Patent ID: 6574990
Filing Date: 2003-06-10
Classification: C03B

Abstract:
A process for bend-shaping a glass plate by heating the glass plate to a temperature which is close to a softening temperature of the glass plate, while the glass plate is transferred on a transferring surface in a shaping furnace, to thereby bend the glass plate, by its own deadweight, into a shape substantially corresponding to the transferring surface, which comprises:forming the transferring surface at at least an area near an exit of the shaping furnace to have a upward gradient and to have a complexly bending transferring surface having a complexly curved shape, and forming the transferring surface at an upstream side in a transferring direction of the complexly bending transferring surface so as to have a simple bending transferring surface having a simple curved shape with a predetermined radius of curvature along a direction perpendicular to the axis of the transferring direction; transferring the glass plate on the simple bending transferring surface to bend-shape the glass plate into a shape substantially corresponding to the simple bending transferring surface, and then transferring the glass plate on the complexly bending transferring surface so as to complexly bend-shape the glass plate into a shape substantially corresponding to the complexly bending transferring surface; and holding the glass plate in a floating state by a gas layer composed of a gas which is blown from the complexly bending transferring surface when the glass plate is transferred on the complexly bending transferring surface.