Method of laser beam cutting of a ribbon of hot glass
AssigneeFord Motor Company
InventorGranger K. Chui
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This application teaches a method of producing an article of glass by cutting it out of a sheet of flat glass. Flat glass is formed in a glass ribbon forming apparatus and is discharged therefrom at a temperature in excess of 1000.degree.F. The hot flat glass is moved under at least a pair of focused laser beams which cut patterns in the glass having a common starting and ending point. In such a manner, a glass article is cut from the ribbon. The article is removed from the remaining portion of the ribbon and cooled in a controlled manner to produce a final glass article. The cooling operation may be rapid or slow so as to produce a tempered or an annealed article.
Claims6
A method of forming an article of glass comprising:
- melting glass forming materials;
- forming a ribbon of flat glass in a ribbon forming apparatus;
- withdrawing the flat glass from the ribbon forming apparatus with the temperature of the flat glass being in excess of 1000.degree.F.;
- moving the hot flat glass under at least a pair of focused laser beam devices which project laser beams onto the glass capable of cutting through the hot flat glass;
- moving the laser beams in a controlled manner having at least a lateral component for each beam as the hot flat glass moves thereunder so that one laser beam cuts out a first side portion of the article of glass and the other laser beam cuts out a second side portion of the article of glass whereby a complete article shape is formed said laser beam paths having a common intersecting point at the beginning and end of each article;
- removing the excess of the flat glass not forming a part of the article;
- and
- cooling the glass article in a controlled manner to produce a final glass article.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.