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US 4,711,056 AGranted
Abrasive fluid jet radius edge cutting of glass
AssigneeLibbey-Owens-Ford Co.
InventorsRichard A. Herrington, Thomas G. Kleman, Ermelinda A. Apolinar
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AssigneeLibbey-Owens-Ford Co.
InventorsRichard A. Herrington, Thomas G. Kleman, Ermelinda A. Apolinar
Estimating the term…
Producing a radius or curved edge in cutting glass by means of a high pressure abrasive fluid jet. Abrasive particles are aspirated in carefully controlled amounts into a fluid stream which is directed through a nozzle tube having an elongated passageway of small diameter, and the fluid is discharged against and closely adjacent the surface of the glass as a highly collimated jet carrying the abrasive particles. The passageway gradually increases in diameter, or flares outwardly, at the discharge end of the nozzle tube, allowing the collimated stream to diverge within confined limits immediately prior to impinging upon the glass surface. The abrasive particle-containing conical fluid jet cuts through the glass along the path followed by the axis of the nozzle tube, while the glass to either side of the cut is abraded by progressively decreasing amounts toward the lateral extremities of the fluid jet. The glass cut is thus formed with a curved edge on the entrant side of the cut. The glass may be similarly treated from the opposite direction by the abrasive jet to produce a completely rounded edge.
A method of forming a rounded edge in cutting a glass sheet along a desired path with an abrasive liquid jet, comprising advancing the liquid jet in which abrasive particles are entrained through an elongated cylindrical passageway to collimate said liquid jet, discharging said collimated liquid jet closely adjacent said sheet, allowing said liquid jet to diverge within confined limits immediately prior to being discharged against said sheet, the distance said liquid jet travels through said cylindrical passageway being at least two and one-half times the distance traversed in diverging within confined limits, and moving said liquid jet and said sheet relative to one another along the desired path for the cut.
In apparatus for forming a rounded edge on glass sheets as they are cut along a desired path by an abrasive liquid jet including means supporting a glass sheet to be cut, a nozzle assembly for directing a liquid jet against the sheet, means supplying liquid under pressure to the nozzle assembly, means entraining abrasive particles in the liquid jet, and means moving the nozzle assembly and glass sheet relative to one another whereby the liquid jet follows said desired path of cut along the sheet, the improvement comprising a nozzle tube for said nozzle assembly having entrance and exit ends and including interior walls defining an elongated longitudinally extending passageway therethrough, said passageway including a cylindrical portion for collimating said liquid jet, the walls of said passageway flaring conically outwardly at an angle between about 5 degrees and 15 degrees to the longitudinal axis of said passageway at said exit end, and the length of said cylindrical portion being at least two and one-half times that of the outwardly flaring end portion.
A nozzle tube for forming a rounded cut edge in the abrasive liquid jet cutting of glass sheets, comprising an elongated cylindrical body having entrance and exit ends and interior walls defining a passageway extending axially therethrough from the entrance end to the exit end thereof, said passageway including a cylindrical portion for transmitting and collimating the liquid jet, the walls of said passageway diverging at an angle between about 5 degrees and 15 degrees to the longitudinal axis of said passageway to form an inverted conical section at the exit end of said passageway whereby the collimated liquid jet diverges within the conical section before being discharged against said sheets, the length of said cylindrical portion being at least two and one-half times that of said conical section.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.