A glass substrate support system includes a first and second vacuum members extending lengthwise in a glass substrate feed direction along opposing edges of a flexible glass substrate. Each vacuum member has a vacuum body including a pressure chamber located therein and a support surface having a vacuum opening extending therethrough and in communication with the pressure chamber. A support rod assembly is provided that includes a plurality of support rods located between the first second vacuum members in the glass substrate feed direction. The support rod assembly has an out-of-plane configuration that supports the flexible glass substrate in a downward arc orientation.

A polishing apparatus capable of forming a step-shaped recess having a right-angled cross section in an edge portion of a substrate, such as a wafer, is disclosed. The polishing apparatus includes: a substrate rotating device configured to rotate the substrate about a rotation axis; a first roller having a first circumferential surface configured to press a polishing tape against the edge portion of the substrate; and a second roller having a second circumferential surface in contact with the first circumferential surface. The second roller has a tape stopper surface that restricts movement of the polishing tape in a direction away from the rotation axis. The tape stopper surface is located radially outward of the first circumferential surface.

A modular apparatus (10) for machining flat sheets, in particular glass, plate glass, or mirror sheets or sheets made from stone materials or the like, comprising machining moduli consisting of a first store (16) suitable for receiving sheets to be machined (25) and a second store (18) suitable for receiving machined sheets (27), a first grinding machine (12), and a second grinding machine (14) suitable for performing grinding machinings along the peripheral edges of said sheets (25), one or more further moduli for machining said flat sheets, if any, of the corner cutting, drill, or washing machine types, possibly associated with said first and second grinding machines (12, 14), and interface means for transferring said flat sheets between said machining moduli.

A machine (10) and a process are described, for working glass slabs (21), the machine (10) comprising: a supporting structure (11); a slab grinding section (12) comprising grinding heads (64), and a conveyor assembly (18) having dragging means (24) adapted to move the glass slab (21); a slab drilling section (14) comprising a conveyor (31) adjacent to the conveyor assembly (18); the slab grinding section (12) further comprises retaining means (45) for keeping the glass slab (21) next to a working plane (25) spaced and/or offset with respect to the advancement plane (23); and a computerized numeric control assembly (68) for perform workings on the glass slab (21).

A glass-plate working apparatus 1 includes a feeding section 7, a scribing and bend-breaking section 8, a grinding section 9, and a discharging section 10. The feeding section 7, the scribing and bend-breaking section 8, the grinding section 9, and the discharging section 10 are provided by being arranged from a right end R side toward a left end L side, and the scribing and bend-breaking section 8 is adapted to effect the formation of a scribe line on a glass plate 2 and the bend-breaking and separation of the glass plate 2 along the scribe line in a state in which the glass plate 2 is fixed as it is at the same position.

Apparatus and methods for processing a glass sheet can include a coating chamber including a dispensing port to dispense a coating on a major surface of the glass sheet. In some embodiments, an apparatus can include a fog chamber including an enclosure, a fog generator to provide fog to the enclosure, and a passage in the enclosure from which fog can exit the enclosure to contact a major surface of the glass sheet. In some embodiments a method can include providing a glass sheet to a coating chamber, and dispensing a coating on a major surface of the glass sheet. In some embodiments, a method can include providing a glass sheet to a fog chamber, providing fog to an enclosure of the fog chamber, and contacting a major surface of the glass sheet with the fog by passing the fog from the enclosure through a passage in the enclosure.

A glass support system for a glass edge finishing apparatus includes a vacuum member that is configured to extend lengthwise in a glass feed direction and along an edge of a glass substrate. The vacuum member has a vacuum body that includes a pressure chamber located therein and a support surface having an array of vacuum openings extending therethrough and in communication with the pressure chamber. The array of vacuum openings is arranged in multiple, side-by-side rows with substantially uniform spacing between the vacuum openings along each one of the multiple rows.

A glass substrate support system includes a first and second vacuum members extending lengthwise in a glass substrate feed direction along opposing edges of a flexible glass substrate. Each vacuum member has a vacuum body including a pressure chamber located therein and a support surface having a vacuum opening extending therethrough and in communication with the pressure chamber. A support rod assembly is provided that includes a plurality of support rods located between the first second vacuum members in the glass substrate feed direction. The support rod assembly has an out-of-plane configuration that supports the flexible glass substrate in a downward arc orientation.

The machine for grinding sheet-like elements, particularly tiles and slabs made of ceramic material, natural stone, glass or the like, includes a base framework, means for advancing at least one sheet-like element on a movement plane (A) along an advancement direction (B), the sheet-like element being provided with a pair of opposite first sides to be ground and a front side transversal to the first sides and defining the advancement front of the sheet-like element, means for machining the first sides adapted to intercept the sheet-like element in the motion thereof along the advancement direction (B), means for square-positioning the sheet-like element on the movement plane (A) comprising at least one abutment element which defines at least two support points adapted to contact the front side for arranging it in a position orthogonal to the advancement direction (B).

A method is provided for corner contouring of flat glass substrates in a continuous feed-through process by a contouring tool. The method includes the steps of: synchronization of the movement of the contouring tool to the continuous feed-through movement of the flat glass substrate, contouring of a corner of the flat glass substrate, wherein a relative movement between the contouring tool and the flat glass substrate is performed so as to overlap the continuous feed-through movement.