Curved glazed roofs

A process for the construction of a greenhouse having a curved glazed roof, comprising the steps of:

• excavation of foundation holes;
• placement of bases in the foundation holes;
• placement of columns on the bases;
• placement of longitudinal beams on the columns, such that the longitudinal beams are substantially parallel to each other;
• construction of trusses, each truss having a curved extrados section including two opposite ends and a respective tie beam including opposite ends thereof;
• placement of the trusses between and perpendicularly to the longitudinal beams;
• securing the one end of both a curved extrados section and a tie beam of each truss to a longitudinal beam and securing of the opposite end of both the curved extrados section and the tie beam of each truss to another longitudinal beam;
• placement of a peak beam on the extrados section of the trusses, such that the peak beam is substantially parallel to the longitudinal beams;
• thermally-tempering at least two sheets of glass, whereby two sheets of thermally-tempered glass are formed;
• cooling the thermally-tempered sheets of glass, whereby two thermally-tempered, cold sheets of glass are formed;
• curving the two thermally-tempered, cold sheets of glass at a temperature being less than 140.degree. C., whereby two thermally-tempered, cold-curved sheets of glass having a resiliently-flexed curvature formed therein are formed;
• maintaining the resiliently-flexed curvature of the two sheets of glass under constraint;
• assembling a frame about each respective thermally-tempered, cold-curved sheet of glass and securing the frame to the said respective sheet of glass, such that the frame retains the curvature of the respective sheet of glass under constraint on the template and, whereby at least two curved glazed panels are formed, further maintaining the resiliently-flexed curvature of the sheets of glass under constraint;
• placement of the spans of curved glazed panels, such that one of the curved frame sections of each panel in the span is positioned on a respective curved extrados section and further such that the other of the curved frame sections of each panel in the span is positioned on another respective curved extrados section, and further such that a straight frame section of a pair of opposite distal panels of each respective span is supported by a respective longitudinal beam;
• and
• securing of the curved frame sections of the panels of each span to the respective extrados section upon which the said curved sections are supported, whereby the greenhouse having the curved glazed roof is formed.

A process for the construction of a thermally-tempered, cold-curved glazed roof, comprising the steps of:

• thermally-tempering a plurality of sheets of glass, whereby a plurality of thermally-tempered sheets of glass are formed;
• cooling the thermally-tempered sheets of glass, whereby a plurality of thermally-tempered, cold sheets of glass are formed;
• curving the plurality of thermally-tempered, cold sheets of glass at a temperature being less than 140.degree. C., thereby forming a plurality of thermally-tempered, cold-curved sheets of glass having a resiliently-flexed curvature formed therein;
• assembling a respective frame about each respective thermally-tempered, cold-curved sheet of glass and securing the frame to the said respective sheet of glass about which the frames are assembled, such that the frames retain the resiliently-flexed curvature of the respective sheets of glass under constraint, whereby a plurality of curved glazed panels are formed;
• positioning the curved glazed panels juxtaposed to one another in at least two separate spans, so that each of the respective panels in each span is positioned juxtaposed to at least one other panel in the same span;
• securing the frames of each of the curved glazed panels to the frames of the curved glazed panels positioned juxtaposed thereto, thereby defining at least two spans of curved glazed panels each of which includes a pair of distal panels;
• securing one end of a respective tie beam to a portion of one of the distal panels of each of the respective spans, and another opposite end of the same tie beam to a portion of the other distal panel of the same respective span;
• and
• securing successive spans to one another, whereby the thermally-tempered, cold-curved glazed roof is formed.