Machine for working a glass plate

Abstract: A glass plate working machine comprising: a cutting unit (1) for forming a cutting line on an unshaped glass plate to cut the glass plate along the line; a breaking unit (3) for automatically breaking the glass plate along the cutting line; a grinding unit (2) for grinding an edge of the plate cut; and control means connected to the cutting unit (1), the breaking unit (3), and the grinding unit (2) for controlling numerically the cutting unit (1), the breaking unit (3), and grinding unit (2); the breaking unit (3) comprising an end cutter (60) for forming an auxiliary cutting line and a press unit (61) for performing a breaking operation, the end cutter (60) and the press unit (61) being provided on a combination member of X and Y axis guide and drive means (65, 66), and being controlled in position in a plane coordinate system by a pre-stored program, a cutter wheel of the end cutter (60) being controlled with respect to angle.

Description: The present invention relates to a glass breaking device suitable for forming a window glass for an automobile, etc., by breaking an unshaped glass plate, and a glass plate working machine including such a breaking device. Conventional breaking devices in glass plate working machines mainly include fire type ones and pressing and breaking type ones. For example, the fire type device includes a flame blowout unit disposed at a required position outside a glass plate cutting line such that the flame from the flame blowout unit is applied to a glass plate to heat same to thereby break the plate. The press-breaking type device includes an end cutter and a press unit disposed at required positions. The cutter is first operated to form an end cutting line on the glass plate and then the press unit is operated to break the glass. As mentioned above, in any of the conventional breaking devices, a flame blowout unit or an end cutter and a press unit are required to be prepared and disposed at required positions. If the shape of the glass plate changes, the layout of the flame blowout units or end cutter and press unit set for obtaining the previous shape of the glass plates must be canceled and a new layout of these devices must be made. These Jobs are done almost by workers. If a plurality of the conventional breaking devices is used, they must be disposed in a narrow space while avoiding interference from each other. In addition, effective arrangement of the end cutter and press unit at desired positions is very troublesome, difficult, and time consuming, so that bad breakage, for example, chipping would occur to thereby deteriorate the productivity greatly. As described above, in the conventional breaking apparatus of the glass plate working machine, the end cutter and press unit are disposed at predetermined positions. Thus, if the shape of a glass plate to be formed or cut varies, the layout of the end cutter and press unit must be changed correspondingly, so that the work is complicated, much work time is required, and this process is not suitable for flexible manufacturing if various forms of glass plates are to be obtained. The present invention has been made in view of the above problems. It is an object of the present invention to provide a glass plate breaking apparatus which is capable of adjusting immediately to a different shape of a glass plate to be formed newly without requiring any re-layout of the end cutter and press unit which have been once laid out in a fixed manner, simplifying the breaking operation, reducing the work time, and is suitable for flexible manufacturing. EP-A-0,217,658 discloses apparatus for breaking a glass plate comprising a cutting unit, a breaking unit and a grinding unit. The cutting unit and the grinding unit are numerically controlled. The breaking unit is of the above described conventional type. According to the present invention there is provided a glass plate breaking apparatus comprising: a cutting unit for forming a cutting line on an unshaped glass plate; a breaking unit for breaking the glass plate along the cutting line; a grinding unit for grinding an edge of the plate cut; cutting control means connected to the cutting unit, for controlling numerically the cutting unit; grinding control means connected to the grinding unit for controlling numerically the grinding unit; breaking control means connected to the breaking unit for controlling the breaking unit for automatically breaking the glass plate along the cutting line, said breaking unit comprising an end cutter for forming an auxiliary cutting line and a press unit for performing a