A device for picking up, shaping, and placing a thin glass pane, includes a frame with an upper side and a lower side, which is suitable to be directed at a glass pane with a thickness of less than 1 mm, and which is provided with a plurality of picking up pins that are arranged substantially parallel to one another and whose end directed at the glass pane is equipped with a suction cup, wherein the picking up pins are movable along their direction of extension independent of one another in order to adapt the arrangement of the suction cups to an intended shape of the glass pane.

A glass tube element having hollow cylindrical section that has a shell enclosing a lumen and extends along a main extension and an optical delay of a light ray. The shell has a surface facing away from the lumen. The optical delay has values that all fall within a range having a size of between 3 and 30 nm. The optical delay being an optical measurement of the glass tube element by the light ray extending along a measurement path in a direction of perpendicular to the main extension and tangent to a surface of the shell. The measurement path touches the surface for different measurements at different positions each having a different azimuth angle within a cylindrical coordinate system fixedly attached to the glass tube element and having an origin on a center axis of the glass tube element.

A glass tube element having hollow cylindrical section that has a shell enclosing a lumen and extends along a main extension and an optical delay of a light ray. The shell has a surface facing away from the lumen. The optical delay has values that all fall within a range having a size of between 3 and 30 nm. The optical delay being an optical measurement of the glass tube element by the light ray extending along a measurement path in a direction of perpendicular to the main extension and tangent to a surface of the shell. The measurement path touches the surface for different measurements at different positions each having a different azimuth angle within a cylindrical coordinate system fixedly attached to the glass tube element and having an origin on a center axis of the glass tube element.

A glass tube element is provided that includes hollow cylindrical section that has a shell enclosing a lumen and a path extending on a surface of the shell facing away from the lumen. The path extends across a first area of the shell where the stress values are within a first interval. The path also extends across a second area of the shell where the stress values are within a second interval.

A glass tube element is provided that includes hollow cylindrical section that has a shell enclosing a lumen and a path extending on a surface of the shell facing away from the lumen. The path extends across a first area of the shell where the stress values are within a first interval. The path also extends across a second area of the shell where the stress values are within a second interval.

A method for homogenizing glass includes the method: providing a cylindrical blank composed of the glass having a cylindrical outer surface that extends along a longitudinal axis of the blank between a first end face and a second end face, forming a shear zone in the blank by softening a longitudinal section of the blank and subjecting it to a thermal-mechanical intermixing treatment, and displacing the shear zone along the longitudinal axis of the blank. To enable a radial mixing within the shear zone in addition to the tangential mixing with the lowest possible time and energy input, starting from this method, cylindrical sections of the blank are adjacent to the shear zone on both sides, the first cylindrical section having a first central axis and the second cylindrical section having a second central axis, the first central axis and the second central axis being temporarily non-coaxial with each other.

Provided is a sleeve for glass tube molding capable of suppressing generation of foreign matter such as rust from a sleeve shaft and suppressing adhesion of foreign matter such as rust to the molten glass without degrading mechanical strength of the sleeve shaft. A sleeve for glass tube molding includes a sleeve shaft including a through-hole and a refractory cylindrical body inserted coaxially with the sleeve shaft around the sleeve shaft. A superior rust-resistant material having rust resistance superior to that of the sleeve shaft is provided to cover a part or whole of an inner surface of the through-hole of the sleeve shaft and to cover a tip of the sleeve shaft.

Provided is a sleeve for glass tube molding capable of suppressing generation of foreign matter such as rust from a sleeve shaft and suppressing adhesion of foreign matter such as rust to the molten glass without degrading mechanical strength of the sleeve shaft. A sleeve for glass tube molding includes a sleeve shaft including a through-hole and a refractory cylindrical body inserted coaxially with the sleeve shaft around the sleeve shaft. A superior rust-resistant material having rust resistance superior to that of the sleeve shaft is provided to cover a part or whole of an inner surface of the through-hole of the sleeve shaft and to cover a tip of the sleeve shaft.

An automated large outside diameter preform tipping process. A zone of the preform is heated inside a furnace and softened. The preform tip is shaped and the process is controlled by the movement of the glass above and below the heating zone and by sensing the weight of the lower part of the preform, which in effect is a measure of the viscosity of the softened material. Once the correct viscosity is reached, the bottom holder is moved away from the top holder with a non-linear, accelerated velocity profile (derived from the FEM simulation of glass flow) which is precisely programmed and controlled so that the preform tip is optimally shaped (usually short and sharp tipped) with minimum waste and waveguide distortion when drawn into a fiber. The same concept of the non-linear, accelerated velocity profile can also be applied to other tipping processes such as horizontal preform tipping processes.

Disclosed are embodiments of a method of forming a curved glass article. In the method, a mold having a curved surface is provided. A self-adhesive layer is disposed on the curved surface. A glass sheet is bent into conformity with the curved surface at a temperature less than the glass transition temperature of the glass sheet. The glass sheet includes a first major surface and a second major surface in which the second major surface is opposite to the first major surface. The first major surface is adhered to the self-adhesive layer. A frame is bonded to the second major surface of the glass sheet, and the glass sheet is removed from the self-adhesive layer. A system for performing the method and a mold having a self-adhesive layer are also disclosed.