Glass lift mechanism for and method of press bending glass sheets

A method of shaping glass sheets comprising:

• heating a glass sheet in an upright position while the bottom edge of the glass sheet rests directly on first horizontally extending conveyor means;
• conveying the glass sheet onto second horizontally extending conveyor means, which extends from the first conveyor means and is comprised of conveyor rolls, and into a shaping station, and stopping the glass sheet in the shaping station in an upright position with its bottom edge resting directly on the conveyor rolls and between a pair of opposed, complementary press bending molds spaced above the conveyor rolls a distance sufficient to provide clearance between the bottom edges of the bending molds and the tops of the conveyor rolls, each bending mold having a surface area at least equal to that of the glass sheet;
• raising lifting fingers between the conveyor rolls into contact with the bottom edge of the glass sheet and raising the glass sheet on the lifting fingers to bring the bottom of the glass sheet to an elevation at least equal to the elevation of the bottom edges of the bending molds;
• advancing the bending molds toward each other to engage the glass sheet on both sides throughout essentially the entire area of the glass sheet and to bend the glass sheet therebetween;
• lowering the lifting fingers between the conveyor rolls and separating the bending molds, so that the bottom edge of the glass sheet again directly contacts the conveyor rolls;
• and
• conveying the glass sheet out of the shaping station.