breaking operation, the end cutter and the press unit being provided on a combination member of X and Y axis guide and drive means, and being controlled in position in a plane coordinate system by a pre-stored program, a cutter wheel of the end cutter being controlled with respect to angle by rotation about an axis perpendicular to the X and Y axis guide directions. The present invention is applicable also to a glass plate working machine which produces an automobile window glass, for example, glass for side windows, front windows, rear windows and rear quarter windows on a flexible manufacturing basis. Of course, the present invention is applicable to glass plate working machine for grinding and processing the edge of not only an automobile glass but also a table top glass put on a table and other glass plates having a deformed shape, etc. A glass plate working machine according to the present invention may be arranged such that a glass plate is worked and conveyed in accordance with a numerical control system. A glass plate working machine according to the present invention may be arranged such that grinding and cutting of glass are performed concurrently under the control of a numerical control device or glass plates are sequentially fed under control of the numerical control device. A glass plate working machine according to the present invention may be arranged such that one machine performs cutting, breaking and grinding operations on an unshaped glass plate under the control of a numerical control device in a line conveyer system. The glass plate working machine according to the present invention may be arranged such that a glass plate is ground in the grinding stage while a cutting line is being formed by a cutter on another glass plate in the cutting stage. One of glass plate working machines according to the present invention includes a cutter for forming a cutting line on an unshaped glass plate in accordance with numerical information, a grind unit for grinding a cut edge of the glass plate, a breaking unit provided between the cutter and the grinding unit for breaking the glass along its cutting line, and a glass conveying unit for sequentially conveying the glass plate to the cutter, breaking unit, grind unit and, when required, a discharge unit. The glass plate working machine according to the present invention may be arranged such that the cutter and the grinding unit are connected to each other by a common driving mechanism to thereby interlock the respective motions, to perform the cutting and grinding operations in parallel and to simultaneously break a glass plate to be transferred to the grinding unit in the next cycle. An embodiment of the present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the drawings BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a front view of an illustrative embodiment of a glass plate working machine according to the present invention; Figs. 2 and 3 each are a cut-away plan view of the working machine of Fig. 1; FIG. 4 is a plan view of a glass plate conveyer of the working machine of FIG. 1; FIG. 5 is a plan view of a breaking unit of the working machine of FIG. 1; FIGs. 6 - 8 are side views and cross-sectional views of the working machine of FIG. 1; FIGs. 9 and 10 are a front view and a side view, respectively, of a grinding head of the working machine of FIG. 1; FIGs. 11 and 12 are a front view and a side view, respectively, of a cutting head of the working machine of FIG. 1; FIG. 13 is an enlarged plan view of the breaking unit of the working machine of FIG. 1; FIG. 14 is an enlarged front view of the breaking unit of the working machine of FIG. 1; FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view of the essential portion of the breaking unit of FIG. 14; FIG. 16 illustrates the operation of an end cutter of FIG. 14; Referring to FIGs. 1 - 16, a glass plate working machine according to the present invention includes a cutter 1 shown in the right-hand portion of FIG. 1, a grinding unit 2 shown in the left-hand portion of FIG. 1, a breaking unit 3 at the center of FIG. 1 and a glass plate conveying unit 4 behind those elements. Insertion table 5 is disposed to the right of cutter 1 while take-out conveyer 6 is disposed behind grinding unit 2. Cutting head 7 of cutter 1 and polishing or grinding head 8 of grinding unit 2 are connected to a common driving means 9 such that they perform the same parallel motion in the X-Y orthogonal plane coordinate system under control of the numerically controlled interlock means 9. Cutting head 7 and grinding head 8 shares the X and Y axes of the orthogonal coordinate