Ppg Industries, Inc.

John J Ewing

Michael T Fecik

Robert G Frank

George R Claassen

Joseph C Pavlik

Samuel L Seymour

Terry A Bennett

Edward A Thimons

Thomas J Reese

Rudolph A Karlo

Andrew C Siminerio

Edward I Mates

Apparatus for handling a hot glass sheet during conveyance from a hot atmosphere to a cold atmosphere comprising a ring-like member having an upper surface engaging a glass sheet outline that consists essentially of a phenolic resin reinforced with fibers composed of an aromatic polyamid composition and a support ring attached to the ring-like member in facing relation to the ring-like member and sufficiently smaller in the dimensions than those of the ring-like member to permit the ring-like member to interpose between the support ring and a supported edge of a glass sheet so as to provide thermal insulation as well as shielding between the metal support rings and the edge of the glass sheet.

Tempering ring design

A pair of generally vertically aligned press bending molds are slidably mounted relative to each other. An alignment pin extends into alignment holes in the upper and lower molds when the molds are vertically aligned. Adjusting screws positioned around the periphery of each mold, contact and bias each mold in a desired direction so as to precisely align the upper mold relative to the lower mold.

Glass sheet press support and alignment systems

A heat softened glass sheet is lifted within a heating furnace by a vacuum pickup and moved to a shaping station adjacent the furnace where it is deposited on an aligning frame. The location of the sheet is identified and the frame is moved to position the supported glass sheet at a predetermined location between a pair of vertically aligned upper and lower full surface press faces. A shuttle frame which moves the vacuum pickup has integral vacuum passageways so that vacuum for the pickup can be drawn through the shuttle frame.

Method and apparatus for shaping glass sheets

A shuttling frame to support and move a vacuum pickup from a heating furnace to a shaping station. Vacuum for the pickup is drawn through the shuttling frame. The frame slidably engages a fixed guide rail along a longitudinally extending edge and slides on a set of rolls along the opposing edge such that the frame can expand both longitudinally and transversely without buckling.

Shuttling support frame for vacuum pickup

A horizontal press bending arrangement wherein heat softened glass sheets are engaged by a shuttling vacuum pickup. The pickup and sheet are transferred out of the furnace and into a shaping station wherein the glass sheet is deposited and repositioned between a pair of vertically aligned full surface press faces.

Horizontal press bending of heat softened glass sheets

A pair of heat softened overlaying glass sheets are held by vacuum against an apertured engaging surface of a vacuum holder. The overlaying glass sheets can be shaped before, during, or after being held by the vacuum holder.

Vacuum pressing of glass doublets

A vacuum press for shaping both left and right hand sidelights, quarterlights and the like which are asymmetric in bend and mirror images of each other. The shaping surfaces of the mold have certain overlapping shaping areas that shape both the left and right hand windows and additional shaping areas bend only the left or right hand window. A timing sequence positions each glass sheet to be bent at the correct location between the shaping surface of the molds.

Forming glass sheets of specialized asymmetric configurations

A tempering ring for supporting a hot shaped glass sheet during tempering has inner and outer rings conforming in shape and outline to that of the hot glass sheet. Individual glass sheet support members are mounted around the perimeter of the tempering ring so that the glass sheet support surfaces of the support members define a peripheral contour similar to that of the hot shaped glass sheet. The glass sheet support members are each adjusted in both a longitudinal and vertical direction.

Dual ring segmented block tempering ring

A tempering ring for supporting a hot shaped glass sheet during tempering has inner and outer rings conforming in shape and outline to that of the hot glass sheet. Individual glass sheet support members with pivoting head members are mounted around the perimeter of the tempering ring. The head members pivot to conform to the peripheral contours of the hot shaped glass sheet. The glass sheet support members are each adjusted in both a longitudinal and vertical direction.

Tempering ring with pivoting glass sheet support member

Apparatus for handling hot glass sheets comprises a rigid ring-like member of a composition that causes rejectable defects in a bent glass sheet when it contacts the hot glass sheet directly. Insulating material that does not mar the glass sufficiently to cause rejectable defects is used to cover the rigid member. However, no material known to date lasts forever. The present invention provides screen mesh reinforcement means within the thickness of the glass sheet engaging member to produce fine marks that do not cause rejection of the finished article to warn operating personnel to replace the hot glass sheet engaging member with a fresh hot glass sheet engaging member before the hot glass sheet engaging member becomes worn to the extent that the rigid member causes a rejectable defect. Clamping means is provided to replace a worn glass engaging member rapidly. Optionally, a cushion of fibrous ceramic material is interposed between the rigid member and the hot glass sheet engaging member to enable the glass engaging surface of the hot glass sheet engaging member to conform to the downwardly facing shaping surface of an upper vacuum mold.

Apparatus for press shaping hot glass sheets

In apparatus for shaping sheets of heat-softenable material, such as glass and plastics, an upper vacuum mold is provided with an apertured wall member of low expansion refractory material to engage a heat-softened sheet during a portion of its shaping. In order to improve its durability, metal clamping devices that cause high local stresses in the refractory wall member are not used to secure the refractory wall member to metal structural elements of the vacuum mold. The present invention comprises novel mold structure to support a lower apertured wall member of refractory material on an inverted metal box member without metal attachment devices that induce high local stresses.

Vacuum mold for shaping glass sheets

Glass sheet handling devices are provided with glass sheet engaging surfaces composed of a phenolic resin reinforced with fibers of an aromatic polyamide composition. In a specific embodiment of this invention, a sufficient number of said fibers extend to an exposed surface of said devices to develop a coefficient of friction sufficient to prevent relative sliding between the exposed surface of said glass sheet engaging member and said glass sheet.

Glass sheet handling devices

Bending a glass sheet to a complicated shape that comprises one portion bent sharply relative to a main portion of the sheet involving the use of a vacuum holder, an auxiliary shaping rail and means to correlate the movement of the shaping rail with that of the glass sheet during a bending cycle to insure that the glass sheet is clear of the auxiliary shaping rail except for such time in the glass sheet bending cycle that requires the auxiliary shaping rail to engage the glass sheet portion to be sharply bent against the corresponding portion of the vacuum holder. Another feature incorporated in a preferred embodiment of the present invention facilitates ready removal of glass fragments whenever a flawed glass sheet fractures at or beyond a shaping station outside a furnace where the glass sheet is heated to its deformation temperature.

Method and apparatus for shaping glass sheets to complicated shapes

A glass sheet is press bent between a pair of bending molds of complementary shape provided with covers using burning gas source means that supplies heat by directing burning gas flames toward the bottom edge of a glass sheet. The burning gas source means is constructed and arranged to be directed toward the path taken by the glass sheet when the latter moves into a shaping position with the press bending molds retracted and to pivot away from the mold covers when the press bending molds engage the glass sheet including its bottom edge during the shaping of the sheet. Preferably, the burning gas source means has a shape that conforms with the shape of the bottom edge of the glass sheet undergoing press bending and has an upwardly directed downstream portion to provide clearance as the glass sheet moves into said shaping position in a direction such that a recessed lower edge portion thereof is the leading edge of the glass sheet during its path of movement into the shaping station.

Pivotal shaped auxiliary gas heater for glass sheet shaping molds

Vacuum is applied to help separate a press bent glass sheet from between a pair of complementary press bending molds during the separation of said molds after completing said press bending.

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Tarentum, PA, United States of America

John J Ewing