Pilkington Brothers P.l.c.

Pilkington Glass Limited

John Evason

Peter Ward

Mervyn John Davies

Malcolm J Rigby

Kenneth John Pearson

A sealed insulating unit includes two parallel opposed panes with a spacing and sealing system between the two panes. The panes and the spacing and sealing system together define a sealed gas space. The spacing and sealing system includes a spacer frame with a primary seal between each side of the spacer frame and the opposing pane face and a secondary seal extending between the panes outside the outer peripheral face of the spacer frame. Each primary seal is greater than 0.4 mm thick on construction of the unit and has at least 7 grams of sealant material on each side of the spacer frame per meter of the spacer frame length. A spacer for a sealed insulating unit has side walls in which are defined elongate recesses, the dimensions of the recesses being selected such that sufficient primary sealant can be accommodated to provide in the sealed insulating unit opposed primary seals each at least 0.4 mm thick.

Insulating units

Hot glass is thermally toughened by generating a stream of closely-packed, aerated particles, and projecting that stream towards the glass. A plurality of such streams are projected from an array of nozzles, and the velocity of projection of each stream is sufficient to ensure that the integrity of the stream is preserved in its trajectory towards the glass.

Thermally toughening glass

A method and apparatus for thermally toughening glass in which a hot glass article is quenched in a gas-fluidized bed of particulate material. A plurality of streams of particles are generated and are projected into the fluidized bed towards the glass immersed in the bed in order to enhance the heat transfer away from the surfaces of the article in the toughening process.

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Southport, United Kingdom

John Evason