Glass Machinery
Since its inception, Manifold & Phalor, Inc has supported the glassmaking industry worldwide. From small projects to complete production lines, Manifold & Phalor, Inc. has equipment producing glass in over 30 countries worldwide. Below are a few samples of systems produced for some of the major glassmakers worldwide.
- High Speed Firepolisher for Pressed Ware Factory
- Force Control Hydraulic Servo Press Retrofit
- Blender Jar Heel Burnout Machine
High Speed Firepolisher for Pressed Ware Factory
In 1952 Manifold &Phalor, Inc. acquired the A.B. Knight company located in West Virginia. The A.B. Knight company had developed a wide range of equipment for the glass industry. One of the more notable machines was the in-line or oblong firepolisher also known as a glazier. The firepolisher is used in pressed glass factories for finishing the inner and outer surfaces of glassware to provide a smooth finish. Firepolishers are also used to melt the lips of drinking glasses or otherwise finish articles of glass. High speed machines capable of finishing 200 pieces of glass per minute are not uncommon and easily keep up with triple gob presses used in modern factories. Many machine configurations have been built including oblong, L-shaped and round machines. Some of the many options include:
- Automatic loading and unloading
- Gas/oxygen or air/gas burners
- Part orientation at loading and unloading
- Reheat machines for part tempering
- Servo indexing
- Variable speed control of spindle rotation
Force Control Hydraulic Servo Press Retrofit
A glass customer needed a machine capable of delicately pressing glass lenses. The machine needed to be able to rapidly fill a mold but sense the moment the part had formed completely in the mold. By not overpressing the glass in a part, checking, or stress cracking, was virtually eliminated in the production of the part. The servo glass press that was ultimately delivered had the capability of seamlessly shifting between position and force control. The range of force control on the press is from 20 lbs to 26,000 lbs. Controllable speed of the ram is up to 100 inches per second. The available video shows the capabilities of the servo, force control press.
Blender Jar Heel Burnout Machine
A challenging project taken on at Manifold & Phalor, Inc. was the design and construction of a heel burnout machine for burning a hole in the bottom of borosilicate glass blender jars. Shown below is a view of one of the loading robots placing an article on one of the burnout stations.
