INFORMATION IMPROVING

THE MANUFACTURE

AND CHEMICAL-LABORATORY

OF M E D I C A L GLASS

Translated from Steklo i Keramika, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 45-47, March, 1963

At the end of 1962 in Klina an extended session of the Scientific Council of the Institute of Glass was held to deal with interchange of the latest experience in the manufacture of medical and chemical-laboratory glass. In recent years workers in the glass industry have increased the output of these types of glass. The output of medical-glass goods in 1961 was 30~ more than in 1959 and of chemical-laboratory glass 27.7% compared with 1958. This was done by using production reserves, mechanization and automation of production processes and by starting up new departments and concerns. The technical level has also been increased. The Solnechnogorsk, Klinsk and Tuimazinsk glass factories have introduced mechanized lines for making bottles for antibiotics from glass tubing and directly from molten glass. The Berezich, Solnechnogorsk and "Red Flame" plants have developed vacuum-blowing automatic machinery KS-6 for producing medical phials. The "Red October," "Industriya, ~" Tuimazinsk and Solnechnogorsk plants have introduced AV-4 automatic machines to replace the imperfect VShM semiautomatic. The "Red Banner" Plant has developed the production of glassware for medical purposes on semiautomatic machines with double-cell bubble distribution. Flasks and chemical beaker_, are now made on VKL-24 automatics at the Klinsk Laboratory Apparatus Plant. Many factories have mechanized the transporting of glass goods from the forming place to the annealing lehrs. With the creation of the Gusev branch of the Institute of Glass, the voiame of scientific-research work in the sphere of medical and chemical-laboratory glass has increased. In 1962 the branch developed new compositions for enamels for labeling on colored glass containers, and at present the development of new technical specifications are being completed for containers used for pharmaceutical-drugstore uses and for glassware used in the micro-biological industry; work is also being done on developing new glasses with high chemical resistance and also on improving the quality of glass tubing. D. I. Klegg, director of the Gusev branch of the Institute of Glass gave a report: and reserves in the production of medical and chemical-laboratory glass."

"The state, technical level

Analyzing the production activities of all (32) glass plants of the Union, producing medical and laboratory glass, he mentioned the substantial differences in their technical levels, the degree of mechanization and working factors. Having evaluated in detail the drawbacks of a number of plants and having discussed the positive experience of the leading concerns, D. I. Klegg made proposals directed at a basic increase in the technical level, an increase in productivity and improvements in product quality; to introduce lines for making pharmaceutical containers with capacities of up to 1 liter with automatics AV-4 instead of the semiautomatics VShM, and to make large containers with the Ruaran automatics; henceforth, before installing automatic units, to replace in 1963 hand feeding of glassware by feeder methods on all semiautomatics; to automate glass-melting processes in all plants in 1963-64; to reconstruct the batch departments of medical-container and laboratory-glass plants, and to get a sharp improvement in supplying plants with raw materials and fuel; to improve the production and use of molds, and to organize for this purpose in each plant fitting shops to repair them, and in the regional-economic system-concerns for mold making; to examine the range of products bearing in mind the more narrow specialization of concerns in regard to certain types of goods; to change to the manufacture of glass tubes with diameters up to 50 mm for chemical-laboratoryglass with handles in ATG-8-50 machines, and large-diameter t u b e s - o n machines of the vertical-drawing type; to introduce VVL-24 and VL-18 automatics universally for making chemical-laboratory glass (flasks, beakers). A report on "The demands for medical glass in the future and the demands placed on its quality" was given by chief engineer of the Ministry for Medical Services and Techniques (Ministry of Health USSR), ~. S. Korzhenevskii. Having discussed the dynamic growth in the demand for pharmaceutical and medical glassware in the future, he dealt with the serious claims made by workers in the glass industry in regard to the quality of the goods manufactured.

