Methods and apparatuses for steering flexible glass webs

A method for producing a glass web comprising:

• melting glass batch materials to form molten glass;
• forming the molten glass into the glass web with a fusion draw machine comprising an inlet, a forming vessel, and a pull roll assembly;
• drawing the glass web through the pull roll assembly;
• conveying the glass web over a steering device, the steering device comprising a pivotable fluid injection bar and an edge detection device positioned proximate to an edge of the glass web;
• sensing a lateral position of a first edge of the glass web with the edge detection device and providing a position signal indicative of the position the first edge;
• calculating automatically with at least one processor the lateral position of the glass web based on the signal from the edge detection device;
• pivoting the fluid injection bar of the steering device to shift the glass web in an inward direction when the edge detection device senses that the edge of the glass web is positioned outwardly offset from the pre-determined set point, or
• pivoting the fluid injection bar of the steering device to shift the glass web in an outward direction when the edge detection device senses that the edge of the glass web is positioned inwardly offset from the pre-determined set point;
• and
• conveying the glass web into a laser cutting device.