GB514656A - Improvements in the manufacture of hollow glass building blocks - Google Patents

Abstract

514,656. Welding glass; gas burners. AUSTRALIAN GLASS MANUFACTURERS CO., Ltd. May 12, 1938, No. 14218. Convention date, May 14, 1937. [Class 56] [Also in Group XI] A process for making hollow glass bricks consists in moulding half sections of the bricks, assembling two of such sections 36, 37, Fig. 7, with their edges in contact after removal from the moulds while the glass is still hot, and after assembly fusing the glass along the joint line 38 by means of numerous gas jets playing along the joint, the jets being kept in movement to distribute the heating-effect evenly. A machine for the purpose comprises crossheads 15, 16, Fig. 1, slidable along vertical columns 12, 13 and movable to and from one another by hand levers.- A burner frame 25 is fixed in the columns between the crossheads. The lower crosshead, 15, supports a chuck 32, and the crosshead 16 supports a chuck 33, both chucks being connected by flexible pipes 45 with sources of suction to enable the brick sections to be held in the chucks by atmospheric pressure. The lower burner frame 25 is rectangular and supports four burner tubes 52, Fig. 6, each composed of an upper member 61 and 'a 'lower member 62 with an intervening metal strip 63 which has numerous' slots to form jet orifices 60. The tubes 52 are free to slide in the frame 25 and -make contact at their ends with angular members 55.which rock in knife edges 56. When one of the tubes is reciprocated by a handle 59, the members 55 cause other tubes to reciprocate in synchronism and the gas jets play along the joint 38. The supply of gas to the burners is controlled by the movement of the crosshead 15. In operation, the glass sections, as they are removed from the moulds, are placed in the chucks and the crossheads are moved to bring the sections together with their edges in contact with one another. The gas flames play along the joint line 38, and the handle 59 is reciprocated to distribute the heating effect. If desired, the bricks may be coloured by spraying or dusting coloured frit on to the hot glass.