A press bending station (12) for heated glass sheets includes a conveyor (36) having a lower support structure (38) and central conveyor assemblies (40r) with horizontal rollers (41) as well as having lateral outward wheel conveyor assemblies (40w) with wheels 44 and/or laterally outward inclined roller conveyor ass...

An inclined roller conveying assembly (40) includes a horizontally inclined roller (74) having opposite ends respectively supported by first and second supports (64 66) with one support (64) having an idler bearing (80) and with the other support (66) having a drive coupling (94) that provides rotation of the inclin...

A method and apparatus (54) for positioning glass sheets for forming includes positioners (55) that are moved slower than the speed of glass sheet conveyance to provide rotational adjustment of a glass sheet into alignment above a forming mold (52). The forming mold (52) is moved upwardly for the forming in a pressi...

An apparatus and associated method for measuring both transmitted optical distortion and other minimal visible defects in the surface of a glass sheet. The disclosed apparatus includes a glass stand which receives a glass sheet for mounting between a background screen which includes a pre defined contrasting pattern...

A glass sheet press forming station (32) and method for press forming hot glass sheets with transverse curvature is performed by initially limiting the central forming of a glass sheet (G) between its end portions upon pickup from a roll conveyor to an upper mold (38) and prior to press forming with an associated lo...

A glass sheet forming station and method utilize first and second upper molds and a lower mold to provide three stage forming. The glass is curved on the upper mold in the first stage but retains straight line elements transverse to the curvature. Transfer of the initially formed glass sheet from the first upper mol...

A support structure for supporting a heated glass sheet in connection with a bending operation includes a frame, a support ring adjustably supported on the frame for supporting a peripheral portion of the glass sheet, and multiple rib assemblies as sociated with the frame. Each rib assembly includes a laterally exte...

A method for heating glass sheets includes alternately loading on a conveyor system two different sets of glass sheets with the glass sheets of each set having different properties than those of the other set so as to require different heating than each other; conveying the alternately loaded sets of glass sheets on...

Abstract LIFT JET NOZZLE TRANSFERRING OF GLASS SHEETS AND JOB SWITCHING A method for performing job switching and apparatus (12) and a method for transferring glass sheets G between a roll conveyor (14) and an upper support (24a, 24b) utilizes a lift jet nozzle assembly (18) having lift jet nozzles (20) to which p...

A three step method and apparatus for quenching a formed glass sheet in a manner that reduces cycle time without excessive temporary surface tension that can cause excessive breakage.

A glass sheet quench station (16) and method for quenching glass sheets includes quench control valves (55, 57) that are operated to reduce unnecessary quenching air and thereby provide efficiency in the quenching.

A method and forming system (10) having particular utility for making outer and inner formed windshield glass sheets provide glass sheet positioning centrally on a forming face (34) of a forming mold (32) to form each glass sheet to a design shape regardless of any size difference between the glass sheets from one c...

A hot glass roll assembly wheel and resultant roll assembly utilizing such wheels includes an annular tire having a central axis A, a synthetic resin rim molded in situ with the tire, and a central formation for supporting the wheel about the central axis A. The annular tire includes a woven material embedded within...

GLASS SHEET FORMING SYSTEM AND METHOD A system (10) and method for forming glass sheets includes a forming station (14) having lower and upper molds (28. 30) between which glass sheets G are cyclically received from a furnace (12) on a transfer platen (34). formed between the lower and upper molds (28, 30). and tra...

A glass sheet bending station (20) and method for glass sheet bending utilize a primary actuating mechanism (154) for moving mold support linkages to provide glass sheet bending with a constant radius and utilize control link detachable connections (39) that allow a secondary actuating mechanism (155) to provide ben...

A glass sheet forming system (10) has two parallel forming lines (12) that can utilize any two of three forming stations (18) to provide versatility in use for forming different glass sheet jobs of different sizes and shapes while reducing switchover time from one job to the next.

A hot glass sheet processing system includes a conveyor roller support structure (34) located within a heated location (32) and has an elongated cooling unit (36) having a housing (38) defining a cooling chamber (40) that receives and has bearings (42) that rotatably support an aligned set of roller ends (30). The c...