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Existing technical specifications for medical glass do not reflect the modern demands placed on them. Glass tubing made in many plants and the goods obtained from it do not satisfy the requirements of capillarity, extraneous inclusions and dimensions (different wall thicknesses and conicity), which prevent their use on continuous, automatic labelling units for antibiotic containers in medical-product plants. It is necessary to develop glass compositions with high chemical resistance for prolonged storage of new medical preparations. The manufacture of medical and laboratory glass and improvements in its quality at the Klinsk Plant No. 2 were discussed by the director of the factory, G. I. Petrov. The plant produces different goods for the medical industry: bottles for antibiotics, syringes, test tubes for packing various types of pharmaceuticals, stained glass containers, etc. In order to increase output and quality, said G. I. Petrov, it is necessary first to improve the manufacture of tubing which is the basic type of product in the factory's range. According to the technology for making tubing,the length of the ribbon should be 40-50 m, while in this plant it does not exceed 25-50 m. An inadequate ribbon length limits increases in output, leads to greatercurvature in the tubing and worsens its cutting. The plant has modernized the drawing machflae which now permits the drawing of tubing at a speed of 205 m/min, but owing to the shortness of the ribbon the fast machine cannot be used. Later the speaker discussed a new method of making Petri cups from sheet glass by softening. A trial batch of these had been well received by the users, but the plant cannot change to this method owing to the lack of sheet glass of the necessary chemical composition. G. I. Petrov recommends that a single large mechanized batch department be built for the three glass plants in Klina, for this will make it possible to increase the quality of the batch. P. I. Ornatskii, chief technologist at the "Laboratory Apparatus" Plant, discussed the production of measuring glassware and apparatus. This plant produces more than 400 standard sizes of chemical-laboratory containers, apparatus and fittings for the various sections of the national economy. In spite of the small numbers of the articles produced, this plant has done a lot to mechanize and automate production. They have installed the VL-18 automatic unit for making flasks, chemical beakers and graduated cylinders; a design has been developed for an automatic machine for pressing chemical beakers; another design is in the development stage for producing measuring cylinders with pressed bottoms, using glass tube. A lot of work has been done on mechanizing the processes in the graduating sections, and also on grinding the stop cocks, the tapers., etc. Comrade Orrtatskii dealt with the question of the need to create new, improved compositions for glasses for chemical-laboratory containers bearing in mind the possiblity of mechanized production of complex articles. New technical trends in projecting factories were discussed by the chief technologist of the GPI-3 Institute, S. g. Shereshevskaya. With the aim of technically reequipping the glass industry, and also to increase its capacity, the institute had developed a range of projects for reconstructing and building glass plants. In the last three years GPI-3 has developed projects for reconstructing the Klinsk Plant No. 2, the Solnechnogorsk No. 2, gleninsk "Pobeda Truda," "Glass Apparatus," and for reconstructing a glass plant in Ul'yanovsk, etc. GPI-3 in developing its projects, said S. E. Shereshevskaya, is tending to specialize factories for producing certain goods. This will greatly increase the possibility of mechanizing and automating production. The "Pobeda Truda" plant is specializing in the production of laboratory ware from Pyrex glass, the Klinsk plant-uncolored medicine bottles, the Solnechogorsk-orange medicine glass bottles, the Novo-Ul'yanov plant is limited to the manufacture of small bottles and ampoules. The following were taken as the basis for projecting the technology: the continuation of the process with the maximum possible mechanization and automation, the use of improved equipment. Then the speaker gave a detailed account of the technical decisions made for projecting the main processes in producing medical and laboratory glassware. Of great interest was a paper by M. M. Strel'tsov, director of the Serezich Glass Plant, who spoke of the operation of KS-6 automatic units fed with glass from separately heated basins. Starting from two years' experience with

