Method and apparatus for the manufacture of flat glass in the form of a tape with a predetermined thickness (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding)

摘要

Method and apparatus for the manufacture of flat glass in the form of tape provided with a predetermined thickness, said method comprising the operations of bringing glass at a controlled rate to a molten bath and making it advance along it under thermal conditions that ensure the establishing a layer of molten glass on the bath, maintaining said glass layer in the molten state until a floating body of molten glass of stable thickness is formed on the surface of the bath allowing said layer to flow laterally or unobstructedly up to the limit of its thickness. Free fluidity under the influence of gravity and surface tension, continuously advancing the floating body of molten glass in ribbon form throughout the bath, gradually cooling the molten glass to a plastic transition state in which it can be subjected to to attenuation by applying a tensile force, said plastic state being such that the applied tensile force is dissipated in the plastic glass, keeping the glass in said plastic state while advancing, imposing a tensile force on the plastic glass by virtue of which the tape in the plastic state progressively decreases in thickness to a predetermined degree while the initial smoothness of the glass is maintained, the attenuated tape stabilized at the desired reduced thickness, and the stabilized tape cooled to allow it to be removed from the molten bath without any damage. (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding)