Enclosures for providing a controlled environment during the production of glass articles

A manufacturing line for producing glass articles comprising:

• an enclosure, wherein the enclosure comprises:
• a central plane extending through a top end of the enclosure and a bottom end of the enclosure and bisecting the enclosure along a width of the enclosure, the central plane being an XZ plane;
• an inlet at the bottom end of the enclosure having an inlet width, Winlet, extending in the Y direction;
• an enclosure wall extending from the inlet to the top end of the enclosure, the enclosure wall comprising a chamber region and a transition region between the inlet and the chamber region, wherein a width of the chamber region, Wchamber, is substantially constant through the chamber region, the width of the enclosure in the transition region decreases from Wchamber to Winlet along the X direction, and a ratio of Winlet to Wchamber is from 1:2 to 1:5;
• an entry port at the top end of the enclosure sized and configured to receive a part carrier configured to move the glass article through the chamber region such that an entirety of the glass article is within the chamber region;
• and
• an outlet between the entry port and the chamber region of the enclosure wall;
• wherein the central plane passes through the inlet and the entry port of the enclosure and the outlet extends along an outlet axis oriented at a non-zero angle with respect to the central plane;
• and
• a part carrier, wherein a gripping member of the part carrier is positioned through the entry port and the part carrier is configured to move a glass article through the chamber region of the enclosure in a Z direction, and
• wherein the inlet is configured for supplying a flow of fluid into the enclosure through the inlet, and the outlet is configured for removing a flow of fluid from the enclosure through the outlet,
• wherein the top end and the bottom end of the enclosure are spaced apart along the X axis, the X, Y, and Z axes being orthogonal to each other, and
• wherein the enclosure is configured for the flow of fluid into the chamber region via the inlet, and then out of the enclosure through the outlet.