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US 4,820,327 AGranted
Bending and tempering of glass plates advancing on a shaping bed curved in the direction of advance
AssigneeSaint-Gobain Vitrage
InventorsBernard Letemps, Ignacio Gonzalez-Blasquez
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A heated glass plate is bent by moving over a bed or rollers defining a path curved along the direction of movement of the glass plate so as to define an upwardly facing concavity. The glass plate moves with a speed of at least 10 cm/second and is curved by the bed without contact from above. The glass plate is subsequently tempered.
Claims19
A process for bending and tempering glass plates, comprising the steps of:
- bending a heated glass plate by moving the glass plate to be bent at a speed of at least 10 cm/second along the top of a bed of rollers defining a path curved in the direction of movement of the glass plate, said curvature defining an upwardly facing concavity, without contacting the surface of said glass plate opposite said bed of rollers during the normal passage of said glass plate along said rollers, whereby the glass sheet acquires a curved profile corresponding to that of said bed;
- advancing said glass plate through a tempering zone, which step of advancement includes contacting said glass plate at the face opposite said bed of rollers with an upper roller means;
- and
- tempering said bent glass plate.
1 more element
A machine for bending and tempering glass plates, comprising:
- a bed formed of an array of lower rollers, said bed being curved in the direction of the length of the array to define an upturned concavity, said bend comprising, at its upstream end, a bending zone, and downstream thereof a tempering zone;
- means for feeding glass plates of a predetermined thickness to one end of said bed such that the glass plates move along the top of said lower rollers, the bed, in said bending zone, being so constructed so as to be free of any structure which would contact the glass plates on the surface opposite that in contact with the lower rollers, save for a roller means located opposite said lower rollers at the boundary between said bending and said tempering zone, which said roller means contacts the glass plate from above so as to advance it into the tempering zone;
- means for providing tempering air to said tempering zone;
- means for driving said lower rollers and said roller means so as to advance a glass plate along said bed at a minimium speed of 10 cm/second.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.