Method and apparatus for processing a glass sheet

Abstract

The present invention provides a glass sheet shaping arrangement whereby a glass sheet may be conveyed through a shaping station without being shaped and deposited into a glass collector beneath an upstream portion of the adjacent quench without impacting the lower quench or interfering with the operation of the quench. A furnace, shaping station and cooling station are all linearly aligned so that a glass sheet progresses through the glass sheet shaping arrangement without changing its advancing direction. A glass sheet is conveyed in a first direction along a first generally horizontal plane through the furnace to heat the sheet to its heat softening temperature. The sheet continues into the shaping station where it is lifted into engagement with an upper vacuum surface. A ring member moves along a second generally horizontal plane in a direction which is linearly aligned with the first direction, from a first position between an upper and lower quench in the cooling station to a second position within the shaping station beneath the upper vacuum surface. Vacuum is terminated along the upper surface, depositing the sheet on the ring. The shaped sheet is cooled by moving the ring from the second position within the shaping station along the second plane to the first position within the cooling station. The second plane is vertically offset relative to the first plane such that the first plane is beneath a portion of the lower quench which is immediately adjacent the shaping station. With this arrangement, the glass sheets may be conveyed through the shaping station and into the collector without interfering with any further production.