Patent ID: 9643874
Date: 2017-05-09
CPC Classifications: C03B

Claim:
1. A method of making a glass ribbon comprising: flowing molten glass over a pair of downwardly inclined forming surface portions of a forming wedge, the pair of downwardly inclined forming surface portions converging along a downstream direction to form a root; flowing the molten glass over an edge director intersecting with at least one of the pair of downwardly inclined forming surface portions; drawing the molten glass from the root of the forming wedge to form the glass ribbon; engaging an edge portion of the glass ribbon with a plurality of edge rollers positioned downstream from the root and the edge director, the plurality of edge rollers extending through a housing; heating the edge director with a replaceable heating cartridge located in a port in the housing, wherein the replaceable heating cartridge is positioned between the plurality of edge rollers and the edge director, the replaceable heating cartridge comprising an enclosure having a heat directing surface that is inclined at an angle of less than about 90° with respect to a bottom surface of the enclosure, the heat directing surface comprising at least one heating element positioned on or adjacent to a face thereof, wherein the replaceable heating cartridge is oriented such that the heat directing surface faces the edge director, a view factor from the heat directing surface is greater at the edge director than at the plurality of edge rollers, and a lower edge of the heat directing surface and the bottom surface of the replaceable heating cartridge are at least partially positioned between the edge director and the plurality of edge rollers to thermally shield the edge director from the plurality of edge rollers; and detecting a temperature of a predetermined target area and adjusting the replaceable heating cartridge such that more or less heat is transferred from the replaceable heating cartridge to the predetermined target area, thereby varying the temperature of the predetermined target area until a target level temperature is obtained.