A mold apparatus for bending a glass sheet includes a main frame structure and a first mold arrangement having a first mold and a guide frame connected to the first mold. A first guide member of the guide frame is guidable by the frame structure such that it is inhibited from moving laterally in any direction and a ...

A lift device for lifting a glass sheet in a glass processing system includes a lift jet array having peripheral lift jet outlets and inner lift jet outlets disposed inwardly of the peripheral lift jet outlets. Furthermore each lift jet outlet is operable to allow gas to flow toward the glass sheet. The lift device ...

A method press station (12) and system (10) for forming glass sheets that are initially formed with an upwardly concave curved shape with end portions (86) and an intermediate portion (88) having straight line elements that are subsequently formed with curved shapes to provide curvature along transverse directions. ...

An optical inspection system is provided for an ultraviolet laser and associated optics forming a planar laser sheet directed to a glass sheet. The planar laser sheet intersects a surface of the glass sheet thereby causing the surface of the glass sheet to fluoresce and form a visible wavelength line on the surface....

A system (10) for forming glass sheets includes a glass location sensing assembly (80) having a fluid switch (82) that is actuated by a roller conveyed glass sheet (G) to control operation of transfer apparatus (69) that transfers the glass sheet from the roller conveyor (22) to a forming mold (48) at a design posit...

A glass sheet processing system for processing a glass sheet includes a conveyor for conveying the glass sheet in a direction of conveyance and a positioning apparatus for adjusting position of the glass sheet on the conveyor. The positioning apparatus includes a movable carriage having first and second carriage bod...

A mold shuttle positioning system in a glass sheet forming system includes a mold mounted on a support frame. A shuttle frame including a pair of generally parallel elongate beams for receiving and supporting the mold support frame thereon. At least one support wheel assembly including a wheel and a shuttle guide is...

A glass sheet acquisition and positioning system and associated method are utilized in a glass sheet optical inspection system installed in line in a glass sheet processing system. The acquisition and positioning system include an exterior support frame and a moveable glass sheet support frame connected to the exter...

A vacuum mold shuttle system in a glass sheet forming system includes a vacuum mold mounted on a support frame. A shuttle frame including a pair of generally parallel elongate beams for receiving and supporting the mold support frame thereon. A vacuum source is mounted on the shuttle frame near the end of the beams ...

A glass sheet optical inspection system installed online in a glass sheet processing system includes an apparatus for measuring small optical or obstructive defects in a first selected area of the glass sheet by acquiring and developing a first set of image data, and an apparatus for measuring transmitted optical di...

A small defect detection apparatus installed online in a glass sheet processing system includes a line scan camera, a background screen including contrasting elements arranged in a pre-defined pattern, an upstream conveyor and a downstream conveyor, wherein the upstream conveyor and downstream conveyor are positione...

A quench arrangement for quenching glass sheets includes a main quench station having upper and lower main quench heads for performing a primary quench operation on a glass sheet, a first lower secondary quench head located downstream of the main quench station, and a second lower secondary quench head located downs...

A glass processing may include a heating station to heat glass sheets, and a bending station disposed downstream of the heating station to bend the heated glass sheets. The bending station may include first and second independent movement mechanisms configured to independently move first and second molds when the gl...

An articulated lower mold arrangement for use with an upper mold includes a mold portion configured to bend a heated glass sheet. The mold portion has a first end, a sharp bend area proximate the first end for bending an end portion of the glass sheet, and a second end opposite the first end and spaced away from the...

A glass sheet forming station for forming a glass sheet may include an upper mold, a lower outer mold arrangement and a lower inner mold arrangement disposed inwardly of the lower outer mold arrangement and movable relative to the lower outer mold arrangement. The lower outer mold arrangement may include first and s...

An optical inspection system is provided with a fixture to support a glass sheet, with the fixture having an optical fiducial. An ultraviolet laser and associated optics form a planar laser sheet that intersects a surface of the glass sheet causing the surface to fluoresce and form a visible wavelength line thereon....