Abstract: A tempering frame for thermal tempering of glass panes, includes a carrier frame and a support frame that is joined to the carrier frame via a plurality of connection elements and is arranged completely within the carrier frame, wherein the support frame has an upper primary surface for placing a glass pane, a lower primary surface, a front edge, and a rear edge, and wherein the support frame has recesses introduced in the rear edge, which are arranged between adjacent connection elements.

Abstract: A cooling frame for a bent glass sheet, includes a support track for the sheet and a removable bearing piece that is able, in a bearing position and during cooling of the sheet by air blowing, to bear on the top face of the sheet and at the periphery thereof. The bent sheet cooled on the cooling frame maintains contact with the frame during the cooling operation and its shape complies better with that which is desired.

Abstract: An apparatus for immobilizing a pane having a circumferential side edge within a positional tolerance on a carrier mold, wherein the apparatus includes a stopper, which is movable between a first position and a second position, which has a free end and an end opposite the free end that is connected to a device for moving the stopper between the first position and the second position. In the second position, the free end of the stopper is directed toward the side edge of the pane to be immobilized and the distance between the free end of the stopper and the side edge corresponds at most to the positional tolerance. In the first position, the free end of the stopper is offset back and/or upward in the plane of the pane compared to the second position.

Abstract: A device and a method for bending, by gravity, a sheet of glass or a stack of sheets of glass including a plurality of sides, called the glass, including a skeleton for supporting the glass in its peripheral zone by a contact track, the contact track including concave curvatures on each of the sides of the skeleton, and a counter-skeleton capable of entering into contact with the glass in the zone of the middle of at least one side of the peripheral zone of the top main face of the glass.

Abstract: A tempering frame for thermal tempering of glass panes, includes a carrier frame and a support frame that is joined to the carrier frame via a plurality of connection elements and is arranged completely within the carrier frame, wherein the support frame has an upper primary surface for placing a glass pane, a lower primary surface, a front edge, and a rear edge, and wherein the support frame has recesses introduced in the rear edge, which are arranged between adjacent connection elements.

Abstract: A cooling frame for a bent glass sheet, includes a support track for the sheet and a removable bearing piece that is able, in a bearing position and during cooling of the sheet by air blowing, to bear on the top face of the sheet and at the periphery thereof. The bent sheet cooled on the cooling frame maintains contact with the frame during the cooling operation and its shape complies better with that which is desired.

Abstract: A process for gravity bending of a glass sheet on a support including a chassis, a first frame and a second frame, the second frame being articulated and including a mobile lateral part that passes from an open position to a closed position by an articulation during the bending procedure, the bending of the sheet beginning on the first frame while the second frame is in the open position, and finishing on the second frame in the closed position, the sheet passing from the first frame to the second frame during the bending procedure as a result of the relative vertical movement of the first and second frame and of the raising of the mobile part of the second frame, the contact area of the first frame with the glass sheet located in a vertical line with the articulation being above the articulation at the instant the latter is closed.

Abstract: A furnace for heating an object in a space, including a refractory ceramic wall, a heat source, at least one metal plate coated with an adherent layer of ceramic material on one of its principal faces, the coated plate being placed between the wall and the source, the adherent layer being situated facing the source. The coated metal plate acts as a thermal barrier and improves heating efficiency of the heat source. The furnace may for example serve to bend by gravity glass sheets placed on a bending frame.

Abstract: A process for gravity bending of a glass sheet on a support including a chassis, a first frame and a second frame, the second frame being articulated and including a mobile lateral part that passes from an open position to a closed position by an articulation during the bending procedure, the bending of the sheet beginning on the first frame while the second frame is in the open position, and finishing on the second frame in the closed position, the sheet passing from the first frame to the second frame during the bending procedure as a result of the relative vertical movement of the first and second frame and of the raising of the mobile part of the second frame, the contact area of the first frame with the glass sheet located in a vertical line with the articulation being above the articulation at the instant the latter is closed.

Abstract: A process for gravity bending of a glass sheet on a support including a chassis, a first frame and a second frame, the second frame being articulated and including a mobile lateral part that passes from an open position to a closed position by an articulation during the bending procedure, the bending of the sheet beginning on the first frame while the second frame is in the open position, and finishing on the second frame in the closed position, the sheet passing from the first frame to the second frame during the bending procedure as a result of the relative vertical movement of the first and second frame and of the raising of the mobile part of the second frame, the contact area of the first frame with the glass sheet located in a vertical line with the articulation being above the articulation at the instant the latter is closed.