system. In the glass plate working machine, cutting head 7 and grinding head 8 are adapted to move in the X axis direction while work table 19 which holds a glass plate is adapted to move in the Y axis direction as shown in FIG. 2. Mount 12 is provided through gate-type mount 11 upstanding at each end of base 10. Two slide rail units 13 are provided in front of the mount 12 so as to extend in parallel in the X axis direction. Slide rail unit 13 includes parallel rails 14 provided on mount 12 so as to extend parallel to the X direction and a plurality of slides 15 which move on rails 14 as shown in FIG. 3, and to which a linear movement base 16 is fixed. The linear movement base 16 is provided with cutting head 7 and grinding head 8. Therefore, cutting head 7 and grinding head 8 are moved in the X axis direction in conjunction with the movement of linear movement base 16 of slide 13. The drive of linear movement base 16 in the X axis direction is made by feed screw 17 provided between the pair of slide rails 14 and X axis control motor 18 connected to feed screw 17. Driving means 9 includes rail units 13, linear movement base 16 and motor 18, as mentioned above. Work table 19 is provided below cutting head and grinding head 8 so as to be moved in the Y axis direction. Disposed on work table 19 are cutting table 20 corresponding to cutting head 7 and sucker unit 21 corresponding to grinding head 8. Cutting table 20 has an upper flat surface, which is wider than an unshaped glass plate 22 to be cut, and is covered with a sheet on which the glass plate 22 is supported so as not to impair the glass plate 22. Sucker unit 21 is connected through a piping valve to a vacuum pump (not shown) so as to vacuum suck the glass plate. Work table 19 has slides 23 parallel to each other in the Y axis direction at each end thereof and each engaging a corresponding slide rail 24. By such engagement, table 19 is supported slidably in the Y direction on slide rails 24. Since slide rails 24 extend in the Y axis direction on the base 10, table 19 is guided movably in the Y axis direction by rails 24. As shown in FIGs. 2 and 3, the drive of table 19 in the Y axis direction is made by a pair of feed screws 25 provided along slide rails 24, a pair of gear boxes 26 connected to feed screws 25, line shaft 27 connected with gear boxes 26, and a Y axis control motor 28 which rotates line shaft 27 through a belt transmission means. Disposed on the front 29 of linear movement base 16 movable in the X axis direction, is a pair of bearing units 30 each corresponding to each of sucker unit 21 and cutting table 20 on work table 19. Each bearing unit 30 has shaft 31 supported by bearings. Shafts 31 are disposed along an vertical axis normal to the X-Y plane coordinate system. Cutting head 7 and grinding head 8 are attached to those corresponding shafts 31. By rotation of shafts 31, cutting head 7 and grinding head 8 are rotated around the corresponding vertical axis normal to the X-Y coordinate axes. Rotation of cutting head 7 and grinding head 8 is made by bevel gears 32 attached to shafts 31 of bearing units 30, line shaft 33 which is provided with the bevel gears 32 at the ends thereof, and Z axis control motor 34 which drives line shaft 33. As shown in FIGs. 11 and 12, cutting head 7 includes cutter body 36 with cutter wheel 35, setting slide 37 and cross slide 38 which adjust the set position of cutter body 36 in the two directions orthogonal to each other in a horizontal plane, and frame 39 to which setting slide 37 is attached. Frame 39 is attached at an upper portion to shaft 31 of bearing unit 30. The position of setting slide 37 is adjusted in a predetermined direction by screw 371. The position of cross slide 38 is adjusted by screw 381 in another direction intersecting with the former predetermined direction. Cutter body 36 includes body 40 attached to setting slide 37, piston rod 41 held movably vertically, for example, through a slide bearing, and air cylinder 42 which vertically moves piston rod 41 attached to body 40, a cutter wheel 35 being attached to an end of piston rod which moves vertically in the Z direction. When a glass plate is to be cut, piston rod 41 lowers to apply a cutting pressure to cutter wheel 35 and hence to the glass plate on cutter wheel 35. The position of cutter wheel 35 can be adjusted to the position of the rotational axis of cutting head 7 or the position of the axis 391 of shaft 31 of bearing unit 30 by rotating adjusting screws 371 and 381 of setting slide 37 and cross slide 38. The position of cutter wheel 35 can deviate from the position of axis 391, so