Patent ID: 8096337

Claim:
An apparatus for laminating a glass sheet assembly, the glass sheet assembly comprising a first glass sheet arranged in an opposing parallel configuration with respect to a second glass sheet, with a heat sensitive layer of adhesive laminating film disposed between the first glass sheet and the second glass sheet, the glass sheet assembly having a leading edge and a trailing edge and being of a fixed length and width, the laminating film having a bonding temperature at which melting of the laminating film is initiated, the apparatus comprising: a heating chamber configured to heat the glass sheet assembly, the heating chamber comprising an array of heating elements to cause differential heating along the length of the glass sheet assembly such that the temperature at the leading edge of the glass sheet assembly is higher than the temperature at the trailing edge of the glass sheet assembly with uniform heating across the width of the glass sheet assembly; and, a pressing station configured to press the first and second glass sheets toward each other to purge air or moisture from the glass sheet assembly until the first and second glass sheets adhere together via the adhesive laminating film, wherein the pressing at the pressing station is initiated at the leading edge of the glass sheet assembly when the temperature of the laminating film at the leading edge of the glass sheet assembly reaches the bonding temperature of the laminating film; wherein the first and second glass sheets are correspondingly curved and the heating elements are coupled with supporting rollers of a conveying system to form an assembly.