Tempering bent glass sheets

A method of tempering a bent glass sheet, comprising conveying the sheet along a predetermined path through a tempering apparatus, and quenching the sheet with diverging jets of quench gas, the bent glass sheet being conveyed transversely to the direction of elongation of the plenums, and the diverging jets of quench gas issuing from an array of quench nozzles which is curved in at least one direction;

• wherein the tempering apparatus comprises means for conveying the bent glass sheet along a predetermined path through the tempering apparatus, and a pair of blastheads for quenching the bent glass sheet with jets of quench gas, the blastheads comprising upper and lower blastheads arranged in opposed relationship above and below the predetermined path, each blasthead comprising a plurality of spaced elongate plenums for supplying quench gas to an array of quench nozzles from which the jets of quench gas issue, each plenum possessing a longitudinal centerline extending along a longitudinal extent of the plenum, each nozzle possessing an axis, each plenum bearing one or two rows of quench nozzles, successive such rows constituting the array of quench nozzles, the length of the quench nozzles exceeding their diameter, and the quench nozzles of each plenum being inclined so that the axes of some of the nozzles of each plenum are inclined to one side of the plenum relative to a vertical plane containing the longitudinal centerline of the plenum and the axes of others of the nozzles in each plenum are inclined towards an opposite side of the plenum relative to the vertical plane containing the longitudinal centerline of the plenum to provide diverging jets of quench gas, wherein each of the plenums extends transversely to the direction of conveyance of the bent glass sheet, thereby affording side access between adjacent pairs of plenums, and each array of quench nozzles is curved in at least one direction, the tempering apparatus possessing a centerline parallel to the direction of conveyance, and successive plenums of the lower blasthead are connected to each other by connecting surfaces which are positioned between and connected to the successive plenums, the connecting surfaces being inclined downwards away from the centerline.

A production line for producing bent and tempered glass sheets, comprising a furnace for heating the glass sheets, a bending station, a tempering apparatus, an unloading station and a means of advancing the sheets along a predetermined path along the line;

• wherein the tempering apparatus comprises means for conveying the bent glass sheet along a predetermined path through the tempering apparatus, and a pair of blastheads for quenching the bent glass sheet with jets of quench gas, the blastheads comprising upper and lower blastheads arranged in opposed relationship above and below the predetermined path, each blasthead comprising a plurality of spaced elongate plenums for supplying quench gas to an array of quench nozzles from which the jets of quench gas issue, each plenum possessing a longitudinal centerline extending along a longitudinal extent of the plenum, each nozzle possessing an axis, each plenum bearing one or two rows of quench nozzles, successive such rows constituting the array of quench nozzles, the length of the quench nozzles exceeding their diameter, and the quench nozzles of each plenum being inclined so that the axes of some of the nozzles of each plenum are inclined to one side of the plenum relative to a vertical plane containing the longitudinal centerline of the plenum and the axes of others of the nozzles in each plenum are inclined towards an opposite side of the plenum relative to the vertical plane containing the longitudinal centerline of the plenum to provide diverging jets of quench gas, wherein each of the plenums extends transversely to the direction of conveyance of the bent glass sheet, thereby affording side access between adjacent pairs of plenums, and each array of quench nozzles is curved in at least one direction, the tempering apparatus possessing a centerline parallel to the direction of conveyance, and successive plenums of the lower blasthead are connected to each other by connecting surfaces which are positioned between and connected to the successive plenums, the connecting surfaces being inclined downwards away from the centerline.

An apparatus for tempering a bent glass sheet, comprising means for conveying the bent glass sheet along a predetermined path through the apparatus which follows a centerline of the apparatus, and a pair of blastheads for quenching the bent glass sheet with jets of quench gas, the blastheads comprising upper and lower blastheads arranged in opposed relationship above and below the predetermined path, the lower blasthead comprising a plurality of spaced elongate plenums for supplying quench gas to an array of quench nozzles from which the jets of quench gas issue, each plenum bearing one or two rows of quench nozzles, successive such rows constituting the array of quench nozzles, each plenum possessing a longitudinal centerline extending along a longitudinal extent of the plenum, each nozzle possessing an axis, the length of the quench nozzles exceeding their diameter, and the quench nozzles of each plenum being mutually inclined so that the axes of some of the nozzles of each plenum are inclined to one side of the plenum relative to a vertical plane containing the longitudinal centerline of the plenum and the axes of others of the nozzles in each plenum are inclined towards an opposite side of the plenum relative to the vertical plane containing the longitudinal centerline of the plenum to provide diverging jets of quench gas, each of the plenums extending transverse to a direction of conveyance of the bent glass sheet and the plurality of plenums being arranged in spaced apart relation to one another so that a gap exists between adjacent pairs of the plenums to afford side access between the adjacent pairs of the plenums, each array of quench nozzles being curved in at least one direction, the adjacent pairs of plenums comprising two first plenums positioned in spaced apart adjacent relation to one another with a first gap between the two first plenums, the adjacent pairs of plenums comprising two second plenums positioned in spaced apart adjacent relation to one another with a second gap between the two second plenums, the first plenums being connected to one another by first connecting surfaces positioned in the first gap between the first plenums, the first connecting surfaces extending at an incline downwardly away from the centerline to facilitate cullet removal, the second plenums being connected to one another by second connecting surfaces positioned in the second gap between the second plenums, the second connecting surfaces extending at an incline downwardly away from the centerline to facilitate cullet removal.