Patent ID: 7815056

Claim:
A method for heat treating a plurality of glass sheets for display substrates each comprising at least a respective upper edge and an opposing bottom edge, comprising: placing the plurality of glass sheets within a device wherein the device comprises: a support frame; and means for separating each of the glass sheets to prevent adjacent sheets from touching, wherein the means for separating comprises at least one elongate separating rod having a proximal portion and an opposing distal portion and at least one upper separation comb comprising: an upper comb base defining a longitudinal axis; and a plurality of upper comb projections spaced apart along the upper comb base and projecting outwardly from the upper comb base in a direction substantially transverse to the longitudinal axis, wherein each upper comb projection comprises a proximal end and a spaced distal end, wherein adjacent upper comb projections define an upper comb channel therebetween, and wherein each upper comb channel is configured to receive a portion of the upper edge of a respective glass sheet; positioning the at least one upper separation comb along at least the upper edges of the glass sheets such that the glass sheet is maintained in a substantially vertical flat plane; positioning the at least one elongate separating rod between at least two adjacent glass sheets proximate the bottom edges of the respective adjacent glass sheets in a direction substantially parallel to a plane defined by each of the glass sheets; placing the device into an oven; and operating the oven to heat each of the plurality of glass sheets.