Methods of shaping a glass sheet include providing a shaping support for supporting the glass sheet; providing a press bending apparatus comprising at least a first and a second mould member, each mould member being movable relative to the shaping support; heating the glass sheet; positioning the glass sheet on the shaping support; moving at least one of the shaping support and the press bending apparatus toward the other to press the glass sheet in a first region thereof between the shaping support and the first mould member; moving the second mould member relative to the first mould member to press the glass sheet in a second region thereof, and moving the first mould member relative to the shaping support to further press the glass sheet in the first region thereof between the first mould member and the shaping support. Apparatus useful to carry out the methods is also described.

Provided is a glass ribbon manufacturing apparatus in which at least one of support rollers configured to support both sides of a glass ribbon (G) in a width direction in an annealing region and a cooling region is a shape stabilization roller configured to stabilize a shape of the glass ribbon (G) curved in the width direction. The shape stabilization roller includes a first roller (11) arranged on one surface side of the glass ribbon (G) and a second roller (12) arranged on another surface side of the glass ribbon (G). Inner end portions (11c) of rollers (11a) of the first roller (11) are all positioned on an outer side, in the width direction, of outer end portions (12c) of rollers (12a) of the corresponding second roller (12) in the width direction.

A roller for conveying sheets of glass, includes at its surface a conveying zone for the sheets of glass, the roller including a straight axis of revolution, the conveying zone forming a curved surface of revolution about the axis of revolution, the roller being asymmetric on either side of its, minimum or maximum, extreme diameter. A plurality of the rollers can also serve to bend running sheets of glass.

A device for conveying sheets of glass running one after another, includes at least one roller including a conveying zone for the sheets of glass, the device including actuators situated on either side of the conveying zone that are able to curve the roller in its range of elastic deformation while leaving it able to be driven in rotation about fixed centers of the sections thereof, the actuators being able to give the roller, on either side of the conveying zone, a level and a direction that give it an asymmetric shape with respect to the plane that is orthogonal thereto and situated equidistantly from the actuators.

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 method of manufacturing a glass film includes a forming step of forming a band-shaped glass film by pulling down a glass ribbon flowing down from a forming trough while sandwiching the glass ribbon from both front and back sides through use of roller pairs and a conveyance direction changing step of changing a conveyance direction of the glass film from the vertical direction to the horizontal direction by conveying the glass film along a conveyance path having an arc shape while supporting the glass film from a back surface side with a roller conveyor so that a front surface of the glass film after having passed through the conveyance path faces upward. A first roller to be brought into abutment against the glass film from the front surface side is arranged between a roller pair arranged in a lowermost stage and the roller conveyor.

Systems, apparatuses and methods for processing a glass ribbon (22). A glass ribbon is supplied to an upstream side of a conveying apparatus (32) comprising a conveyor device and a pulling device (72). The conveyor device establishes a primary plane of travel (P) from the upstream side to a downstream side. The pulling device (72) is located at the downstream side and applies a pulling force on the glass ribbon (22) to convey the glass ribbon along a travel path that includes first, second and third bends (100, 102, 104), and into the primary plane of travel from a location downstream of the third bend and to the pulling device (72). At least one of the first, second, and third bends imparts a stress into a surface of the glass ribbon to flatten the glass ribbon. A viscosity of the glass ribbon at the third bend is greater than a viscosity of the glass ribbon at the first bend.

A manufacturing method for a band-shaped glass film (GF) includes use of: a plurality of rollers (10) configured to change a direction of the falling band-shaped glass film (GF) to a horizontal direction; and a first horizontal-conveyance unit (4) configured to convey the band-shaped glass film (GF) in the horizontal direction after the changing of the direction of the band-shaped glass film (GF). After a lower end of the band-shaped glass film (GF) passes through a position between the plurality of rollers (10) being at a retreated position (P2) and the first horizontal-conveyance unit (4), the plurality of rollers (10) are moved from the retreated position (P2) to a regular position (P1) to apply a pressing force to the band-shaped glass film (GF), to thereby cut the band-shaped glass film (GF) along a width direction by bend-breaking.

Systems, apparatuses and methods for processing a glass ribbon (22). A glass ribbon is supplied to an upstream side of a conveying apparatus (32) comprising a conveyor device and a pulling device (72). The conveyor device establishes a primary plane of travel (P) from the upstream side to a downstream side. The pulling device (72) is located at the downstream side and applies a pulling force on the glass ribbon (22) to convey the glass ribbon along a travel path that includes first, second and third bends (100, 102, 104), and into the primary plane of travel from a location downstream of the third bend and to the pulling device (72). At least one of the first, second, and third bends imparts a stress into a surface of the glass ribbon to flatten the glass ribbon. A viscosity of the glass ribbon at the third bend is greater than a viscosity of the glass ribbon at the first bend.

Methods of shaping a glass sheet include providing a shaping support for supporting the glass sheet; providing a press bending apparatus comprising at least a first and a second mould member, each mould member being movable relative to the shaping support; heating the glass sheet; positioning the glass sheet on the shaping support; moving at least one of the shaping support and the press bending apparatus toward the other to press the glass sheet in a first region thereof between the shaping support and the first mould member; moving the second mould member relative to the first mould member to press the glass sheet in a second region thereof, and moving the first mould member relative to the shaping support to further press the glass sheet in the first region thereof between the first mould member and the shaping support. Apparatus useful to carry out the methods is also described.