Patent ID: 7331198

Claim:
A bending apparatus for bending at least one glass sheet placed on a bending mold into a desired shape by heating in a furnace, which comprises a bending mold for placing at least one glass sheet thereon, a tunnel-like heating furnace through which the bending mold is conveyed, a first group of a plurality of heating elements fixed on an inner wall of the heating furnace, and a radiation-heating device having a second group of a plurality of heating elements placed separably from the inner wall surface of the heating furnace, wherein said second group of a plurality of heating elements of said radiation-heating device are mounted on a heater rack disposed in the furnace, wherein the heater rack may be moved to increase or decrease the distance between said second group of a plurality of heating elements and said glass sheet, wherein said second group of a plurality of heating elements comprises five or more heating elements, and wherein the temperature of each heating element of said second group of a plurality of heating elements may be individually controlled.