Patent ID: 7434421

Claim:
A bushing for receiving molten material from a bushing leg of a glass tank and for fiberizing the molten material comprising at least two opposed sidewalls and at least two opposed end walls, a tip plate having at least 1600 orifices with at least 1600 hollow tips extending from a lower surface of the tip plate and arranged in double rows, the tip plate being attached to the sidewalls and end walls, the bushing having a boxlike shape having at least four interior corners, an interior support structure comprising a plurality of intersecting or crossing internal supports with angles between the intersecting supports at each intersection welded to a top surface of the tip plate for supporting the tip plate, at least some of the internal supports being attached to one or more of the end walls and at least some of the internal supports being attached to one or more of the sidewalls, the bushing also having linear external supports contacting the bottom of the tip plate and a screen in the bushing, the screen having a low flow rate center portion and one or more high flow rate portions, the high flow rate portion(s) being adjacent to the center portion and one or more walls of the bushing, the entire bottom of the screen resting on, or mounted near, the top of the interior support structure, the interior support structure, in cooperation with the at least one sidewall and the at least one end wall, forming at least 24 cells located between the bottom of the screen and the top of the tip plate, the screen having a plurality of screen areas containing holes through the screen with a screen area above each of the cells, the hole area per unit screen area being greater in the high flow rate portions(s) of the screen than the hole area per unit screen area in the low flow rate center portion of the screen, to achieve more uniform tip plate temperature profile, the screen being located so close to the top of the interior support structure that the distance from the bottom of the screen to the top of the interior support structure is less than that at which lateral flow of molten glass from one cell to one or more adjacent cells becomes significant to maintaining optimization of tip plate temperature profile.