Patent ID: 6948338

Claim:
A vacuum degassing apparatus for molten glass, comprising: a vacuum housing which is evacuated to be depressurized therein; a vacuum degassing vessel which is provided in the vacuum housing to vacuum-degas molten glass; an uprising pipe which connects to the vacuum degassing vessel, and sucks and draws up undegassed molten glass to introduce the undegassed molten glass into the vacuum degassing vessel; and a downfalling pipe which connects to the vacuum degassing vessel and draws down the degassed molten glass from the vacuum degassing vessel to discharge degassed molten glass; wherein said vacuum housing has an accommodating portion to accommodate said uprising pipe and an accommodating portion to accommodate said downfalling pipe, at least one of which is divided horizontally into a plurality of sections, to form a plurality of divided rooms juxtaposed in the vertical direction, and the respective divided rooms are provided with pressure control means to control the pressures of the respective divided rooms independently.