that fine adjustment of the locus of cutting on glass plate 22 by wheel 35 is made. Thus, the locus of cutting is either enlarged or reduced. Of course, cutter wheel 35 is angularly controlled under the control of rotation of shaft 31 such that its cutting direction or moving direction is always tangential to the cutting line. As shown in FIGs. 9 and 10, grinding head 8 includes spindle motor 43, cutting adjustment slide 44 and cross slide 45 for adjusting the position of the spindle motor 43 in two orthogonal horizontal directions, and slide 46 for adjusting the vertical position of grinding wheel 47 which is attached to the shaft of spindle motor 43. Cutting adjustment slide 44 is moved adjustably in a predetermined direction by turning screw 441. Cross slide 45 is adjustably moved in another direction orthogonal to the former direction by turning screw 451. Vertical slide 46 is adjustably moved in a direction orthogonal to both the aforementioned directions by turning screw 461. Shaft 31 of bearing unit 30 is attached to an upper portion of cross slide 45 and the entire grinding head 8 is suspended by shaft 31. Grinding head 8 is attached such that the peripheral grinding or polishing surface of grinding wheel 47 coincides with the axis 392 of shaft 31 by adjusting cutting adjustment slide 44 and cross slide 45 or by turning screws 441 and 451. As just described above, when a grinding or polishing point P on the periphery of grinding wheel 47 coincides with axis 392 of shaft 31, a grinding point P on the periphery of grinding wheel 47 draws a locus of movement coinciding substantially with cutter wheel 35 of cutting head 7. In grinding head 8, cutting adjustment slide 44 is moved by screw 441 such that grinding point P on the periphery of grinding wheel 47 is ahead of the axis of shaft 31, and that the locus of movement of the point P is slightly reduced compared to that of cutter wheel 35 to give a quantity of cutting to thereby adjust the ground finished size. Of course, grinding wheel 47 also is angularly controlled by control over the rotation of shaft 31 such that the line connecting the grinding point P on the periphery of grinding wheel 47 with the rotational center of grinding wheel 47 is maintained at all times at a constant angle to the edge line of the glass plate. Glass plate conveyer unit 4 is provided above work table 19 along cutting table 20 and grinding sucker 21. Glass plate conveyer unit 4 has a pair of feed shaft mount 50 on the side frame bases 11 of base mount 10 and extending parallel to mount 12 and movable in the X axis direction. A movable base 52 is provided through slide 53 on parallel guide rails 51 provided on the underside of feed shaft mount 50 so as to be moved or guided parallel to the X axis direction. The movement of movable base 52 of glass plate conveyer unit 4 is made by feed screw 90 provided between the pair of guide rails 51, and feed shaft drive motor 92 connected through transmission means 91 such as a toothed belt to feed screw 90. Feed shaft drive motor 92 is controlled on the basis of numerical information from the numerical control unit. Therefore, as will be described later, the conveyance or transfer of a glass plate by glass plate conveyer unit 4 is accurately made by numerical control. Movable base 52 is provided with a movable frame 55 through brackets 54 at the underside thereof. Movable frame 55 is provided so as to extend through cutting unit 1 and grinding unit 2 and has sucker pads 56 (56A, 56B and 56C) at the respective positions of the each working stage, namely, corresponding to those of heads 7 and 8. Namely, sucker pads 56 are located above insertion table 5, cutting table 20 and grinding suckers 21. As shown in FIGs. 4 and 5, sucker pads 56 are attached to corresponding air cylinders 58 attached to movable frame 55 or movable base 52 through brackets 57. Sucker pads 56 are attached to piston rods 59 of air cylinders 58, which are arranged such that by extension of piston rods 59, sucker pads 56 are caused to suck an appropriate glass plate 22 so as to lift glass plate 22 when piston rods 59 is moved upwards. Glass plate conveyer unit 49 moves movable frame 55 in the X direction to move the glass plate 22 to next working stage under the state in which glass plate 22 is lifted. After this movement, sucker pads 56 are again lowered by air cylinders 58 and then suction force which sucks glass plate 22 is released such that glass plate 20 is transferred to that working stage. Each air cylinder 58 has a rotation stopping mechanism which stops the rotation of its sucker pad 56 when it is moved vertically. Breaking