Apparatus for mounting a primary electrode

Claim 1

In an open-top furnace for electrically heating molten glass mass in a bath, comprising a circular furnace chamber for containing said bath, an electrode centrally located within said chamber, at least two electrically conductive supporting elements that extend radially about a vertical axis through said central electrode, each of said supporting elements having a first, horizontal portion which in operational position is located over said chamber, a second portion joined to an end of said first portion and which in operational position extends downwardly through the upper surface of said bath, and a third, horizontal portion which in operational position is submerged in said bath having one end secured to the lower end of said second portion ad another end having an electrode tip plate secured thereto, said plate spaced from but adjacent to said central electrode, the improvement comprising: (a) means located outside said chamber for mounting each of said supporting elements for pivoting of said first, horizontal portion on its longitudinal axis whereby said second and third portions are carried from their operational positions to a position above the horizontal plane in which said first, horizontal portion generally lies; and (b) a carriage holding said mounting means, said carriage being movable in a line radial of said central electrode from an operational positon to a service position more remote of said chamber, each of said supporting elements being mounted for rotation in said mounting means about a vertical axis through said mounting means whereby, when said carriage is in its service position, the electrode tip plate is carried to a position to a side of and remote of said chamber.