Patent ID: 8677783
Filing Date: 2014-03-25
Classification: B65G,C03B

Abstract:
1. A method of separating and removing a glass sheet from a ribbon of glass comprising: producing a glass ribbon in a down draw process, the glass ribbon comprising a viscous liquid portion and an elastic solid portion, the elastic solid portion of the glass ribbon further comprising a central portion comprising a first major surface and a second major surface which are substantially parallel and two edge portions adjacent to either side of the central portion, each edge portion comprising a first major surface and a second major surface coinciding with the first and second major surfaces of the central portion, the first and second major surfaces of the edge portions extending longitudinally along a length of the ribbon, and wherein the first major surface and the second major surface of each edge portion are non-parallel; irradiating the first major surface of an edge portion of the two edge portions with a laser beam from a first laser at a first position, the laser beam being a pulsed laser beam that forms a first laser spot on the first major surface of said edge portion, the pulsed laser beam forming a defect channel through at least a portion of the thickness of the glass ribbon in the vicinity of said edge portion; traversing the laser in a direction perpendicular to an outer edge of said edge portion and repeating the irradiating with the first laser to form a plurality of discrete defect channels in the edge portion along a line perpendicular to the outer edge; scoring the central portion of the glass ribbon, wherein a score line formed by the scoring aligns with the line of defect channels; and separating the glass ribbon along the score line.