Johns Manville

Manville Corporation

Rodney Roger Smalley

John Wayne Baker

Alessandro Giorgio Borsa

Donald E Shisler

Kenneth Charles Fitzpatrick

Kent A Rubright

Donald Eugene Shisler

Kent Arthur Rubright

Tubular pipe insulation is made from a glass fiber mat produced utilizing a rotary glass fiberization process. A spinner disc is rotated to centrifuge molten glass through fiberization holes in an annular sidewall of the spinner disc and form primary glass fibers. The primary glass fibers are attenuated and formed into a veil where the fibers are dispersed to reduce in length the fiber networks formed from the fibers. Binder is applied to the fibers and the fibers are collected into a mat that, when pulled apart by longitudinally directed, opposing forces, separates across the width of the mat into two mat sections having feathered edges with substantially no fibrous stringers extending beyond the feathered edges for a distance greater than about four inches. The leading mat section is then wound about a mandrel and the binder in the mat is cured to form the pipe insulation.

Rotary fiberization process for making glass fibers, an insulation mat, and pipe insulation

Fibers are produced a from molten thermoplastic fiberizable material in a rotary fiberizing process by passing the fiberizable material through rows of fiberizing holes in an annular sidewall of a fiberizing disk. A first manifold supplies a combustible gas or gaseous mixture into the fiberizing disk where the combustible gas or gaseous mixture combusts to help maintain the fiberizing disk and the molten fiberizable material supplied to the fiberizing disk within a desired temperature range for fiberization. A second manifold supplies a combustible gas or gaseous mixture externally of the fiberizing disk where the combustible gas or gaseous mixture combusts. The products of combustion from the burning of the combustible gases or gaseous mixtures discharged from the first and second manifolds heat an annular fiber attenuation zone surrounding the disk sidewall and help attenuate fibers in the heated attenuation zone. A gaseous fluid discharge ring concentrically positioned relative the fiberizing disk discharges a high velocity annular curtain of gaseous fluid to help attenuate fibers in the heated attenuation zone and redirect the fibers for collection. Preferably, the diameters of the fiberizing holes decrease from an uppermost row to a lowermost row to decrease the mass flow rate of fiberizable material through the fiberizing holes as the momentum of the combustion products and the gaseous fluid curtain pulling on the fibers decreases.

Apparatus and method for forming fibers from thermoplastic fiberizable materials

A rotary fiberization method and apparatus. Gas and/or liquid may be introduced into the void area produced by a rotary fiberization process. The gas and/or liquid may be used to alter the configuration of the fiber column and to apply desired materials to the fibers.

Apparatus for producing desired fiber column configuration

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Richmond, IN, United States of America

Rodney Roger Smalley