Press bending station and method for job switching
AssigneeGlasstech, Inc.
InventorsTerry A. Bennett, Paul D. Ducat
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A press bending station (12) for heated glass sheets includes a lower wheel bed (36) having a lower support (38) and wheel assemblies (40) with detachable connections (46) to a drive mechanism (48) of the lower support to provide rotational driving of a wheel (44) of each wheel assembly. An actuator (62) provides relative vertical movement that lifts a heated glass sheet received by the wheel bed (36) to provide press bending thereof between a lower press ring (52) and an upper press mold (58). The wheel bed (36) can have a curved shape or a flat shape. Connection and detachment of the wheel assemblies (40) facilitates switching from one production job to the next.
Claims12
A press bending station for press bending heated glass sheets comprising:
- a lower wheel bed for receiving a heated glass sheet to be press bent, the lower wheel bed including a support and a plurality of wheel assemblies, and each wheel assembly including a housing having an upper end including a wheel and also having a lower end including a detachable connection for detachably connecting the wheel assembly to the support;
- a drive mechanism for providing rotational drive of the wheel of each wheel assembly upon connection thereof to the support;
- a lower mount for supporting a lower press ring having a curved shape facing upwardly and being received within the wheel bed below the wheels of the wheel assemblies in a ring shape thereof where no wheel assemblies are located;
- an upper mount for supporting an upper press mold having a downwardly facing curved forming face complementary to the upwardly curved shape of the lower press ring;
- and
- an actuator for providing relative vertical movement between the wheel bed and the lower press ring and between the lower press ring and the upper press mold to move the heated glass sheet above the wheel bed and into pressing engagement between the lower press ring and the upper press mold to press bend the glass sheet.
A press bending station for press bending heated glass sheets comprising:
- a lower wheel bed for receiving a heated glass sheet to be press bent upon movement thereof along a direction of conveyance, the lower wheel bed including a support and a plurality of wheel assemblies on which the lower wheel bed receives the heated glass sheet to be press bent, the support of wheel bed including a plurality of rails that extend parallel to each other along the direction of conveyance and spaced laterally to each other along the direction of conveyance, and each wheel assembly including a housing having an upper end including a wheel and also including a lower end having a rotatably mounted lower drive member, a drive belt that extends between the wheel and the lower drive member to provide rotary driving of the wheel, and a clamp for detachably connecting the housing of the wheel assembly to one of the rails of the support;
- a drive mechanism including a continuous drive member on each rail for providing rotational drive of the lower drive members and hence the wheels of the wheel assemblies upon connection thereof to the rail;
- a lower mount for supporting a lower press ring having a curved shape facing upwardly and being received within the wheel bed below the wheels of the wheel assemblies in a ring shape thereof where no wheel assemblies are located;
- an upper mount for supporting an upper press mold having a downwardly facing curved forming face complementary to the upwardly curved shape of the lower press ring;
- and
- an actuator for moving the lower press ring upwardly and for moving the upper press mold downwardly to move the heated glass sheet above the wheel bed and into pressing engagement between the lower press ring and the upper press mold to press bend the glass sheet.
A glass sheet press bending job switching method, comprising:
- removing a first lower press ring with a first upwardly facing curved shape received within a first ring shaped void in a lower wheel bed having wheel assemblies that have detachable connections to a wheel bed support that provides rotational driving of wheels of the wheel assemblies connected thereto;
- detaching from the wheel bed support any wheel assemblies necessary to provide a second ring shaped void for receiving a second lower press ring with a second upwardly facing curved shape and attaching wheel assemblies to the wheel bed support in the first ring shape void but not in the second ring shaped void;
- and
- installing a second lower press ring within the second ring shaped void in the lower wheel bed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.