Glass Cutting Line with Automatic Remnant Storage and Retrieval including Cutting Table with Integrated Squaring Stop and Y-Break Breaking Bar Facilitating Sub-Plate Cutting

A method of cutting workpieces on a cutting table comprising the steps of:

• Providing a glass cutting table that includes a bridge extending across the table configured for movement along an X-axis, and a carriage moveable along the bridge in an Y-axis perpendicular to the X-axis and with a cutting head on the carriage and movable within an XY plane defined by the X-axis and the Y-axis to cut glass workpieces, and a conveyor for advancing the glass workpieces in the direction of the X-axis;
• Providing a workpiece to the glass cutting table and scoring the workpiece to provide at least one Y-axis score line extending across the workpiece;
• Severing the workpiece in a Y-axis break along a score line extending across the Y-axis of the workpiece while at least a portion of the workpiece upstream of the Y-axis break along the direction of the X-axis remains on the cutting table;
• Releasing the portion of the workpiece downstream of the cutting table;
• and
• Scoring the portion of the workpiece upstream of the Y-axis break subsequent to the release of the portion of the workpiece downstream from the cutting table.

A glass cutting line includes automatic remnant storage and retrieval comprising:

• A workpiece feeding table with a conveyer for transporting workpieces along an X-axis along the longitudinal length of the workpiece feeding table;
• A glass cutting table downstream and adjacent the workpiece feeding table and receiving workpieces therefrom, the cutting table includes a bridge extending across the table configured for movement along the X axis, and a carriage moveable along the bridge in an Y-Axis perpendicular to the X-axis and with a cutting head on the carriage and movable within the XY plane to cut the glass workpieces, and a conveyor for advancing the glass workpieces in the direction of the X-axis;
• A bi-directional table downstream and adjacent the cutting table in a direction of the X-axis and configured to receive workpieces from the conveyor of the cutting table, the bi-directional table including a selectively operable X-axis conveyor and a Y axis conveyor;
• A reclamation tilt unit adjacent the bi-directional table in the direction of the Y-axis and configured to receive remnants from the bi-directional table and move the remnants to a vertical orientation;
• a vertical cassette type storage rack with individual storage slots arranged along the y-axis and configured to receive remnants from the reclamation tilt unit and where remnants will be indexed and stored for future use, wherein the reclamation tilt unit is configured to feed the remnants to the individual slots;
• and
• A manual breakout table downstream and adjacent along the X-axis of the bi-directional table configured to receive workpieces from the X-axis conveyor of the bi-directional table.