Process for Producing Flat Objects of Glass, and Means for Carrying Out such Process.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Oct., 1892-Accepted, 12th Nov., 1892
Process for Producing Flat Objects of Glass, and Means for Carrying
Out such Process.
I, PAUL SIEVERT of Döhlen near Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony, German
Empire, Glass Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention has for its object a process for producing flat objects or articles of
glass, by stamping them out of a plastic plate of glass, such process reducing very
materially the costs of such articles, which hitherto have been produced by
a press process in moulds, or by cutting or grinding them out of solid plates
of glass.
And this invention has furthermore for its object the means for carrying out
such process.
In carrying out the process, I first produce a plate of glass by pouring molten
glass upon a table, appropriate or suitable for the purpose. The molten glass may
be white, opaque, colorless, or colored according to desire. The molten glass,
poured upon the table, is immediately afterwards rolled out by a roller to the
thickness of the articles to be produced.
While the plate of glass of proper thickness is still in a plastic state, a second
roller is caused to run on or over its surface, which second roller is provided on its
surface with sharp edged fillets or rims, forming the contours or outlines of the
articles to be stamped out of the plastic sheet of glass. The sharp-edged fillets
enter, by the. rotation of the roller, into the plastic glass, and mark in the glass
the articles to be produced, without completely stamping them out, so that the
sheet of glass, and all the articles stamped, still form one continuous or coherent
sheet or plate.
If it becomes necessary to prevent a conflux of still molten parts of the glass
in the recesses or contours thus produced, a blast pipe may follow the stamping
out roller, in order to bring the plate or sheet to a solidified state by a blast
of air.
The entire sheet or plate of glass, with the contours or recesses pressed into it,
is then transferred to an annealing oven, and after having been properly cooled
down, the articles figured by the recesses may be broken out of the sheet of glass,
or, as I prefer, the complete sheet of glass may be subjected to a grinding process
on one or both sides. By this process, all the articles contained in the sheet or
plate are ground either smooth, bright, or obscure, on one or both sides. If, after
this, the single objects or articles are broken from the plate or sheet, the thin parts
of glass at the bottom of the recesses having been materially reduced by the
grinding process, the said articles are complete; requiring only (in some cases) a
slight grinding at the broken-off edges.
It is evident, that this process may be employed with ease and safety for
stamping out articles of very narrow contours in some parts, such as, for instance,
letters or numbers, to be produced in glass by this process. Besides letters and
numbers, may mention, as examples: frames of various kinds, prisms for
decorating and other purposes, lenses, crosses, buttons, rings, in short, all objects of
glass which may be stamped out of a flat sheet or plate.
It is also obvious, that many articles thus produced may be provided partially
or wholly with a convex or concave surface, as, for instance, with lenses or
buttons. And such articles, if necessary, may be provided in the same process with
one or more holes.
The surface of the roller carrying the fillets or rims, forming the contours of the

page_text: articles to be produced, may be covered as much as possible with such contours, in
order to avoid loss of surface in the glass sheet.
Therefore, within the contours of large articles, or within parts of such contours,
the contours of smaller objects or articles may be arranged, so that the area of the
glass sheet is used up as much as possible.
By running the rollers with the fillets over or on the plastic sheet of glass,
and pressing said sharp edged fillets into the plastic glass, so many objects are
produced, as there are contoured figures on the roller's surface, and such
production is multiplied or repeated by the numbers of full revolutions, or
fraction of revolutions, of the said rollers over the length of the sheet of plastic
glass.
The sharp edged fillets or rims on the roller's surface may, if they become
blunt by frequent use, be resharpened by proper and well-known processes for
sharpening metal edges. These fillets, which generally may have a continuous form,
may in some cases be interrupted on the surface of the rollers, and especially in
Buch cases if the form and number of articles to be produced in one sheet require a
better holding together with the remaining skeleton glass plate or sheet.
The roller with the conical shaped fillets or rims on its surface, may be replaced
by a plate provided at its lower or acting surface with such fillets or rims, and
which plate, after the molten glass has been rolled out to proper thickness by a
smooth roller, is pressed into the plastic glass, in order to stamp the contours of the
figures or articles to be produced into the glass.
In the annexed drawings, I have shewn, as an example, the means for carrying
out my process.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation, and Fig. 2 is a plan view in part, and Fig. 3 and end
view of the machine.
a is the table upon which the molten glass is poured. Over this table, and on
proper side boards of such table, a carriage is arranged to run with its wheels b,
said carriage carrying the rollers c. and d. c is a smooth roller, intended to roll
down the molten glass to the thickness which it is intended to give to the articles
to be produced. The roller c may, at will, have a fluted surface, if it is intended to
produce articles with fluted or corrugated surfaces. d is a roller provided on its
surface with the fillets or rims of A shape, a cross section of which is seen in
Fig. 4. The roller d follows the roller c. The contour fillets on the roller d enter,
if the carriage takes both rollers over the glass, into the glass, while the latter is
still in the proper plastic condition. The fillets thus form the reverse identical
contours in the glass, without entirely stamping the figures out of the glass, if the
articles to be produced are intended to be ground on one or both sides, as long as
they still form part of the coherent glass sheet. I preferably mount the two
rollers c and d. in adjustable bearings, in order to regulate their positions, which
may become necessary for the roller c, in order to determine the thickness of the
glass, and consequently of the articles to be produced, and for the roller d, in order
to determine the depth of the fillets entering into the glass.
Motion may be imparted to the carriage and rollers by means of a rope or
chain e, as indicated, running around the pulleys f on the axles of the rollers c
and d; or the motion may be imparted by pulleys keyed upon intermediate shafts,
or the axles of the carriage, from which axles or intermediate shafts the rotary
motion is imparted to the rollers, by means of cog wheels or friction wheels.
In Figures 2 and 3, the surface of the roller d is indicated as partly covered
with contour fillets, but I wish it to be noticed, that I preferably cover the entire
surface with such contours, the detail of part of one of such contour being shewn
in cross section in Fig. 4.
For smaller manufactures, the carriage may be worked by hand. I prefer to
apply a weight m to the rope or chain e, in order to secure the safe working of such
rope or chain.
I prefer to make the roller d with its fillets by chill casting, either in one piece,
or composed of parallel rings, or of segments.