unit 3 disposed between cutting unit 1 and grinding unit 2 is arranged to break glass plate 22 along its cutting line. Especially shown in detail in FIGs. 13 - 16, breaking unit 3 includes end cutter 60 which forms an auxiliary cutting line, which facilitate breakage, outside the cutting line formed by cutter 1, press unit 61 which breaks off that portion of the glass plate outside the cutting line, breaking conveyer 62 on which the glass plate 22 to be broken is put and by which the broken glass cullet is conveyed away, vertically movable sucker 63 for pressing the glass plate 22 against breaking conveyer 62 during the time when end cutter 60 and press 61 are operating, lifting the glass plate 22 after breakage and feeding the glass plate to the next grinding unit 2 . The glass plate working machine of the present embodiment is arranged such that the positions of end cutter 60 and press unit 61 are controlled in the orthogonal X-Y plane coordinate system by a previously stored numerical control program so as to be stopped sequentially at required positions for auxiliary cutting or pressing. End cutter 60 and press unit 61 are provided through a common bracket 64 on a slide assembly 67 of an X axis direction guide and drive means 65 and a Y axis direction guide and drive means 66 arranged in orthogonal relationship. As shown in FIG. 13, the X axis direction guide and drive means 65 includes X axis linear slide 68 provided on the underside of movable base 52 of glass plate conveyer unit 4 so as to be parallel to the direction in which glass plate conveyer unit 4 moves while the Y axis direction guide and drive means 66 includes Y axis linear slide 71 attached through a bracket to slide 69 of X axis linear slide 68 so as to be orthogonal to slide 69. X and Y axis linear slides 68 and 71 each mainly include a guided drive 70 and servo motor 70A. Slides 69 and 69A are fed stepwise by a servo motor, for example under control of a controller. Of course, slides 68 and 71 are connected to the controller which has the functions of writing into and reading from a memory, receiving teaching data, transmitting data and includes a CPU, etc.. As shown in FIGs. 14 - 16, end cutter 60 mainly includes cutter block 72 to which a cutter wheel is rotatably attached so as to be parallel to the surface of the glass plate, air cylinder 73 which moves cutter block 72 vertically toward and away from glass plate 2 and angle control motor 74 which directs cutter block 72 in an auxiliary cutting direction or in an end cutting direction. Cutter block 72 is attached to piston rod 75 of air cylinder 73. Timing pulley 77 is attached through bearing 76 concentrically with piston rod 75 to the underside of air cylinder 73 which presses the cutter wheel against glass plate 22. Protrusion 79 with slot 78 extends from the underside of timing pulley 77. By turning protrusion 79 attached to timing pulley 77, protrusion 79 is engaged with engaging member 80 to thereby change the direction of cutter block 72 and hence to case the cutter wheel to align with the auxiliary cutting direction. Of course, timing pulley 77 can be driven through belt 81 by angle control motor 74 attached to the common bracket 64. Press unit 61 which includes air cylinder 83 and push rod 82 attached to the piston rod of air cylinder 83 is attached to bracket 64 through air cylinder 83. Press unit 61 breaks glass plate 22 along its end cutting line by pushing push rod 82 against that portion of glass plate 22 outside the auxiliary cutting line on glass plate 22 under the actuation of air cylinder 83. As shown in FIGs. 13 and 14, a pair of cutter 60 and press unit 61 which is in charge of breaking the glass plate is provided on each of the left and right sides of central vertically movable sucker 63 which conveys the glass plate so as to be in charge of the corresponding one of the right and left ranges. A slide assembly 67 which includes an orthogonal assembly structure of a pair of X and Y linear slides 68 and 71 is provided on each of the right and left sides of sucker 63. Each slide assembly 67 includes corresponding end cutter 60 and press unit 61 attached thereto. The slide assemblies 67 are controlled independently of each other in order to reduce a breaking cycle time. The operation of breaking unit 3 will be described next. When glass plate 22 with a cutting line formed thereon by cutter 1 has returned to above breaking conveyer 62 by sucker pad 56 of cutter 1 and glass conveyer unit 4, vertically movable sucker 63 lowers and pushes glass plate 22 against breaking conveyer 62 so as not to move easily. Under such