Patent ID: 7363777

Claim:
A method for heat treating a plurality of glass sheets, said method comprising the steps of: placing a first plurality of the glass sheets within a first closed cassette, wherein said first closed cassette includes: a first mounting structure; a first plurality of enclosed sections that are supported by said first mounting structure such that each enclosed section is physically separated from their adjacent enclosed section(s) in a manner where there is an open passageway between major surfaces of each pair of the supported enclosed sections; and each enclosed section is designed to hold and support a portion of the first plurality of glass sheets in a manner where there is a space between major surfaces of each pair of the supported glass sheets; placing a second plurality of glass sheets within a second closed cassette, wherein said second closed cassette includes: a second mounting structure; a second plurality of enclosed sections that are supported by said second mounting structure such that each enclosed section is physically separated from their adjacent enclosed section(s) in a manner where there is an open passageway between major surfaces of each pair of the supported enclosed sections; and each enclosed section is designed to hold and support a portion of the second plurality of glass sheets in a manner where there is a space between major surfaces of each pair of the supported glass sheets; placing the first closed cassette and the second closed cassette into an oven; and operating the oven such that hot air flows across the major surfaces of each enclosed section of the first closed cassette and the second closed cassette to heat said glass sheets.