Method and apparatus for bending and annealing glass sheets to be laminated

摘要

The invention relates to the bending and annealing of two, or more than two, glass sheets to be united into a curved and laminated glass member such as an automobile windshield. In a shaping furnace a heated first glass sheet is bent into a curved glass sheet and layed on a ring-like holder. Then the holder is moved into and kept in a high-temperature section of an auxiliary furnace which is movably disposed adjacent the shaping furnace, and a second glass sheet is bent in the shaping furnace. Then the holder is moved into the shaping furnace to lay the second curved glass sheet on the first curved glass sheet, while the auxiliary furnace is moved to bring its low-temperature section to a position adjacent to the exit of the shaping furnace. Then the holder on which the two curved glass sheets are lying as a stack is moved into the low-temperature section to simultaneously anneal the two curved glass sheets. During the annealing operation the bending of another glass sheet can be performed in the shaping furnace.