Abstract: An installation for the heating, forming and tempering of glass sheets (8) comprises a furnace (1) for heating glass sheets, at least one forming chamber (4), called a standard forming chamber, and a chamber for tempering the glass sheets, and a series of parallel rotary rollers for supporting the glass sheets and for moving them in the furnace (1) and towards the chambers. The installation further comprises at least one second forming chamber (5), called a deep-forming chamber, in which the forming of the glass sheets is carried out by pressing these on a convex lower surface. Between the furnace (1) and the forming chambers (4, 5) there is provided a turnover chamber (3) comprising a table rotatably mounted for turning over the glass sheets (8) before they are introduced into the second forming chamber (5). The invention is used especially in the production of glazings for motor vehicles.

Abstract: A chamber (1) for the thermal treatment of objects comprises in its interior heating means (3, 4) and means (5) to support the objects (2) to be treated, the walls of this chamber comprising a thermal insulating lining, and a portion (30) of these walls being removable to provide access to the interior of the chamber. Substantially all the internal surface of the chamber (1) is lined with cast silica-base plates (13, 14, 15, 16, 17) disposed side by side, having a coefficient of thermal expansion near zero. Used particularly in plate glass tempering furnaces.