Apparatus for the manufacture of sheets of glass having a complex shape
AssigneeSocieta Italiana - SIV - S.p.A.
InventorsGiovanni Carlomagno, Vincenzo Caico, Edoardo Tereo
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus and a process as disclosed for manufacturing a glass sheet having a complex form for vehicles. The apparatus includes a roller heating oven, a supporting air bed in a shaping section, and a shaping ring for conveying the glass first to an upper shaping mold and then to a tempering station. The air bed is formed with fustoconical nozzles of such a size as to enable the ring to pass through them and to be placed beneath the a floating plane of the glass. The ring undergoes a first vertical movement to lift the glass toward the shaping mold and a second horizontal movement to convey the glass to the tempering station.
Claims11
An apparatus for shaping and tempering a glass sheet for use in a motor vehicle, comprising:
- a heating station including a furnace and a roller conveyor extending horizontally through said furnace for feeding the glass sheet in a downstream direction through said furnace along a predetermined path;
- a shaping station positioned adjacent and downstream of said heating station and including an air bed means for supporting the glass sheet at a floating level on an air bed in a position downstream of said roller conveyor along said predetermined path, and an upper shaping mold spaced above said air bed means and said floating level and comprising a perforated shaping surface and a vacuum means for creating suction through said perforated shaping surface to attract the glass sheet thereto;
- a tempering station positioned downstream of said shaping station and including tempering nozzle means for rapidly cooling the glass sheet;
- a glass supporting ring for supporting the glass sheet;
- ring moving means for moving said glass supporting ring vertically from a position below said floating level toward said perforated shaping surface of said upper shaping mold, and for moving said glass supporting ring horizontally from said shaping station toward said tempering station;
- and
- wherein said air bed means comprises an air plenum and a plurality of upwardly directed air nozzles individually removably supported by said plenum and in fluid communication with said plenum to allow air to be supplied through said nozzles from said plenum to form said air bed, said plenum having a ring-shaped area devoid of said nozzles, said ring-shaped area corresponding to a shape of said glass supporting ring to be positioned in said ring-shaped area below said floating level.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.