Patent ID: 6841098

Claim:
A spinner disc for fiberizing a molten thermoplastic fiberizable material in a rotary fiberization process, comprising: a base plate; the base plate having means for mounting the spinner disc on a drive shaft for rotating the spinner disc about an axis perpendicular to the base plate; the base plate having an outer annular peripheral edge portion; an annular peripheral sidewall having a lower annular edge portion and an upper annular edge portion; the annular peripheral sidewall extending upward from the outer annular peripheral edge portion of the base plate; the outer annular peripheral edge portion of the base plate being integral with the lower annular edge portion of the annular peripheral sidewall; an upper annular reinforcing flange extending radially inward from the upper annular edge portion of the annular peripheral sidewall; the upper annular reinforcing flange being integral with the upper annular edge portion of the annular peripheral sidewall; the annular peripheral sidewall having a plurality of annular extending rows of fiberizing holes therein for fiberizing thermoplastic materials by centrifugal force; the annular extending rows of fiberizing holes extending parallel to the base plate; and at least an uppermost row of the annular extending rows of fiberizing holes being interrupted by a plurality of spaced apart generally vertically extending holeless retaining bands for maintaining an upper portion of the spinner disc that includes the upper annular reinforcing flange connected to the annular peripheral sidewall when the annular peripheral sidewall fails structurally due to hole wear and enlargement that occurs during service along one or more of the annular extending rows of fiberizing holes interrupted by the generally vertically extending holeless retaining bands.