Patent ID: 8011207

Claim:
A method of scoring a glass sheet comprising: (a) translating an elongated laser beam having a peak intensity I peak over a surface of the glass sheet at a speed S, said beam being characterized by an untruncated length L 0 , where L 0 equals the maximum distance along the length of the beam between locations at which the beam intensity at the surface of the glass sheet, in the absence of any truncation, has fallen to 1/e 2 of I peak ; and (b) translating a coolant area over the surface of the glass sheet in tandem with the laser beam; wherein: (i) S is greater than 500 millimeters/second; (ii) L 0 is greater than or equal to 200 millimeters; and (iii) I peak and L 0 are selected such that the translation of the laser beam over the surface of the glass sheet at the speed S produces a maximum temperature at the surface of the glass sheet that is less than or equal to the glass' strain point.