conditions, the right and left pairs of end cutters 60 and press units 61 are sequentially moved to the required positions by the controller based on data previously inputted, then stopped there, and required angle control is provided over the cutter wheel to form an auxiliary cutter line or end cutting line. Press unit 61 is operated under the sequential position control in the forward way to provide a breaking press. When the pressing operation has ended and end cutters 60 and press units 61 have returned to their origins, vertically movable sucker 63 is moved upward to lift the remaining glass plate for preparing for delivery to grinding unit 2. Breaking conveyer 62 of breaking unit 3 extends above work table 19 between cutting table 20 and grinding sucker 21. Breaking conveyer 62 is disposed such that its upper surface is substantially flush with the respective adjacent upper surfaces of cutting table 20 and grinding sucker 21. Breaking conveyer 62 includes conveyer belt 84 moving across the upper surface is work table 19, support plate and frame 85 to allow conveyer belt 84 to move in a recirculating manner, and drive motor 88 attached through a bracket to support plate and frame 85 to drive one drum 87. The breaking conveyer is supported by mount base 10 through bracket 89 on each of the ends of support plate and frame 85. The upper surface of breaking conveyer 62 is sized so as to support the entire surface of the maximum-sized glass plate 22 fed to the present glass plate working machine. The cullet produced by breaking the glass plate is discharged out of the present machine by driving conveyer belt 84 and simultaneously, the machine receives a glass plate to be fed next on its new cleaned belt surface of the conveyer belt 84. The operation of the glass plate working machine of the present embodiment and the process from the delivery of a glass plate to its finish will be described sequentially. When the glass plate working machine starts in operation, cutter wheel 35, grinding wheel 47, work table 19 and glass plate conveyer unit 4 stand by at their origins or start positions. The origin of work table 19 is under sucker pad 56 of glass plate conveyer unit 4. At the start position of work table 19, the line passing the centers of sucker pads 56 aligning in the direction of progress of glass plate 22 is arranged to coincide with the centerline of worktable 19. The origin of glass plate conveyer unit 4 is a position where transfer frame 55 is near the glass plate feed or insertion side or when sucker pad 56 and more particularly sucker pad 56A are located above insertion table 5. It is defined when sucker pad 56 is located at a position shown in FIG. 1. As described above, when each working unit is at the origin, first, an unshaped glass plate 22 is put on insertion table 5 for glass plate 22. A start button (not shown) for the working machine is pressed to start up the machine. Sucker pad 56A then lowers to suck and lift glass plate 22. Transfer base 52 moves under this situation due to the movement of glass plate conveyer unit 4. When sucker pad 56A arrives at a predetermined position on cutting table 20, sucker pad 56A lowers and releases the suction for glass plate 22 to put it on cutting table 20, again rises and returns. Directly thereafter, transfer base 52 starts to move back to the origin at which time cutting head 7, grinding head 8 and work table 19 start to move under numerical control and to perform a cutting operation, and, in more detail, a cutting line formation by cutter wheel 35. When cutting head 7, grinding head 8 and table 19 return to their respective origins after the cutting operation has ended, sucker pad 56 again lowers to lift glass plate 22. Thus, by the movement of transfer base 52, the cut glass plate 22 on cutting table 20 is moved onto breaking conveyer 62. A new glass plate 22 is fed to cutting table 20 from insertion table 5. When a cutting line is being formed on glass plate 22 on cutting table 20, breaking unit 3 forms a cutting line in position on the glass plate with end cutter 60 disposed at the predetermined position. Sucker pad 56 then lowers, sucks glass plate 22, operates press unit 62 disposed at a predetermined position to break off and remove unnecessary glass portions such as glass ends, while lifting sucker pad 56 and the resulting glass plate 22 having a predetermined outer shape. Thereafter, termination of the cutting operation by cutting unit 1 is awaited. After the cutting operation has ended, glass plate 22 on breaking unit 3 is transferred to sucker 21 of grinding unit 2 by the operation of glass plate conveyer