Air knife and conveyor system
First Claim
1. An air knife for directing a curtain of air against a surface of a sheet of glass, comprising:
- a) an elongated housing having an inlet for receiving air into the housing, said housing defines an elongated gap that allows air entering the housing through the inlet to exit the housing and form a curtain of air;
b) said elongated housing constructed from one or more pieces of sheet metal bent to define a hollow region into which air is forced and said gap extending along a length of the housing from which the curtain of air exits and is directed against a surface of a sheet of glass.
14 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An air knife constructed in accordance with the present invention directs a curtain of air across a region and most typically is used to direct the stream of air against a surface. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention the air knife includes an elongated housing having an inlet for receiving air into the housing. The housing includes an elongated gap that extends along the housing that allows air entering the housing through the inlet to exit the housing and form a curtain of air. The elongated housing is made from a piece of sheet metal bent to define a hollow region into which air is forced. The sheet metal defines a gap along a length of the housing from which the air exits. The elongated air knife forms an angle with respect to a direction of travel of glass sheets passing the air knife so that a leading edge of those glass sheets passes progressively different parts of the air knife.
53 Citations
22 Claims
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1. An air knife for directing a curtain of air against a surface of a sheet of glass, comprising:
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a) an elongated housing having an inlet for receiving air into the housing, said housing defines an elongated gap that allows air entering the housing through the inlet to exit the housing and form a curtain of air;
b) said elongated housing constructed from one or more pieces of sheet metal bent to define a hollow region into which air is forced and said gap extending along a length of the housing from which the curtain of air exits and is directed against a surface of a sheet of glass. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. An air knife for directing a stream of air through a region comprising:
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a) an elongated housing having an inlet for receiving air into the housing, said housing defines an elongated gap that allows air entering the housing through the inlet to exit the housing and form a curtain of air;
b) said elongated housing constructed from two elongated bent pieces of sheet metal that are bent to form two wall defining members that mate to form said housing and define a hollow region into which air is forced and said gap extending along a length of the housing from which the air exits, wherein one member defines spaced fingers that extend away from an edge of one wall defining member to space said edge away from a corresponding surface of a second wall defining member and thereby define said gap through which air under pressure exits said housing. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An air knife for directing a stream of air through a region comprising:
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a) an elongated housing having an inlet for receiving air into the housing, said housing defines an elongated gap that allows air entering the housing through the inlet to exit the housing and form a curtain of air;
b) said elongated housing constructed from two elongated bent pieces of sheet metal that are bent to form two wall defining members that mate to form said housing and are bent to define a hollow region into which air is forced and said gap extending along a length of the housing from which the air exits; and
c) a third member made from an elongated sheet of metal which combines with one of said first and second wall defining members to form an elongated nozzle that defines the gap which extends along a length of said housing. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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13. A method of fabricating an air knife for directing a curtain of air against a surface of a glass sheet, comprising:
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a) providing a sheet of metal having a length substantially equal to a length of the air knife;
b) forming a housing by bending the sheet metal and bringing opposing edges of the sheet metal into spaced relation with each other to form a gap through which air can escape from an interior of said housing, form a curtain of air, and be directed against a surface of a glass sheet during operation of said air knife; and
c) coupling said interior region of said air knife to a source of pressured air. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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15. A method of fabricating an air knife comprising:
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a) providing a sheet of metal having a length substantially equal to a length of the air knife;
b) forming a housing by bending two elongated sheet metal members and attaching the two sheet metal members together to form said housing and bringing opposing edges of the sheet metal into spaced relation with each other to form a gap through which air can escape from an interior of said housing during operation of said air knife;
c) coupling said interior region of said air knife to a source of pressured air;
d) inserting a compressible material between conforming surfaces of said two elongated sheet metal members and wherein the members are attached by connectors.
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16. A method of fabricating an air knife comprising:
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a) providing a sheet of metal having a length substantially equal to a length of the air knife;
b) forming a housing by bending the sheet metal and bringing opposing edges of the sheet metal into spaced relation with each other to form a gap through which air can escape from an interior of said housing during operation of said air knife;
c) attaching an elongated nozzle defining member to the housing to define a chamber next to the gap through which air exits from the housing; and
d) coupling said interior region of said air knife to a source of pressured air.
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17. A method of generating an elongated curtain of air and directing the curtain of air against a surface of a glass sheet, comprising:
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a) blowing air into an elongated chamber having a plurality of gaps along its length through which the air exits said elongated chamber;
b) positioning a second chamber in fluid communication with the elongated chamber to allow air to pass through the plurality of gaps to the second chamber, said second chamber having an elongated narrow gap along a portion of said elongated chamber through which air flows to allow air to exit from the second chamber to form an air curtain, that is directed against a surface of a glass sheet.
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18. Apparatus positioned with respect to a glass washer for blowing liquid from a surface of a glass sheet that has been cleaned by the glass washer comprising:
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a first set of driven rollers for moving a glass sheet in a travel path direction away from a glass washer;
an air knife mounted to direct a stream of air through a region to contact the glass sheet as it moves away from the glass washer comprising an elongated housing having an inlet for receiving air into the housing, said housing defining an elongated air gap that allows air entering the elongated housing through the inlet to exit the housing and form an air curtain that contacts the glass sheet;
said elongated air gap extending in a direction that forms an angle with respect to the travel path direction so that the air curtain contacts progressively different parts of said leading edge as the rollers move said glass sheet away from the washer; and
a second set of one or more rollers having a rotation axis that is aligned generally with the air gap in said housing but is offset from an angle of rotation of the first set of rollers. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification