Tongs for suspending glass sheets

Claim 1

Tongs for supporting glass sheets vertically during thermal treatment, comprising tong arms pivoted together by a hinge pin and extending beyond the hinge pin to provide a pair of jaws for gripping the opposed faces of a glass sheet adjacent its upper edge, each jaw including a gripping member formed of bonded granular refractory material and having the cross-section of an equilateral triangle providing three knife-edges each extending parallel to the axis of said hinge pin and any of which knifeedges may be selected to present a generally upward facing, flat surface leading from said selected knife-edge for contact with the adjacent face of the glass sheet on partial penetration of the gripping members into the opposed faces of the glass sheet, and each gripping member being removably mounted in a shoe whose position is adjustable along the line of movement of the respective jaw, which shoe has arms which partially enclose the respective gripping member and thereby hold it captive in the shoe.