Pilkington Group Limited

Pilkington Brasil Ltda.

Ian Nicholas Tetlow

Colin Michael Bennett

Ian Michael Mackley

Luiz Roberto De Jesus

A gravity bending mold for bending glass sheets is disclosed. The gravity bending mold comprises an intermediate mold having an intermediate movable mold section and a final mold having a final movable mold section. Each movable mold section is movable between an operable position and an inoperable position respectively. The intermediate and final movable mold sections are adapted successively to engage a glass sheet during a gravity bending operation. There is a mechanical connection between the intermediate and final movable mold sections, the mechanical connection being selectively disposable in a first configuration, at which the intermediate and final movable mold sections are in the operable and inoperable positions respectively, and in a second configuration, at which the final and intermediate movable mold sections are in the operable position and inoperable positions respectively. When the mechanical connection is moved from the first configuration to the second configuration, the intermediate movable mold section moves to the inoperable position and the final movable mold section correspondingly moves to the operable position to take the place of the intermediate moveable mold section. There is also provided a method of bending glass sheets using such a mold.

Gravity bending glass sheets

A gravity bending mold for bending glass sheets is disclosed. The mold comprises a final mold having a final peripheral shaping rim and an intermediate mold having an intermediate peripheral shaping rim. The final mold has a final articulated end portion having a final movable shaping rail and is mounted at an end of the mold. The intermediate mold has an intermediate articulated end portion having an intermediate movable shaping rail and is mounted at the end of the mold adjacent to the final articulated end portion. The final articulated end portion and the intermediate articulated end portion are arranged so that at least a portion of the final movable shaping rail is alignable with at least a portion of the intermediate movable shaping rail to form part of the intermediate peripheral shaping rim. There is also provided a method of bending glass sheets using such a mold.

A gravity bending mold includes an intermediate mold and a final mold. The final mold comprises a final movable mold section mounted at an end of the mold and the intermediate mold comprises an intermediate movable mold section mounted at the end of the mold adjacent to the final movable section. The final movable mold section is connected via a mechanical linkage to the intermediate mold such that upon moving one of the intermediate mold and the final mold vertically with respect to the other, and at the same time at least one of the intermediate mold and the final mold moves with respect to the mechanical linkage, the gravity bending mold is caused to move between a first arrangement and a second arrangement. There is also provided a method of bending glass sheets using such a mold.

A gravity bending mold for bending glass sheets, the gravity bending mold comprising a peripheral shaping rail, the peripheral shaping rail having at least one end section, and at least one auxiliary rail mounted on the peripheral shaping rail, the or each auxiliary rail being respectively mounted adjacent to at least a portion of a respective end section by at least one mount that is adapted to permit relative vertical movement of the auxiliary rail with respect to the respective end section, a tripping mechanism for selectively and temporarily disposing the auxiliary rail in a raised position with respect to the respective end section, and a latch mechanism connected to the tripping mechanism, the latch mechanism being adapted to be engaged by an external actuator to cause relative vertical movement of the auxiliary rail with respect to the respective end section, by operation of the tripping mechanism, so that the auxiliary rail is subsequently disposed in a lowered position with respect to the respective end section. There is also provided a method of bending glass sheets using such a mold.

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Tarleton, United Kingdom

Ian Nicholas Tetlow