An automated plant (10) for cutting and operating flat slabs made from ceramic or the like for typically but not exclusively manufacturing slabs intended for use as coating elements at both civil and industrial levels and for both indoor and outdoor environments, comprising a first macro-area (12) defining an area suitable for storing products consisting of semi-finished slabs or mother-slabs, a second macro-area (14) defining an area for storing auxiliary packing materials or consumable materials for operations or processes on said slabs, a third macro-area (16) defining a production area for processing, packaging, and packing daughter-slabs or sub-formats of slabs obtained from mother-slabs, a fourth macro-area (18) defining a finished product area or store for letting the products coming from the third macro-area (16) pass through/temporarily accumulate, said plant also comprising automatic handling means for slaving and handling materials and semi-finished and finished products between said macro-areas and internally thereto, and a central control unit for programming, managing, and controlling the operation of said macro-areas and the interaction therebetween.

An automated plant (10) for cutting and operating flat slabs made from ceramic or the like for typically but not exclusively manufacturing slabs intended for use as coating elements at both civil and industrial levels and for both indoor and outdoor environments, comprising a first macro-area (12) defining an area suitable for storing products consisting of semi-finished slabs or mother-slabs, a second macro-area (14) defining an area for storing auxiliary packing materials or consumable materials for operations or processes on said slabs, a third macro-area (16) defining a production area for processing, packaging, and packing daughter-slabs or sub-formats of slabs obtained from mother-slabs, a fourth macro-area (18) defining a finished product area or store for letting the products coming from the third macro-area (16) pass through/temporarily accumulate, said plant also comprising automatic handling means for slaving and handling materials and semi-finished and finished products between said macro-areas and internally thereto, and a central control unit for programming, managing, and controlling the operation of said macro-areas and the interaction therebetween.

Providing a solid body to be split into a number of layers of solid material, introducing or generating defects in the solid body in order to determine a first detachment plane (8) along which a first layer of solid material is separated from the solid body, providing a receiving layer for holding the layer of solid material on the solid body, applying heat to the receiving layer in order to generate, in particular mechanically, stresses in the solid body, due to the stresses a crack propagating in the solid body along the detachment plane, which crack separates the first layer of solid material from the solid body, then providing a second receiving layer for holding another layer of solid material on the solid body reduced by the first layer of solid material, introducing or generating defects in the solid body in order to determine a second detachment plane (9) along which a second layer of solid material is separated from the solid body, applying heat to the second receiving layer in order to generate, in particular mechanically, stresses in the solid body, due to the stresses a crack propagating in the solid body along the second detachment plane, which crack separates the second layer of solid material from the solid body.

A method of fabricating plates of super-hard material and cutting techniques suitable for such a method. A method of fabricating a plate (14) of super-hard material, the method comprising: providing a substrate (4) have a lateral dimension of at least 40 mm; growing a layer of super-hard material on the substrate (4) using a chemical vapor deposition process; and slicing one or more plates (14) of super-hard material from the substrate using a collimated cutting beam (8), the or each plate of super-hard material (14) having a lateral dimension of at least 40 mm, wherein the collimated cutting beam (8) is collimated with a half angle divergence of no more than 5 degrees.

The present invention provides a long-bladed bolster 1, comprising a substantially planar cutting body 2 having one edge formed as a blade 3 of sufficient length so that the blade 3 is arranged in use to be positioned substantially centrally on a concrete masonry unit (CMU) to enable the block to be divided without the bolster 1 requiring repositioning, the bolster having a striking body on a second long edge of the cutting body opposite to the cutting blade configured to receive repeated blows from a striking implement in use and to transmit these through the cutting body to the blade and the bolster having an integral handle that extends from the cutting body and/or striking body of the bolster substantially centrally along the length of the cutting body 2 and substantially orthogonally to the plane thereof.

A cutting and separation head for manual ceramic cutters, including a body that carries a grip handle and a cutting tool, mounted on movable supports on longitudinal guides of the cutter, and able to rotate with respect to a first transverse rotary shaft; a separator provided with a foot, a class 1 lever, and a first coupling element in the separator that is couplable to a second coupling element in the body of the head; and a cam for releasing the first and second coupling elements, the cam being mounted on the body and relatively rotatable between a first position and a second position.

Embodiments herein relate to a workstation that includes a cutting tray and one or more rails. The workstation may include a perimeter cutting element configured to travel along the rails, and the perimeter cutting element may include a perimeter blade mounted at least partially within a perimeter cartridge. The workstation may further include a profile cutting element configured to travel along the rails, wherein the profile cutting element includes a profile blade mounted at least partially within a profile cartridge. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

A glass plate, containing: a first main surface and a second main surface opposite to each other, wherein an in-plane void region having a plurality of voids is arranged on the first main surface, a plurality of internal void rows each having one void or two or more voids are arranged from the in-plane void region toward the second main surface, and a cut surface obtained by cutting the glass plate to pass through the in-plane void region and the plurality of internal void rows has a compressive stress layer formed by applying a chemical strengthening treatment in the center of the cut surface.

A glass plate, containing: a first main surface and a second main surface opposite to each other, wherein an in-plane void region having a plurality of voids is arranged on the first main surface, a plurality of internal void rows each having one void or two or more voids are arranged from the in-plane void region toward the second main surface, and a cut surface obtained by cutting the glass plate to pass through the in-plane void region and the plurality of internal void rows has a compressive stress layer formed by applying a chemical strengthening treatment in the center of the cut surface.

Cutting apparatuses and methods of use thereof are discussed. For example, the cutting apparatus may include a chassis with one or more substrate interfaces and a scribe guide. The cutting apparatuses also may include a plurality of support pistons, a deformable support, a locking mechanism, and/or an anchor extension. The support pistons may be adjustable to generally conform to a substrate, such as a non-planar substrate.