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Float glass is a sheet of glass made by floating molten glass on a bed of molten metal of a low melting point, typically tin, [1] although lead was used for the process in the past. [2] This method gives the sheet uniform thickness and a very flat surface. [ 3 ]
Most float glass is soda–lime glass, but relatively minor quantities of special borosilicate [10] and flat panel display glass are also produced using the float glass process. [11] The float glass process is also known as the Pilkington process, [12] named after the British glass manufacturer Pilkington, who pioneered the technique (invented ...
Machine drawn cylinder sheet was the first mechanical method for "drawing" window glass. Cylinders of glass 40 feet (12 m) high are drawn vertically from a circular tank. The glass is then annealed and cut into 7 to 10 foot (2 to 3 m) cylinders. These are cut lengthways, reheated, and flattened. This process was invented in the US in 1903.
Pilkington aggressively protected its patents and trade secrets through a network of licensing agreements with glass manufacturers around the world. The modern "float" technique (pouring the molten glass on a layer of very pure molten tin) became commercially widespread when Alastair Pilkington developed a practical version, patented in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Libbey-Owens merged with the Edward Ford Plate Glass Company in 1930 to form Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company. [1] In April 1986, LOF sold its glass business and name to the Pilkington Group, a multinational glass manufacturer headquartered in the United Kingdom. The remaining three business units of the company, Aeroquip, Vickers, and Sterling ...
Plate glass is often used in windows. Fragment of a Roman window glass plate dated to 1st to 4th century CE. Plate glass, flat glass or sheet glass is a type of glass, initially produced in plane form, commonly used for windows, glass doors, transparent walls, and windscreens. For modern architectural and automotive applications, the flat glass ...
In the 1950s, Pilkington Bros., England, developed the float glass process, producing high-quality distortion-free flat sheets of glass by floating on molten tin. [21] Modern multi-story buildings are frequently constructed with curtain walls made almost entirely of glass. [47] Laminated glass has been widely applied to vehicles for windscreens ...
Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. (日本板硝子株式会社, Nihon Ita-Garasu Kabushiki-gaisha) is a Japanese glass manufacturing company. In 2006, it acquired Pilkington of the United Kingdom . This makes NSG/Pilkington one of the four largest glass companies in the world alongside another Japanese company Asahi Glass , Saint-Gobain , and ...