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 tool for holding at least one glass pane by means of suction in a bending process, comprising a frame-like, convex contact surface and a cover having a peripheral air guide plate that surrounds the contact surface at least in regions is described. The tool is suitable for generating a first, reduced pressure in a first pressure region between the air guide plate and the contact surface; a second pressure in a second pressure region, which is arranged in a central region inside the contact surface, wherein the second pressure is greater than the first pressure.

A method and device for bending superposed sheets of glass. The sheets are picked up by a top form furnished with a suction creating an upward airflow blowing over the rim of the sheets, the suction being sufficient to lift and hold the superposed sheets against the top form, then the sheets are pressed between the top form and a full surface solid concave bottom form furnished with openings, the pressing beginning conducted while the suction is not yet finished or is finishing, then the superposed sheets are formed, by suction of the main face of the bottom sheet through the openings of the bottom concave mold, the forming by suction beginning while the pressing is not yet finished, and then the sheets are cooled. Windshields free of optical defects may thus be produced.

The present invention relates to a device for bending at least one glass pane, having a lower bending mould with a working surface that is suitable for influencing the shape of at least one glass pane, an upper shaping tool arranged opposite the working surface that is suitable for generating a positive pressure on the surface of the at least one glass pane facing away from the working surface,
where the upper shaping tool has a hollow space with at least one opening oriented toward the lower bending mould and a membrane closing the opening and is equipped with means for introducing a gas into the hollow space in order to deform the membrane in the direction of the lower bending mould and to thus generate the positive pressure.

The invention relates to a device for bending sheets of glass, comprising an upper bending form and a bending support, the upper bending form and/or the bending support being laterally mobile relative to one another, the bending support comprising a pre-bending mold for the gravity bending of a sheet of glass and a press-bending mold configured for pressing the sheet of glass against the upper form, of these two molds of the bending support one being surrounded by the other when viewed from above, at least one of these two molds of the bending support being able to be given a relative vertical movement with respect to the other.

A device and a method for bending and cooling sheets of glass including bending the glass by gravity on a gravity support during which the glass rests on the gravity support in the peripheral zone constituted of the 50 mm from the edge of its first principal face, then separating the glass from the gravity support when the glass is at more than 560° C., then cooling the glass during which its first principal face is free of any contact in its peripheral zone, between a temperature termed the upper homogeneous temperature, of at least 560° C., and a temperature termed the lower homogeneous temperature, of at most 500° C., termed the critical temperature range, the zone of the first principal face at a distance greater than 200 mm from the edge being at a temperature at least equal to that of the peripheral zone at the moment when the peripheral zone reaches the upper homogeneous temperature.

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 mounted in proximity to each of the shuttle beams to position and support each one of the beams as the shuttle frame is moved to position the mold supported thereon at one of multiple desired processing locations. At least one mold guide is mounted on the support surface of one of the beams for receiving and fixing the position of the mold support frame relative to the shuttle frame to align and prevent movement of the mold support frame with respect to the shuttle frame in any direction as the mold support frame is supported thereon.

An adsorbing apparatus for a glass wafer includes an adsorbing head and a block structure mounted to the adsorbing head. The adsorbing head defines a cavity and an opening directly touching a glass wafer. The block structure defines a channel connected with the cavity. A plurality of supporting posts for supporting the glass wafer are densely arranged in the cavity. The adsorbing apparatus as a transfer tool for a glass wafer, which can transport unmolded wafer to the mold for molding, and can remove the glass wafer before fully executing cool down, thereby avoiding many adverse effects in the glass wafer forming process and shortening production time and improving production efficiency.

A bending tool for bending at least one glass pane by suction, includes a frame-like convex contact surface and a cover having a peripheral air guide plate that surrounds the contact surface at least in regions is described. The bending tool is suitable for generating a first, reduced pressure in a first pressure region between the air guide plate and the contact surface; a second reduced pressure in a second pressure region. The second pressure is less than the first pressure; and a third pressure in a third pressure region, wherein the third pressure is greater than the first pressure.

A non-contact shaping device includes a first fixture including a fixing section structured to alternately blow out and suck in gas. The fixing section may fix, through suction of gas, a glass plate thereon. An optic heat source processing device is selectively set above predetermined portions of the glass plate to heat, in a non-contact manner, and thus soften, in a temperature-controlled manner, the portions for curving and suspending downward along an edge of the fixing section. The curved glass plate is then lifted up through blowing gas from the first fixture. The second fixture selectively covers the curved glass plate and blow gas therefrom to flow, in collaborative combination with the gas blown from the first fixture, around surfaces of the curved glass plate for cooling and fixing a shape of the curved glass plate in a non-contact manner to form a three-dimensional curve-surfaced glass product.