Patent ID: 8806900

Claim:
An apparatus for manufacturing from heat softenable material to form continuous fibers, comprising: (a) at least one melting chamber for heating the heat softenable material to facilitate flow of the heat softenable material; (b) at least one sloped valley oriented for providing melted rock turbulence to the flow of the heat softenable material from the at least one melting chamber; (c) a platform in a position for receiving the heat softenable material from the at least one sloped valley; (d) a collector in a position to receive the flow of the heat softenable material from the platform; (e) a feeder in a position to receive the flow of the heat softenable material from the collector; (f) a ceramic bushing in a position to receive the flow of the heat softenable material from the feeder, the ceramic bushing comprising: an upper chamber, a lower chamber, an internal crucible in the upper chamber with a bottom of the internal crucible forming a lower boundary of the upper chamber and having orifices therein to allow the heat softenable material to flow therethrough, and a heater plate having a plurality of orifices therein to allow the heat softenable material to flow therethrough, the heater plate longitudinally extending across an entire horizontal area of the lower chamber between the bottom of the internal crucible and a discharge floor; (g) the discharge floor comprising one or more ceramic orificed plates attached to said bushing at a bottom of said bushing to receive the flow of the heat softenable material and forming a lower boundary of the lower chamber; and (h) a first heater in a position to heat the heat softenable material in the upper chamber of the bushing, wherein the heater plate is configured to maintain a temperature inside the lower chamber of the bushing in a range of 1450 C to 1550 C.