page_text: In Figures 5, 6, and 7, I have shewn a side view, plan, and end view of the
machine for employing a plate with the contour fillets on its lower surface, instead
of a roller d, as in the former instance ;
a being the table, to receive the molten glass; c being the roller for rolling the
molten glass down to the proper thickness.
نا
'The carriage of the roller c is shewn, in this instance, as provided, besides the
running wheels b, with guiding wheels b', the latter taking underneath the rails &²
of the runner wheels, in order to take up the pressure exerted by the roller c iu
smoothing down the glass surface. This device may also be applied to the carriage
in Fig. 1, which carries both rollers d and c. The plate is mounted on a wheel
carriage l, which runs upon a pair of rail guides g, of angle iron. h are the runner
wheels of the apparatus, and are bolts or brackets projecting from the sides of
the carriage, and taking under the rails, to resist the upward pressure put upon
the plate i.
The frame of the apparatus carries guides for one or more stems m,
secured to the back of the plate i. The stem m, which is free to slide vertically in
its guides, is cranked or slotted to receive an excentric disc n, keyed to a horizontal
shaft, mounted in a socket bearing of the frame 1. This shaft is provided with a
handle o, the turning of which causes the excontric to depress the plate i into the
molten sheet of glass. The motion of the handle may be limited by an adjustable
stop, in order to determine how far the plate i shall enter with its fillets into the
plastic sheet of glass.
In employing this apparatus, the roller c with its carriage is first run over the
molten glass, to bring it down to the required evenness and thickness, and following
this roller, the plate apparatus is set in motion, so as to cover by its plate i the
first part of the plastic glass sheet; the plate is then brought down by the
mechanism above described, so that the contour on the lower face of the plate i
enters at a predetermined depth into the molten glass.
This operation is repeated step by step over the entire length of the plastic
glass sheet; of course, the carriage of roller c must be shifted far enough, so as to
make room for the apparatus with plate i for carrying out the pressing or stamping
process over the entire length of the plastic sheet of glass.
I wish it to be understood, that with both the machines or apparatus, shewn in
Figs. 1 to 3, and in Figs. 5 to 7, employing the roller d or the plate i, the objects
or articles may be entirely stamped out of the glass plate, leaving me free to
remove from the glass sheet the shaped articles or objects singly, after the rolling
or pressing operation or operations.
But by so doing, I deprive myself of the advantage of grinding the articles or
objects on one or both sides, while still forming one continuous or coherent sheet
of glass.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The process of manufacturing flat objects of glass, by stamping the same out
of, or their contours into, a plate or sheet of glass rolled down to proper thickness,
such stamping being performed while the glass is still in a plastic condition.
2. In combination with the process in the foregoing claim, grinding the stamped
articles on one or both sides, while these articles are still coherent in one plate or
sheet of glass.
3. For carrying out the process in Claim 1, the arrangement of two rollers c
and d, of which the first running roller, c, has a smooth, or it may be a ribbed
surface, and performs the operation of rolling down the molten glass poured on a
table, to the thickness required for the objects and articles to be produced, while
the following, second roller, d, provided on its surface with A shaped fillets, forms
the contours of the articles or objects to be produced, by being run over and in
contact with the molten glass.
4. Replacing the roller d of the foregoing claim, by a plate or plates provided

page_text: with fillets forming the contours of the objects or articles to be produced, and
means for pressing said fillets into a sheet or plate of glass while still in a plastic
condition.
Doted this cal
1
1000
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.