Patent ID: 8082759

Claim:
A method for producing a drawn glass member, comprising: a step of thermally softening and drawing a first end of a first glass base material in a drawing direction; and a step of thermally bonding together a second end of the first glass base material, having the first end thermally softened and drawn, with one end of a second glass base material, wherein the step of thermally bonding together the second end of the first glass base material with the one end of the second glass base material is executed using a pair of smoothers having an internal dimension corresponding to an external dimension of the first and second glass base materials; and pressing, in a direction transverse to the drawing direction with the smoothers, an adjoined portion at which the second end of the first glass base material and the one end of the second glass base material are thermally bonded, so as to keep a cross-sectional shape of at least one of the first and second glass base materials, wherein the smoothers are moved in the drawing direction at a same speed as the feeding speed of the first and second glass base materials during the thermally bonding operation, and after completion of the thermally bonding operation, the smoothers are moved in a direction perpendicular to the drawing direction so as to be released from the first and second glass base materials.