The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 22, 2003
Filed:
Oct. 12, 2000
Pentti Keinonen, Tampere, FI;
Heikki Koivisto, Tampere, FI;
Tamglass LTD Oy, Tampere, FI;
Abstract
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for supporting the middle section of a glass panel to be bent in a mold. During a preheating process of a glass panel, its middle section is supported by middle support elements carried along with a mold carriage. At the start of a bending process, the middle support is released by pushing bearing rods through the bottom of the mold carriage. The middle support for the glass panel is lowered upon the bearing rods gradually under the control of glass panel thermometry. A controlled hoisting and lowering of the bearing rods is performed by a hoisting and lowering mechanism present in a carriage elevator. The invention makes it possible to implement a middle support also in an automatically operating serial furnace.