C03B - Definition 
Definition statement
This subclass covers:
The manufacture of glass by:
- Processes before the melting by the preparation of raw material mixtures used in manufacturing glass, mineral or slag wool (batches) i.e. mixing, pelletising.
Melting processes:
- in furnaces specially adapted for glass manufacture, i.e. electric, tank or pot furnaces;
- with auxiliary means specially adapted for glass-melting furnaces, i.e. stirring, refining, cooling, heating the glass;
- with means for taking off charges of molten glass; forehearths, i.e. feeder channels, feeder spouts, e.g. gob feeders.
- Processes other than melting processes, i.e. chemical vapour deposition, gel phase.
The shaping of glass by:
- Blowing processes with production of hollow glass articles and with blow pipes, past mould machines, moulds, blow heads;
- Pressing processes with rotary tables, plungers or moulds, metal inserts;
- Rolling processes with production of patterned or non-patterned glass sheets;
- Drawing glass upwardly from the melt processes with production of drawing glass sheets, tubes, cylinders;
- Forming glass processes by flowing out with formation of glass coated with coloured layers, formation of tubes, glass sheets;
- Shaping glass processes in contact with the surface of a liquid i.e. float bath with formation of sheets;
- Other methods of shaping glass as such as casting, centrifuging, foaming, forming beads;
- Processes specially adapted for the production of quartz or fused silica articles;
- Severing glass sheets, tubes or rods while still plastic processes by cutting, fusing;
- Transporting of glass products processes during their manufacture;
- Manufacture or treatment processes of flakes, fibres, filaments from softened glass, minerals or slags;
- Preventing adhesion processes between glass and glass or between glass and the means used to shape it, e.g. by lubrication, by the use of gas.
The after-treatment of glass products by:
- Thermic treatment processes such as annealing, reheating, fire-polishing of glass products;
- Tempering processes;
- Other thermal after-treatment of glass products processes such as crystallization, elimination of gas inclusions;
- Severing cooled glass processes by cutting or splitting, fusing, thermal shock;
- Glass-cutting tools.
Relationship between large subject matter areas
C03B concerns all aspects of glass manufacture processes, apparatus and C03C relates to the glass chemistry, such as composition, additives, chemical treatment.
C04B relates to ceramics having a crystallographic structure different from the glass compounds. For composites containing glass and ceramic, composites comprising more than 50% of glass are classified in C03C.
References relevant to classification in this subclass
This subclass does not cover:
Preparation of finely divided silica | C01B 33/18 |
Chemical aspects of glass | C03C |
Changing the surface of the glass ribbon by chemical methods | C03C |
Refining agents | C03C 1/00 |
Chemical aspects of hollow, porous, sintered or foamed beads | C03C 11/00 |
Beads composition | C03C 12/00 |
Surface treatment of glass by coating with glass | C03C 17/02 |
Surface treatment of fibres or filaments from glass, minerals or wools, sizing of the fibres | C03C 25/00 |
Coating of the fibre during the drawing process | C03C 25/10 |
Polarisation-maintaining optical fibres per se | G02B 6/024 |
Cutting or severing of light guides | G02B 6/25 |
Fusion-splicing of light guides | G02B 6/255 |
Treatment of light guides to shape optical elements | G02B 6/287 |
Informative references
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Syringes | A61M 5/178 |
Devices for reactant delivery in general | B01J 4/00 |
Containers or dishes for laboratory use, e.g. laboratory glassware | B01L 3/00 |
Nozzles | B05B |
Disposal or transformation of solid waste in general | B09B |
Machines or processes for grinding or polishing glass | B24B 7/24 |
Molding plastics around a core using a cross-head annular extrusion nozzle | B29C 48/34 |
Extrusion presses in general | B30B 11/22 |
Windows, windscreens for vehicles | B60J 1/00 |
Windows, doors for airplanes | B64C 1/14 |
Glass containers, e.g. bottles, ampoules, jars | B65D 1/00 |
Conveying systems for fragile sheets, e.g. glass | B65G 49/06 |
Hand tools for cutting ampoules | B67B 7/92 |
Crucibles for supporting the melt | C30B 15/10 |
Bi-component fibres | D01F 8/00 |
Yarns or threads made from glass | D02G 3/18 |
Woven fabrics | D03D 15/00 |
Non-woven fabrics | D04H 13/00 |
Building elements of glass or other transparent material | E04C 1/42 |
Doors, windows | E06 |
Thermal insulation arrangements using fillers, e.g. slag wool | F16L 59/04 |
Brick shapes in general | F27D 1/04 |
Globes, bowls, cover glasses | F21V 3/00 |
Optical glass, lens | G02B 1/00 |
Treatment of radioactive waste | G21F 9/00 |
Programme-control system | G05B 19/00 |
Apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture of electric discharge tubes, discharge lamps | H01J 9/00 |
Glossary of terms
In this subclass, the following terms or expressions are used with the meaning indicated:
| Annealing | Process of slowly cooling glass to relieve internal stresses after it was formed |
| Cullet | Scraps of broken or waste glass for remelting |
| Gob | Lump of molten glass used to make a piece of glassware |
| Mineral wool | Inorganic fibrous material made from molten glass |
| Slag wool | Mineral wool made from blast-furnace slag |
| Tempering | Process of heating glass above its annealing point and then rapidly cooling it. |
| Debiteuse | Clay block floating upon molten glass in a tank furnace and containing a long slot that shapes glass into a sheet as it is drawn through it |
Synonyms and Keywords
In patent documents the following abbreviations are often used:
| Tempered | Toughened |
| Mineral wool, Slag wool | Rock wool |