Leaded glass pane

A window pane or the like with a decorative moulding on a face thereof. The moulding is secured to the face of the window pane with an adhesive and is formed with locking flanges that mechanically lock with the adhesive to prevent its separation from the adhesive.

This invention relates to a decorative window pane or the like and to a 
method of making it that has a lead or like moulding on at least one face 
thereof in a decorative configuration. 
Leaded glass windows wherein pieces of glass are fitted together and 
supported by a lead came or moulding that has channels that contain the 
marginal edges of the fitted pieces are common. They have a very pleasing 
appearance and are popular. They are, however, costly and they suffer from 
the disadvantage that they cannot be made permanently weather-tight at the 
location of the mouldings. 
The leakage of air and moisture at the lead moulding of a leaded glass 
window is a disadvantage that is especially objectionable where the leaded 
window pane is one of two spaced apart panes with an air space between 
them because moisture tends to leak past the glass and collect between the 
two panes. 
Insulated window panes consisting of two sheets of glass spaced apart by a 
marginal spacer and with an air space between the panes for the purpose of 
forming an insulation are also very popular. They are popular because they 
serve the purpose of insulating a home or building against heat loss. 
Their popularity is increasing because of the rising cost of fuel. 
It is common to ornament one of the panes of an insulated glass window and 
leaded glass has been used for this purpose. However, as indicated above, 
its tendency to leak has been a serious disadvantage. Attempts have been 
made to achieve the effect of a leaded glass window by adhesively securing 
a lead moulding to the outer face of a glass window rather than by piecing 
the glass between the moulding. These attempts have failed, however, 
because of the unavailability of an adhesive that will permanently adhere 
to glass and also to lead under exterior conditions. There are adhesives 
that will permanently adhere to glass under exterior conditions but the 
same adhesives will not permanently adhere to lead. There are, for 
example, the polysulphide glass sealants which are normally plastic and 
are caused to become rubbery and to adhere to a glass surface by the 
addition of a catalyst and the butyl hot melt adhesives which are normally 
rubbery can be softened by heat to cause them to adhere to glass and then 
permitted to cool and resume their rubbery consistency in permanent 
adhesion to a glass or like surface. 
This invention overcomes the difficulty of securing a lead or like moulding 
to one face of a glass window for use in exterior weather conditions and 
it makes it possible to ornament an insulated glass window with a lead 
moulding that will not leak. While the invention is particularly useful 
for ornamenting double paned windows, its use is not restricted to double 
paned windows. It can be used on single pane windows, mirrors or the like. 
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a decorative 
window pane having a lead or like moulding overlying the outer face in a 
decorative configuration that will not leak in the location of the lead 
moulding even under exterior conditions and to provide a method of making 
such a decorative moulding. 
With these and other objects in view a decorative pane according to this 
invention comprises a pane having an outer face; a moulding overlying said 
outer face of said pane in a decorative configuration; a body of adhesive 
securing said moulding to said outer face of said pane as aforesaid; said 
body of adhesive being in adhesive contact with said outer face of said 
pane and in a mechanical locked relation with said moulding. 
The method of making a decorative pane according to the invention comprises 
the steps of laying a moulding in a jig in a decorative arrangement; 
mechanically interlocking a bead of adhesive to the underside of said 
moulding; pressing a pane and said adhesive together to adhesively secure 
said moulding to said pane; and removing said pane with said moulding 
adhered thereto. The invention will be clearly understood after reference 
to the following detailed specification read in conjunction with the 
drawings.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 10 generally refers to an insulated 
window. It comprises two panes of glass 12 and 14 separated by a spacer 16 
and held together by means of a polysulphide sealant that is well known in 
the window making art. The glass sealant is commercially available from 
various sources but one supplier known to this applicant who supplies the 
product is PRC Chemical Corporation of Canada Limited. Their trade 
identification is No. 428 Insulating Glass Sealant. 
In use, the plastic polysulphide sealant is mixed with a catalyst and in a 
period of about eight hours cures to a rubber-like consistency to provide 
a very permanent bond between the spacers and the two layers of glass. The 
space between the two panes of glass provides good insulation against 
temperature differences between outside and inside of the unit. 
Insulated window units of the type illustrated are common and it has become 
common practice to decorate them especially when used on doors. One form 
of decoration that is attractive is leading of one of the panes 12 or 14. 
The leading of glass, however, has given considerable difficulty because, 
as noted above, the conventional manner of leading glass tends to leak air 
and moisture and moisture tends to collect between the panes of glass if 
the pane leaks. Attempts to merely overlay a moulding of lead on the glass 
have failed because it has not been possible to provide proper adhesion 
between the lead and adhesive. 
With this invention, a lead or like moulding 18 having a cross-section as 
illustrated in FIG. 2 is laid in the channel of the jig 20 that is formed 
between the runners 22 and 24. Runners 22 and 24 as seen in FIG. 1 are 
arranged such that the channels defined thereby make up the decorative 
pattern that is to be applied to the outer face of the window unit 10. 
As indicated, the moulding 18 is secured to the face of the window pane by 
means of an adhesive 26. This adhesive is plastic when applied but cures 
to a firm rubber-like consistency under the action of a catalyst that is 
added thereto after about eight hours to provide a secure bond. The 
adhesive is first extruded from a nozzle into the channel formed at the 
underside of the moulding 18 as illustrated in FIG. 2. It will be noted 
that the sides of the adhesive channel have inwardly directed flanges 28 
which form a mechanical interlock with the adhesive against removal of the 
moulding from the adhesive in the finished product. 
The outer face of the window unit 10 preferably has a pattern that is 
similar to the pattern defined by the mouldings in the jig 20. This 
pattern can be defined in many ways, for example, adjacent areas can be 
different colours or have different surface effects, such as can be 
obtained by sand blasting to a pattern. 
The window unit 10 is applied to the jig 20 after the adhesive has been 
applied to the underside of the mouldings 18 and, as pressure is applied, 
the adhesive is pressed into a configuration similar to that illustrated 
in FIG. 3. Once pressed into location, the window unit 10 is removed from 
the jig with the moulding 18 secured thereto to provide a decorative 
moulding configuration on the outer face of the window unit. 
Once the adhesive cures, the moulding is permanently mounted on the outer 
face of the window pane 14. The adhesive makes a permanent bond to the 
glass and the mechanical interlock of the moulding and the adhesive 
results in a permanent bond of the moulding to the adhesive. 
FIG. 4 illustrates the manner in which the moulding 18 is formed at the 
intersections of the moulding in the jig. The inwardly extending members 
that form the channels for the adhesive are removed on both mouldings at 
the intersection and after the window unit is removed from the jig the 
lead metal of the moulding is formed with a punch-like forming tool 30 to 
provide a neat rounded appearance as at 32. 
The rubbery adhesive glass sealant 26 is coloured with an aluminum powder 
so that its resultant colour is very similar to the colour of the lead 
moulding. Thus, on viewing the window unit from behind, one does not see a 
discontinuity of colour as between the metal of the moulding and the 
adhesive. Alternatively, one can paint a lead coloured strip on the back 
side of the glass. In many cases, the colour of the adhesive as viewed 
from the back side of the window unit is not important because the back 
pane 12 of the window unit is often frosted or coloured. Even in cases 
where the back pane of the unit is clear, however, the appearance of the 
sealant as viewed from the back need not be objectionable if the sealant 
is coloured or a coloured strip is made on the back face of the pane. 
Similar considerations apply to single pane windows or mirrors. 
The glass sealant is as noted above relatively free flowing when applied to 
the channel of the moulding and has poor adhesive qualities but under the 
action of a catalyst it adheres to the glass and takes a permanent set to 
a rubbery consistency with sufficient resiliency to expand and contract 
with the glass under conditions of exterior use. It is contemplated that a 
hot melt glass adhesive could be used. These adhesives are well known. 
They normally have a rubbery consistency but can be made to flow and 
assume close contact with a sheet of glass by the application of heat. 
When they cool they adhere to the glass and reassume their rubbery 
resilient but non-plastic characteristic. Their resiliance in resetting 
permits them to expand and contract with the glass but maintain adhesive 
contact. These glass adhesives and their use on glass are well known in 
the window art. 
Embodiments of the invention other than the one illustrated will be 
apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, the particular form of 
the mechanical interlock of the moulding and adhesive is not critical nor 
is the particular way of mounting the moulding on the glass critical. 
In cases where the front face of the glass is differently coloured from 
area to area a moulding is necessary between the differently coloured 
areas to achieve a neat appearance. With this invention the final effect 
in such a case is the effect of a leaded glass window made with channeled 
cames of the prior art and glass pieces of different colours. Different 
colour effects can be applied to a window pane with silk screening 
processes. This process is relatively inexpensive so that the invention 
makes available a coloured leaded glass window at an inexpensive price 
that will achieve a perfect seal at the moulding.