Patent ID: 8245539

Claim:
A method of producing a glass sheet comprising the steps of: fusion drawing a glass ribbon along a draw direction into a viscous zone downstream from a root of a forming wedge, wherein the glass ribbon includes opposed edges and a lateral portion extending between the opposed edges along a lateral direction transverse to the draw direction; drawing the glass ribbon into a setting zone downstream from the viscous zone, wherein the glass ribbon is set from a viscous state to an elastic state; drawing the glass ribbon into an elastic zone downstream from the setting zone, wherein the lateral portion of the glass ribbon in the elastic zone includes a profile shape along the lateral direction comprising a substantially curved set profile shape; creating a vacuum to force the entire lateral portion of the glass ribbon to engage an anvil portion of a breaking device in the elastic zone, wherein the glass ribbon is held such that the profile shape of the lateral portion of the glass ribbon comprises a substantially planar engaged profile shape that substantially matches a shape of the anvil portion, and wherein the vacuum is provided by a plurality of pressure zones that are operated independent from one another; forming a score line along the lateral portion of the glass ribbon; breaking away a glass sheet from the glass ribbon along the score line while the entire lateral portion of the glass ribbon is forced against the anvil portion by the vacuum; and then releasing the glass ribbon from the anvil portion such that the profile shape of the glass ribbon does not match the engaged profile shape.