Patents by Inventor Kent F. Grinnen

Kent F. Grinnen has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 5169424
    Abstract: A forehearth for the conveyance and temperature maintenance of molten glass includes a longitudinal cooling zone over a laterally-extending cooling tile panel which is spaced above and spans an elongated trough supporting the molten glass. Roof structure of the forehearth has a pair of spaced-apart projections jutting downwardly and defining a central cooling area over the molten glass, and the central cooling area is flanked by longitudinally-extending firing chambers. Linear parallel grooves, recessed within at least one broad surface of the cooling tile panel, increase the rate of heat transfer to a longitudinally-extending air flow cavity above the cooling tile panel. The cavity has spaced air inlets along its sides that communicate with the parallel grooves of the panel and direct pressurized cooling air in laterally converging paths through the grooves and thence outwardly through a centrally located exhaust opening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 1990
    Date of Patent: December 8, 1992
    Inventors: Kent F. Grinnen, Michael S. Arnold