Abstract: Methods and apparatus for the extension of a furnace campaign and/or the reduction of energy input during melting by the shape of exchangeable component assemblies surrounding the melt which are located in the area of the melt surface and which are in contact with the transition area, below as well as above of the melt surface. The same holds for the haulage way of the melt.

Abstract: Production of a glass body provided with a glass membrane is disclosed, for a chemical sensor, in which a displaceably mounted dip tube through which a gaseous medium can flow is dipped into a mass of molten glass and pulled out again to withdraw a gob which is then put into the desired shape by supply of the gaseous medium. The dip tube is inserted into a mount, which is connected to a displaceably supported carriage which is then displaced as far as a lower end position (P1), which is defined on the basis of an adjustment device such that when the carriage moves downward the dip tube dips into the molten glass, and upon the retraction of the carriage the dip tube withdraws a gob that is suitable for processing. After one or more withdrawals of a gob, the one-piece or multiple-piece adjustment device is readjusted manually or automatically by a certain amount, to compensate for changes in the level of the molten glass caused by the withdrawal of gobs.

Abstract: The invention concerns an automated method for producing a blown glass body, in particular a glass wall of an electrochemical sensor, wherein an immersion tube (10), through which air or gas can flow, is immersed into molten glass (8) and subsequently withdrawn to remove an amount of molten glass from the molten glass mass, and wherein the removed glass is blown into the form of the glass body to be produced by means of the air or gas flowing through the immersion tube (10), comprising the following features:

Abstract: In the production of glass fibers by the use of a multi-tipped bushing arranged beneath an opening in the floor of a fore-hearth along which the molten glass flows, an apertured cover plate is disposed across the opening at or near its bottom and carries an upwardly extending duct connecting the aperture in the cover plate with a position in the fore-hearth above the floor and below the normal surface level of the glass, so that molten glass is supplied to the bushing from this position, where the glass is uninfluenced by cooling effects, and on its way thence to the bushing the glass can only contact the surface of the duct which is kept hot by the molten glass in the floor opening outside the duct. The risk of divitrified glass reaching the bushing and causing breakages is thereby much reduced.