Coating removal devices and methods for removing coatings from sheets of glass, preferably laminated sheets of glass

A decoating method for the edge decoating of a glass sheet, the glass sheet having two glass surfaces and having on at least one of the two glass surfaces a protective coating in the form of a peel-off protective film, the glass sheet to be divided into a plurality of glass plates along at least one projected cutting or scoring line extending in a first direction, the method comprising:

• introducing first laser traces into the protective film, at least two of the first laser traces extending parallel to each other in the first direction, the at least two first laser traces being positioned about the projected cutting or scoring line such that a first one of the at least two first laser traces is positioned on a first side of the projected cutting or scoring line and a second one of the at least two first laser traces is positioned on a second side of the projected cutting or scoring line, the at least two first laser traces defining therebetween a film strip to be removed;
• introducing to the film strip a plurality of angled laser traces extending in a second direction at an angle to the first direction, the plurality of angled laser traces dividing the film strip to be removed into a plurality of partial pieces separated from one another;
• after introducing the first and angled laser traces, mechanically removing the plurality of partial pieces of protective film separated from one another from the glass sheet.