A method for bending and tempering of curved glass using flexible shafts is provided. During production of curved glass, after discharged from a heating furnace, glass is preformed with the two edge portions of the glass in the transverse direction being kept in the same plane and the middle portion of the glass in the transverse direction gradually sinks along the conveying direction. The glass then enters a forming and tempering section with the two edge portions in the transverse direction being supported and is finally formed and tempered. In this method, when the glass gradually becomes curved and enters the forming and tempering section, the two edge portions of the glass in the transverse direction are always supported by flexible shaft roller beds, thereby preventing the edge portions from being dangled and avoiding the formation of wavy edge portions.

A method for bending and tempering of curved glass using flexible shafts is provided. During production of curved glass, after discharged from a heating furnace, glass is preformed with the two edge portions of the glass in the transverse direction being kept in the same plane and the middle portion of the glass in the transverse direction gradually sinks along the conveying direction. The glass then enters a forming and tempering section with the two edge portions in the transverse direction being supported and is finally formed and tempered. In this method, when the glass gradually becomes curved and enters the forming and tempering section, the two edge portions of the glass in the transverse direction are always supported by flexible shaft roller beds, thereby preventing the edge portions from being dangled and avoiding the formation of wavy edge portions.

A method of making a heat treated (HT) substantially transparent coated article to be used in shower door applications, window applications, tabletop applications, or any other suitable applications. For example, certain embodiments relate to a method of making a coated article including a step of heat treating a glass substrate coated with at least layer of or including carbon (e.g., diamond-like carbon (DLC)) and an overlying protective film thereon. The protective film may be of or include both (a) an oxygen blocking or barrier layer, and (b) a release layer, with the release layer being located between at least the carbon based layer and the oxygen blocking layer. The release layer is of or includes zinc oxynitride (e.g., ZnO.sub.xN.sub.z). Following and/or during heat treatment (e.g., thermal tempering, or the like) the protective film may be entirely or partially removed. Other embodiments of this invention relate to the pre-HT coated article, or the post-HT coated article.

A method of making a heat treated (HT) substantially transparent coated article to be used in shower door applications, window applications, tabletop applications, or any other suitable applications. For example, certain embodiments relate to a method of making a coated article including a step of heat treating a glass substrate coated with at least layer of or including carbon (e.g., diamond-like carbon (DLC)) and an overlying protective film thereon. The protective film may be of or include both (a) an oxygen blocking or barrier layer, and (b) a release layer, with the release layer being located between at least the carbon based layer and the oxygen blocking layer. The release layer is of or includes zinc oxynitride (e.g., ZnO.sub.xN.sub.z). Following and/or during heat treatment (e.g., thermal tempering, or the like) the protective film may be entirely or partially removed. Other embodiments of this invention relate to the pre-HT coated article, or the post-HT coated article.

The present invention relates to a manufacturing method for a camera window and a camera window manufactured thereby. A conventional camera window is configured such that an etching pattern is provided on a back surface of a glass sheet, and a deposition layer is provided on the etching pattern, thereby improving reflectivity, whereby indirect external recognition of the etching pattern is performed, but in the present invention, a distinctive pattern is provided on a front surface of a glass sheet such that direct external recognition of the pattern is possible, whereby it is possible to recognize a distinctive pattern line.

A stress-engineered frangible structure includes multiple discrete glass members interconnected by inter-structure bonds to form a complex structural shape. Each glass member includes strengthened (i.e., by way of stress-engineering) glass material portions that are configured to transmit propagating fracture forces throughout the glass member. Each inter-structure bond includes a bonding member (e.g., glass-frit or adhesive) connected to weaker (e.g., untreated, unstrengthened, etched, or thinner) glass member region(s) disposed on one or both interconnected glass members that function to reliably transfer propagating fracture forces from one glass member to other glass member. An optional trigger mechanism generates an initial fracture force in a first (most-upstream) glass member, and the resulting propagating fracture forces are transferred by way of inter-structure bonds to all downstream glass members. One-way crack propagation is achieved by providing a weaker member region only on the downstream side of each inter-structure bond.

A tempering furnace for tempering a glass object may include a housing, a heating device for heating the glass object, and a cooling device for cooling the glass object. Additionally, the tempering furnace may further include a turning device provided for turning the glass object inside the housing. The turning device is configured to counteract an effect of gravitational forces on the glass object when the glass object is heated to its softening phase.

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing tempered glass and, more specifically, to a method for manufacturing alkali-free glass which has the thickness of 2.0 mm or less into tempered glass by means of heat treatment and surface treatment using fluosilicic acid. To this end, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing tempered glass, the method comprising: a preparation step for preparing alkali-free glass; a surface treatment step for surface-treating the alkali-free glass by means of a surface treatment solution comprising fluosilicic acid and thereby generating on the surface of the alkali-free glass a porous SiO.sub.2-rich layer of which the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) is smaller than the CTE of the inner part of the alkali-free glass; and a heat treatment step for heat-treating the alkali-free glass that has been surface-treated and thereby generating compressive stress on the surface of the alkali-free glass.

A façade component (1) comprises a glass window (2) and a secondary frame (3) connected to the glass window (2) by means of a plurality of connectors (4), wherein the glass window (2) comprises a multilayer panel (5), the secondary frame (3) comprises a plurality of secondary profiles (13) forming an engagement surface (15) facing the glass window (2), a first gasket seat (18) formed in the engagement surface (15) and accommodating a first gasket (19) interposed between the engagement surface (15) and the glass window (2), an engagement seat (20) forming a plurality of engagement holes (21), each receiving an engagement portion (22) of one of the connectors (4), wherein the connectors (4) comprise an expansion portion (24) anchored in an expansion hole (25) of the glass window (2), a pin (23) connected to the expansion portion (24) and forming the engagement portion (22), as well as a releasable tightening member (27) which engages the engagement portion (22) of the connector (4) and the engagement seat (20) of the secondary frame (3) and tightens the glass window (2) against the secondary frame (3), wherein the expansion hole (25) and the expansion portion (24) extend through the first glass sheet (7) bordering with the secondary frame (3), and into a second glass sheet (8) adjacent to the first glass sheet (7) on a side opposite to the secondary frame (3), and the expansion hole (25) and the expansion portion (24) have at least one local widening (26, 70) which creates an anti-removal shape coupling between the connector (4) and the glass window (2).

A façade component (1) comprises a glass window (2) and a secondary frame (3) connected to the glass window (2) by means of a plurality of connectors (4), wherein the glass window (2) comprises a multilayer panel (5), the secondary frame (3) comprises a plurality of secondary profiles (13) forming an engagement surface (15) facing the glass window (2), a first gasket seat (18) formed in the engagement surface (15) and accommodating a first gasket (19) interposed between the engagement surface (15) and the glass window (2), an engagement seat (20) forming a plurality of engagement holes (21), each receiving an engagement portion (22) of one of the connectors (4), wherein the connectors (4) comprise an expansion portion (24) anchored in an expansion hole (25) of the glass window (2), a pin (23) connected to the expansion portion (24) and forming the engagement portion (22), as well as a releasable tightening member (27) which engages the engagement portion (22) of the connector (4) and the engagement seat (20) of the secondary frame (3) and tightens the glass window (2) against the secondary frame (3), wherein the expansion hole (25) and the expansion portion (24) extend through the first glass sheet (7) bordering with the secondary frame (3), and into a second glass sheet (8) adjacent to the first glass sheet (7) on a side opposite to the secondary frame (3), and the expansion hole (25) and the expansion portion (24) have at least one local widening (26, 70) which creates an anti-removal shape coupling between the connector (4) and the glass window (2).