78<1>, rock the moulds about the shaft 9 in order to invert them at the position where the finished articles are discharged. In addition to the mould units, a single arm 12, Fig. 2, oscillates on the sleeve 5 and carries a device for spreading out and cooling a glass charge as soon as it has been deposited on a table 51. This device comprises an obturator 58 which is raised into contact with the table 51 and closes the aperture 52 during the charging period. The device also comprises a spreader 68 which is swung to and from the table by a fixed cam 17 and is lowered on to the table by a fixed cam 16. During the charging period, the arm 12 is clamped to the plate 6 by a latch 61 and is restored to its initial position by a spring when the latch is released. Shear blades 53 slide on each of the tables 51 and are operated by a spring 55 and a stationary cam. A worm 4 enables the position of the cams 19, 21 to be adjusted. In operation, a charge of glass 90, Fig. 10, is deposited on a table 51 while the aperture 52 is closed by the obturator 58. The spreader 68, Fig. 11, then thins and cools the glass. The obturator and spreader are removed, the arm 12 swings back to its initial position, and a blowhead 41 is swung downwards on to the glass, as shown in Figs. 1 and 13, which has commenced to sag through the aperture 52. The mould 9<1> is then swung upwards into position below the table, and the sagging glass is blown in the mould which is rotated along the rack 78. When the article is blown, the blowhead 41 is removed, the mould opens, and the shear blade 53 moves outwards and separates the article from the excess glass, as shown in Fig. 16. The mould then swings downwards to discharge the finished article.