Abstract: A mold for bending glass, including a cellular solid material including cells that form cavities in the molding area, the cells representing more than 40% of the volume of the material. A low-heat-capacity tool bends glass panes in the context of processing tempered or laminated glass. A process for manufacturing the bending mold includes assembly of metal sheets of different shapes placed parallel to one another so as to form a cellular unit, then machining of the molding area of the unit, the area being placed substantially perpendicular to the metal sheets.

Abstract: A process for gravity bending of a glass sheet on a support including a chassis, a first frame and a second frame, the second frame being articulated and including a mobile lateral part that passes from an open position to a closed position by an articulation during the bending procedure, the bending of the sheet beginning on the first frame while the second frame is in the open position, and finishing on the second frame in the closed position, the sheet passing from the first frame to the second frame during the bending procedure as a result of the relative vertical movement of the first and second frame and of the raising of the mobile part of the second frame, the contact area of the first frame with the glass sheet located in a vertical line with the articulation being above the articulation at the instant the latter is closed.

Abstract: A furnace for heating an object in a space, including a refractory ceramic wall, a heat source, at least one metal plate coated with an adherent layer of ceramic material on one of its principal faces, the coated plate being placed between the wall and the source, the adherent layer being situated facing the source. The coated metal plate acts as a thermal barrier and improves heating efficiency of the heat source. The furnace may for example serve to bend by gravity glass sheets placed on a bending frame.

Abstract: A mold for bending glass, including a cellular solid material including cells that form cavities in the molding area, the cells representing more than 40% of the volume of the material. A low-heat-capacity tool bends glass panes in the context of processing tempered or laminated glass. A process for manufacturing the bending mold includes assembly of metal sheets of different shapes placed parallel to one another so as to form a cellular unit, then machining of the molding area of the unit, the area being placed substantially perpendicular to the metal sheets.

Abstract: A device for gravity bending of at least one glass sheet supported by at least one support forming part of a bending assembly, plural supports supporting the sheet during bending. The device includes a drive system for changing the shape of the support, the drive system controlling the rate of the change. A method of bending glass sheets utilizes the device.

Abstract: A device for gravity bending of at least one glass sheet supported by at least one support forming part of a bending assembly, plural supports supporting the sheet during bending. The device includes a drive system for changing the shape of the support, the drive system controlling the rate of the change. A method of bending glass sheets utilizes the device.

Abstract: A method of bending at least one glass sheet including: allowing the glass to sag under gravity; then placing the central region of the one or more sheets in contact with a male former by advancing a female former supporting the sheet toward the male former, the male former being located above the female former with vertical movement of one with respect to the other being possible in a bending cell; then pressing the glass in its peripheral region between the male former and the female former; then holding the glass against the male former by partial vacuum, the pressing being continued; then discontinuing the pressing by separating the male former from the female former; and then cooling the glass outside the bending cell. The method makes it possible to produce bends with short radii of curvature in two perpendicular directions without leaving marks on the glass.

Abstract: A method for bending a sheet of glass involving heating the sheet of glass to a softening temperature, transporting the sheet of glass in an essentially horizontal path as far as a station for bending the sheet of glass between two forms, shaping the sheet of glass by pressing between the two forms, and cooling the sheet of glass in an appropriate station. Shaped rollers receive the sheet of glass after it has been bent and the rollers are oriented parallel to the direction defined on the sheet of glass by the direction in which it is conveyed into the bending station.

Abstract: The subject of the invention is a method for bending a sheet of glass involving heating the sheet of glass to a softening temperature, transporting the sheet of glass in an essentially horizontal path as far as a station for bending it between two forms, shaping the sheet of glass by pressing between the two forms, cooling the sheet of glass in an appropriate station, these means comprising shaped rollers receive the sheet of glass after it has been bent and said rollers being oriented parallel to the direction defined on the sheet of glass via the direction in which it is conveyed into the bending station.

Abstract: The invention relates to a production line for curved panes, in which the panes of glass are heated, brought in a horizontal position into a curving station where they are taken over by curving tools, and then finally conveyed into a quenching station, the stages of quenching and of entry of the glass into the curving station being at different heights.