Document 3eN21aQqKxLO58B662BoDLjp3

March 4, 1952 r. m. downey U ' - ......................* -- patent D^PT. 2,587,710 MTC 017106 Patented Mar. 4, 19S2 2,587,710 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE tjai.no APPARATUS AND PROCESS FOB MAKING MINERAL WOOL Richard M. Downey, North Judaea, lad. as signor to United States Gypsum Company, Chieu<>, HI., a oorporstion of Illinois Application November 1,1951, Serial No. 284,313 5 Claims. (CL 18--ZA) 12 The present Invention relates to an Improved pipe or shaft are well known and hence require apparatus and process for making mineral wool no description. The shaft is mounted upon suit and the like. able bearings 14 and IS, and a pulley It and belt The present process is of the type in which a 11 serve as a means lor rotating the shaft and stream of molten mineral matter Is distributed 5 hence also the rotor. In the form of streams flung tangentially from a Molten material It, which may for example rotating rotor, these streams then being Inter be melted slag, is allowed to flow through the cepted by an annular blast of gaseous liquid chute It, to form a freely falling stream 21 which where the melt has sufficient momentum im is allowed to fall upon the interior wall 21 of parted to It to become attenuated into fibers. 10 the rotor where it will form a rapidly rotating In processes of this type the control of the annulus or ring 22. This ring works its way temperature and of the viscosity of the molten over the edges or rim 23 of the rotor, as a re material is of considerable Importance, because sult of which there will be tangentially dis the fineness of the fibers and their length Is de charged a great multitude of streams 24 of the pendent thereon. 15 molten material. A blow nozzle 25, provided Accordingly it is one of the objects of the with openings 21 arranged in the form of a present invention to provide an apparatus In circle somewhat larger in diameter than that which the control of these quantities is facile of the rotor 8, is arranged so as to blow a gaseous and certain. fluid, such as steam, against the streams 24 It is a further object of the invention to pro 20 whereby their direction is suddenly and violent vide an improved method for making mineral ly changed, with the result that the little streams wool. of material will become attenuated into fibers The apparatus employed for carrying out the 21, which may be received in a collecting cham present invention Is In many respects very ber (not shown). The steam for this purpose similar to that disclosed in my copending ap 25 may be provided through the pipe 28. It is to plication Serial No. 194,180, filed November 4, be understood that air or other gas may be used 1950, in that I use the same type of rotor and instead of steam. steam nozzle, with the exception that I now Example provide means for controlling the temperature of the rotor and therefore also of the molten ma terial which is brought into contact therewith. In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a side elevational view, partly in sec tion, of the apparatus; Fig. 2 is a vertical section along the line 2--2 of Big. l: Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the appara tus along the line 3--3 of Fig. 1: and Fig. 4 is a vertical section through the rotor along the line 4--4 of Fig. 1. The apparatus consists primarily of a rotor 8 30 35 *0 It has been found that the melted slag usual- ly has a temperature which is somewhat too high for effective conversion into fibers of the desired length and thickness. Thus a typical slag used for the present purposes may have a composition as follows: Per cent SlOi ---------------------------------------------------- 42J AlaOs135 CaO __________ 385 MgO .................................. 7.6 MaO ............................. 5 which is mounted upon a hollow shaft I, said in which M represents an alkali such as sodium. shaft housing a central pipe I which is stationary As the slag comes from the cupola it may have relative to the shaft. This pipe communicates a temperature as high os say about 2800 F. and through the branches 9, II, II and 12, with the 45 a viscosity of about 3.7 poises. There will be a hollow space 13, which is provided in the walls of slight cooling of the slag as a result of its run the rotor for the purpose of permitting the pas ning through the trough 19, but it was found sage of a suitable coolant such as a liquid or gas that it would normally have a temperature of therethrough, it being understood that the cool about 2600 F. and a viscosity of about 7.4 poises ant will pass into and out of the hollow 50 where it leaves the end of the trough and falls space, and leave through the annular space I onto the side 21 of the rotor. remaining in the shaft S. The coolant may be Sufficient water or other cooling medium' is water, steam, a suitable heat-resistant oil, or passed through the interior hollow walls of the a compound such as diphenyl. The means for rotor, namely the space II, to reduce the tem- effecting the introduction of the coolant into the 55 perature of the slag in the annulus to about nvtc 0VH7