Central Glass Company, Limited

Keizi Sueda

Takayoshi Kandachi

Minoru Suzuki

A method of producing thin sheet glass by the float process, in which molten glass is formed into a thin layer on the surface of molten metal by making molten glass pass through a vertically narrow gap given by a sluice wall which extends above and transversely of the molten metal bath, and the molten glass layer is stretched to further reduce its thickness. By forming the sluice wall with a slant surface on the front side facing a pool of molten glass so as to smoothly introduce the molten glass into the gap beneath the wall and by using a practically isotropic graphite which is not greater than 23% in its porosity as the material of the sluice wall, defectless sheet glass thinner than 1 mm can be obtained. Preferably the porosity of the graphite is at least 9%. For the quality of the sheet glass, it is favorable to form the sluice wall with a vertical surface on the rear side and another slant surface which interposes between the lower edge of the slant front surface and the lower edge of the vertical rear surface to allow the molten metal beneath the wall to smoothly raise its level from a lowered level beneath the molten glass pool.

Method of producing thin sheet glass of high quality by float process

In a method of forming a thin sheet glass by the float process, a thin layer of molten glass is formed by making molten glass flow through a sluice formed on the surface of a molten metal bath, and the glass layer is drawn lengthways of the bath to further reduce its thickness and advance while its upper surface is exposed to a cooled atmosphere. The sluice is a vertically narrow gap between the surface of the molten metal and a lower end face of a wall extending above and transversely of the molten metal bath. By shaping a lower end portion of this wall and avoiding particularly heating the molten glass in the vicinity of the sluice, it has become possible to obtain defectless sheet glass thinner than one millimeter.

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Matsusaka, Japan

Keizi Sueda