Supporting glass sheets

Claim 1

In the art of supporting a glass sheet by self-closing tongs during thermal treatment comprising first heating said glass sheet to an elevated temperature and then cooling said heated sheet wherein said glass is gripped between opposing glass contacting members of said self-closing tongs that engage the opposite surfaces of said glass sheet and tend to damage said surfaces during said thermal treatment thereof, the improvement comprising engaging said glass sheet surfaces under oxidizing conditions with glass contacting members composed of a tungsten-nickel composite that is essentially free of cobalt and iron to enable said glass sheet to be essentially free of vents, to have minimum marring and minimum weakening in the vicinity of the areas contacted by said glass contacting members as a consequence of said contact during said thermal treatment, said composite being composed essentially of at least 90 percent by weight tungsten and sufficient alloying metal to render said composite more readily workable than tungsten metal.