unit 4. The next glass plate with a cutting line thereon is fed to the breaking unit 3 and a new glass plate 22 is fed to cutting table 20. The shaped glass plate 22 transferred to grinding unit 2 is ground or polished concurrently with the next cutting operation. At the breaking unit 3, the breaking operation is performed concurrently with the cutting line forming operation and grinding operation. Of course, the operation of grinding units 3 is performed in conjunction with the operation of cutting unit 1. Glass plate 22 ground by grinding unit 2 is moved to taking conveyer 6 in the next operation cycle of glass plate conveyer unit 4. Glass plate 22 is taken out of the glass plate working machine by the operation of taking conveyer 6. As described above, the glass plate working machine of the present embodiment is above to perform cutting and grinding operations concurrently using the common control means, so that the number of operations is greatly reduced compared to the conventional technique which uses separate units. The glass plate working machine of the present embodiment is able to cut and grind a glass plate on the basis of single numerical data, so that it can easily adjust to a different kind of material to be worked and is suitable for flexible manufacturing. While cutting unit 1 and grinding unit 2 are working the glass plate, breaking unit 3 automatically breaks another glass plate simultaneously, so that the breaking operation has a time margin to thereby ensure automatic glass breaking. The glass working machine of the present embodiment includes cutting unit 1, breaking unit 3, grinding unit 2 and glass conveyer unit 4 extending through cutting unit 1, breaking unit 3 and grinding unit 2, so that this sole machine can automatically perform the operations of supplying unshaped glass plate 22 to taking ground glass plate 22 in a continuous manner without requiring manual operations. The machine of this embodiment is very compact, reduces the space and requires no large-scaled system which controls the respective units in a systematic manner compared to the large-scaled line glass plate working machine which includes separate units which are sequentially connected through a conveyer. The present machine is convenient for changing the kind of products and suitable for flexible manufacturing.

Claims: A glass plate breaking apparatus comprising: a cutting unit (1) for forming a cutting line on an unshaped glass plate; a breaking unit (3) for breaking the glass plate along the cutting line; a grinding unit (2) for grinding an edge of the plate cut; and cutting control means connected to the cutting unit (1), for controlling numerically the cutting unit (1); grinding control means connected to the grinding unit (2) for controlling numerically the grinding unit (2); said breaking unit (3) comprising an end cutter (60) for forming an auxiliary cutting line and a press unit (61) for performing a breaking operation; characterised by breaking control means connected to the breaking unit (3) for controlling the breaking unit (3) for automatically breaking the glass plate along the cutting line, the end cutter (60) and the press unit (61) being provided on a combination member of X and Y axis guide and drive means (65, 66), and being controlled in position in a plane coordinate system by a pre-stored program, a cutter wheel of the end cutter (60) being controlled with respect to angle by rotation about an axis perpendicular to the X and Y axis guide directions. Apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising glass plate conveying means (4) wherein the X guide and drive means (65) includes X axis linear slide (68) disposed parallel to a direction in which the glass plate conveying means (4) moves, the Y guide and drive means (66) includes Y axis linear slide (71) disposed perpendicular to said direction. Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the end cutter (60) includes an air cylinder (73), a cutter block (72) attached to a piston rod (75) of the air cylinder (73), and a cutter wheel rotatably attached to the cutter block (72). Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the end cutter (60) further includes an angle control motor (74) for aligning the cutter wheel with an auxiliary cutting direction. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the press unit (61) includes an air cylinder (83) and a push rod (82) attached to a piston rod of the air cylinder (83).

Inventors: BANDO SHIGERU, BANDO, SHIGERU
Applicants: BANDO KIKO CO, BANDO KIKO CO. LTD.
Application year: 1991
Main classification: C03B33
IPC codes: C03B33