US 9512025

Here is a concise summary of US Patent 9512025:

US Patent 9512025

• Title: Methods and apparatuses for reducing heat loss from edge directors
• Assignee: Corning Inc.
• Inventors: Ren Hua Chung, Ahdi El-Kahlout, David Scott Franzen, Brendan William Glover, Paul Richard Grzesik, Bulent Kocatulum, Gaozhu Peng, Michael John Stephenson
• Filing Date: May 15, 2014
• Issue Date: December 6, 2016
• Abstract: The patent describes an apparatus and methods for manufacturing a glass ribbon, featuring a forming wedge with inclined forming surface portions that converge to a root. Key components include an edge director intersecting with these surfaces and a replaceable heating cartridge. This cartridge is designed to direct heat to the edge director while also thermally shielding it from heat loss, particularly from edge rollers. A replaceable heating cartridge for this purpose is also described.

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims:

• Claim 1 (Apparatus for making a glass ribbon): This claim describes a glass ribbon manufacturing system. It includes a forming wedge that creates a glass ribbon root, an edge director interacting with the forming wedge, and multiple edge rollers downstream that engage the glass ribbon's edge. A housing encloses these components. The core innovation lies in a removable heating cartridge placed in the housing below the edge director. This cartridge has a heat-directing surface angled at less than 90 degrees to its bottom. It is positioned so that its heat-directing surface faces the edge director, radiating more heat towards the edge director than the edge rollers. Crucially, the lower edge and bottom surface of the heating cartridge are partially situated between the edge director and the edge rollers, serving to thermally shield the edge director from heat loss to the rollers.

• Claim 8 (Replaceable heating cartridge): This claim focuses on the replaceable heating cartridge itself, independent of the full glass-forming apparatus. It comprises an enclosure with a heat-directing surface inclined at an angle less than about 90 degrees relative to its bottom surface. This surface includes at least one heating element. The cartridge also contains refractory material behind the heat-directing surface for insulation. The design ensures that thermal radiation (view factor) from the heat-directing surface is greater above the bottom surface of the enclosure than below it, and the cartridge's lower edge and bottom surface thermally shield the area above from the area below.

• Claim 15 (Method of making a glass ribbon): This claim outlines a method for making a glass ribbon. It involves flowing molten glass over a forming wedge and an edge director, then drawing the glass from the root to form a ribbon. The method includes engaging the ribbon's edge with edge rollers located downstream within a housing. A key step is heating the edge director using a replaceable heating cartridge, which is located in a port of the housing and positioned between the edge rollers and the edge director. Similar to the apparatus claim, this cartridge has an inclined heat-directing surface (less than 90 degrees to its bottom) with a heating element. It's oriented to direct heat towards the edge director, having a greater view factor to the edge director than to the edge rollers. The lower edge and bottom surface of the cartridge are partially placed between the edge director and edge rollers to thermally shield the edge director.

Litigation Status (as of April 26, 2026):
The provided patent information indicates that the patent family is involved in litigation. A PTAB case, IPR2025-01040, was filed but not instituted. Additionally, US cases related to the patent family have been filed in the International Trade Commission (ITC), specifically 337-TA-3795 and 337-TA-1433. There is also mention of the first worldwide family litigation filed.

Regarding CAFC dockets specifically for 2026, a direct search of publicly available information on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit website for US9512025 did not return any specific active cases or scheduled hearings for the year 2026. Access to detailed case records filed after March 1, 2012, is typically through PACER. Therefore, based on the readily available information, no specific CAFC dockets for 2026 directly pertaining to US9512025 are noted.