Provided is a manufacturing method for a glass article, including: a pre-heating step (S1) of heating a transfer pipe (7); and a transfer step (S4) of causing molten glass to flow through the transfer pipe (7) after the pre-heating step (S1). The transfer pipe (7) includes a main body portion (8) having a tubular shape and a flange portion (9a, 9b) formed on an end portion of the main body portion (8). The main body portion (8) is retained by a refractory (10). In the pre-heating step (S1), the main body portion (8) is heated while the flange portion (9a, 9b) is movably supported so that the flange portion (9a, 9b) is moved in accordance with extension of the main body portion (8).

In various embodiments, refractory-metal glass melt electrodes are single-crystalline, at least within an outer layer thereof.

A method for producing a glass product is provided. The method includes providing a glass melt; hot forming the glass melt to obtain a glass product; and transferring the glass melt from a first region to a second region through a tube. The tube has a part that protrudes with a length into the glass melt in the first region. The part being at a distance from an inner base lying directly thereunder. The length and the distance are configured so that little defective glass gets into the tube and is transferred to the second region.

Submerged combustion burners having a burner body and a burner tip connected thereto. The burner body has an external conduit and first and second internal conduits substantially concentric therewith, forming first and second annuli for passing a cooling fluid therethrough. A burner tip body is connected to the burner body at ends of the external and second internal conduits. The burner tip includes a generally central flow passage for a combustible mixture, the flow passage defined by an inner wall of the burner tip. The burner tip further has an outer wall and a crown connecting the inner and outer walls. The inner and outer walls, and the crown are comprised of same or different materials having greater corrosion and/or fatigue resistance than at least the external burner conduit.

Stirrer (1) for stirring molten glass (16), whereby the stirrer (1) comprises a shaft (2) having a tip (4) and having a central longitudinal axis (L), and one or more inner stirrer blades (5,6) which are attached to the shaft (2), and one or more outer stirrer blades (7,8) which are attached to the shaft (2), whereby the inner stirrer blades (5,6) are attached closer to the shaft (2) than the outer stirrer blades (7,8), whereby, when considering the stirrer in a cylindrical coordinate system (11), both the one or more inner stirrer blades (5,6) as well as the one or more outer stirrer blades (7,8) are disposed at an angle (, ) to the central longitudinal axis (L), whereby said angle (, ) is between 0 and 90 not including these values, and are disposed having a least a blade section with a normal vector (N, P, Q, R), on the side directed towards the tip (4), with an angular component (N.sub.A, P.sub.A, Q.sub.A, R.sub.A).

A molten glass stirring device is provided that includes a container having an inlet through which molten glass flows in and an outlet through which molten glass flows out and a stirring mechanism having a vertically extending rotational shaft and an impeller provided on the rotational shaft to stir molten glass in the container. The molten glass stirring device further includes at least one of a first variable mechanism capable of adjusting the spacing between the impeller in the molten glass and the inner surface of the container by changing the horizontal position of the rotational shaft and a second variable mechanism capable of adjusting the spacing between the impeller in the molten glass and the surface of the molten glass by changing the vertical position of the rotational shaft.

Submerged combustion burners having a burner body and a burner tip connected thereto. The burner body has an external conduit and first and second internal conduits substantially concentric therewith, forming first and second annuli for passing a cooling fluid therethrough. A burner tip body is connected to the burner body at ends of the external and second internal conduits. The burner tip includes a generally central flow passage for a combustible mixture, the flow passage defined by an inner wall of the burner tip. The burner tip further has an outer wall and a crown connecting the inner and outer walls. The inner and outer walls, and the crown are comprised of same or different materials having greater corrosion and/or fatigue resistance than at least the external burner conduit.

A molten material apparatus can include a container including a wall at least partially defining a containment area and an opening extending through the wall. The molten material apparatus can include a protective sleeve mounted at least partially within the opening of the wall of the container. A thermocouple can be positioned within an internal bore of the protective sleeve. A method of processing molten material can include inserting a thermocouple into a protective sleeve fabricated from a refractory ceramic material, and measuring a temperature of material within a containment area of a container with the thermocouple.

In various embodiments, refractory-metal glass melt electrodes are single-crystalline, at least within an outer layer thereof.

The invention includes systems and methods for melting materials to make glass and other materials subject to electric melting that improve the capacity of the melters and/or the melt quality and/or the melting costs and/or the life of tank melters. These systems and methods use one or more of boosting with one or more streams of super hot melt coming from one or more boosting melters, cooling one or more components of one or more of the melters normally cooled using water with a high temperature cooling fluid or fluid suspension and protecting the normally high wear areas of refractory linings by covering those high wear areas with one or more strips of a corrosion and oxidation resistant metal or alloy useful above 2400 degrees F.