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operating furnace No. 2, M. M. Strel'tsov recommends KS-6 units and other similar vacuum-blow a u t o m a t i c s - t h e y should be fitted with feeds from insulated, separate basins with individually heated sections. This, according to the plant's data will made it possible to regulate the schedule in relation to the features of the automatic unit and the type of glassware, and also will increase the utilization coefficient of the glass, and as a result of increasing the melting part of the furnace, will increase the output. Feeding individual basins with glass is done through deepened channels located 3 m from the overflow chamber of the tank furnace. Thorough cooling of the outside of the basin is recommended with the use of tank furnaces with separately fed basins. Individual switching off for repair of each feed basin increases the life of the tank furnace built even from ordinary silica to two years. M. M. Strel'tsov also mentioned the advantages of using sodium silicofluoride as a melting accelerator and recommended it for universal use. Experience with the use of VV-6 automatic units was discussed by the chief engineer of the Solnechnogorsk glass plant, V. G. Redzyuk. In his opinion, the unit's output can be increased 15% by improving its design-fitting it with vacuum leads and metallic cables, strengthening the forming blocks and resolving several technological matters such as: the layout of the deepened channel in the tank furnace and selection of a better glass composition for vacuum-blow automatics producing antibiotic bottles. The composition of the glass which the plant uses now does not satisfy the demands of quality nor in regard to working properties. Engineer V. M. Ivanova discussed work done at the Gusev branch of the State Institute of Glass on the synthesis of new chemically resistant glasses for medical containers. One of these compositions, resistant to prolonged contact with ascorbic acid and glucose,has successfully undergone laboratory tests and has been sent for tests in pharmaceutical factories. Otber interesting reports c a m e from the director of the Tuirnazin gl~ss plant, A. F. Tsukanov, on the results of testing the A V - 6 - 2 automatic which produces antibiotic flasks and from the director of the "Pobeda Truda" Plant, Mikhai!ov , on the mechanization of production of chemical ware and experience with the manufacture of tubes for chemical-laboratory purposes on ATG-8-50 machines, the chief engineer of the Syuginsk "Light" Plant, A. K. Podoprigor,and other members of the session of the Scientific Council. Members of the extended session, reporting on the attainments of their concerns,also mentioned the serious shortcomings in the production of chemical-laboratory and medical glassware. Most glass plants in this section are supplied with low-grade raw materials from various sources and with variable chemical compositions. The warehouse areas and batching departments in some plants (Red Banner, Borisov, Red October, etc.) are not suitable for storing the necessary stocks of raw material. The preparation of the raw materials and batch is carried out improperly in several plants. They do not keep to the specified ratio of batch and cullet, which leads to the production of heterogeneous glass and high loss. Plants are not getting the necessary quantities of refractories of the required quality. Fuel is delivered to the plants with a high moisture content, ash content and a high sulfur content, which gives rise to upsets in the temperature schedule and deterioration in the glass quality. Until now about 75% of medical and laboratory glassware has been made on semiautomatics with manual collection of the glass. The development of new designs and modernization of existing ones is very slow. The technology for producing glass tubing on ATG-8-50 automatics requires fundamental improvement. Tubing made on these machines has high loss percentages owing to capillarity, variation in sizes, conicity and mechanical inclusions. Frequently a single glass plant combines manual, semiautomatic and mechanized working of different sized articles (from 30 g to bottles with capacities of 20 liters), which does not ensure normal working schedules and the desired quality of the goods. Glass plants are not getting enough molds of the right quality and spare parts for forming machines are in short supply.

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Great reserves for increasing the output of these plants still r e m a i n unrealized. The specific yield of glass in the production of c h e m i c a l - l a b o r a t o r y and m e d i c a l giass from tank furnaces for glasses NS-1 and NS-2 varies in the range 250-370 k g / m 2 of melting area, and for a l k a l i g l a s s - 4 3 0 to 1047 kg. The coefficient of u t i l i z a t i o n of glass at 'the "Industriya" Plant reaches 0.89 and at the Klinsk No. 2 (furnace No. 2) it is only 0.29. To ensure ~ : t h e r technical progress in the production of m e d i c a l and c h e m i c a l - l a b o r a t o r y glass, the m a x i m u m use of reserves, improvement in quality, and also to reduce the cost of the product and increase efficiency, certain concrete recommendations were made by the Scientific Council at the meeting.

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