Method and device for curving sheets of glass

An installation for curving glass sheets, comprising a continuous furnace with rollers, a curving station and a cooling station downstream of the curving station, wherein the curving station comprises an upper curving form with a solid surface, which can be moved upward and downward together with means for effecting said movement, and a lower annular curving frame, wherein said lower annular curving frame is formed by the upper edge of the wall of a pressure chamber which can be placed under pressure by supplying a hot gas thereto, and means for supplying said hot gas.

An installation for curving glass sheets, comprising a continuous furnace, a curving station and a cooling station which follows the curving station, said curving station comprising a solid surface upper curving form mounted movably upward and downward in the curving station and means for affecting said movement, and annular curving frames which transport the sheets of glass through the continuous furnace, with the curving station and the cooling station comprising closed lateral walls as well as a lower flange which cooperates in a sealed manner with a pressure chamber in the curving station beneath the transport frame.

An installation for curving glass sheets, comprising a continuous furnace with transport rollers, a curving station and a cooling station which follows the curving station, wherein the successive transporter rollers extend into the curving station, and the transporter rollers arranged inside the curving station are mounted on a movable cradle which can be laterally removed from the curving station after raising of the sheet of glass above the transporter rollers, and means for laterally moving said rollers, said curving station further comprising a vertical discharge pipe provided with a ventilator producing a current of hot gas beneath the movable transport rollers, and a solid surface curving form which can be moved upward and downward above the movable transporter rollers, further comprising an annular counter-form comprised of the upper edge of the discharge pipe.

An installation for curving glass sheets, comprising a continuous furnace with rollers, a curving station and a cooling station downstream of the curving station, the curving station comprising an upper annular curving frame and a lower curving form with a solid surface, wherein the upper annular curving frame is formed by a lower edge of a pressure chamber which is able to be placed under pressure by a hot gas, but which is otherwise closed, and means for supplying said gas, and the lower solid surface curving form is comprised of an annular part which contacts the marginal area of the sheet of glass and by a second component of the solid surface form occupying the surface situated inside said annular part, the annular frame part being capable of being separated from the solid surface form part and capable of being moved, as a transport frame for the sheet of glass, after the curving operation into the following cooling station, and means for separating and moving said transport frame.