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:
Sep. 01, 2015
Filed:
Mar. 26, 2010
Gautam Narendra Kudva, Horseheads, NY (US);
Chih Yuan LU, Gangshan Township, Kaohsiung County, TW;
Weiwei Luo, Shizuoka, JP;
Yoshihiro Nakamura, Shizuoka, JP;
Tetsuzou Yamada, Shizuoka, JP;
Gautam Narendra Kudva, Horseheads, NY (US);
Chih Yuan Lu, Gangshan Township, Kaohsiung County, TW;
Weiwei Luo, Shizuoka, JP;
Yoshihiro Nakamura, Shizuoka, JP;
Tetsuzou Yamada, Shizuoka, JP;
Corning Incorporated, Corning, NY (US);
Abstract
Methods and apparatus are disclosed for etching flexible glass sheets () in which the sheets () are transported in a vertical or near vertical orientation past non-contact, liquid-ejecting bearings () which apply an etching solution (e.g., an aqueous NaF/HPOsolution) to one or both sides of the sheets (). In certain embodiments, the uppermost liquid-ejecting bearing () is above the top edge of the sheet () and thus is able to apply etching solution to the top of the sheet. In other embodiments, a top shower (), which includes a set of spray nozzles () located above and distributed along the length of the apparatus, is used to apply etching solution to the top of the sheet (). Using the disclosed methods and apparatus, glass sheets () produced by a fusion process are provided which have areas greater than five square meters and average surface roughness values in the range of 0.5 nanometers to 1.1 nanometers.