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To introduce this feature, Christopher Salmond explains the types of glass
used through history and suggests substitutes for those which are no longer available
Walk slowly past the facade of a fme old building and see how the reflections from the windows distort, shimmer and sparkle. The whole building comes alive and seems to flash with colour and life. Compare this to some of the carefully restored buildings, which have been reglazed with modem window glass. A bland mirror like reflection of float glass deadens the whole facade, robbing the buildingofitsoriginaicharm. Evenwhere a facade retains much of the original glass, new frames or even repairs to single broken panes that use modem glass spoil the overall effect and can be detected easily. Why is the difference so marked and why does old glass fit so perfectly into its surroundings? To answer these questions, we need to understand a little about the history of glassmaking in this country and the particular process of manufacture.
GLASS MANUFACTURE IN THE UK
CHRONOLOGY
Window glass was not produced in significant quantities in this country until:
1226 BROAD SHEET was first made in Sussex, but of poor quality, and fairly opaque. Manufacture slowly decreased and ceased by the early 16th century.
1330 The French glassmakers produced CROWNGLASSfortheflrsttimeatRouen.
Some French Crown and Broad Sheet was imported into the UK.
1620 BLOWN PLATE was produced in London by grinding and polishing Broad Sheet, and was used for mirrors and Coach plates.
1678 CROWN GLASS was first produced
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in London. This process predominated, because of its finer quality until the mid- 19th century.
1688 The French produced POLISHED PLATE in larger sizes by casting and hand polishing.
1773 English POLISHED PLATE by the French process was produced at Ravenshead. By 1800 a steam engine was used to carry out the grinding and polishing of the cast glass.
1834 Robert Lucas Chance introduced IMPROVED CYLINDER SHEET, using a German process to produce finer quality and larger panes. This glass was used to glaze the Crystal Palace. The process was used extensively until early in the 20th century to make window glass.
From this period onwards machines were developed to automate the
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production of obscured glass and later, window glass:
l847 James Hartley introduced a ROLLED PLATE glass with obscured ribbed finish, which is often found glazed in the roofs of railway termini.
1888 Chance Bros introduced MACHlNE ROLLED patterned glass.
1898 Pilkingtons introduced Hexagonal Rolled WIRED CAST.
1903 MACHINE DRAWN CYLINDER
glass, invented in the USA, was manufacturedintheUKby Pilkingtons from 1910 to 1933.
1913 Belgium produced the first machine FLAT DRAWN SHEET glass. It was first drawn in the UK in 1919 in Kent. 1923 First UK production of continuous POLISHED PLATE gIass, using single grinding system.
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CROWN GLASS: Fig. 1 shows the glassmaker having spun the table of Crown, about to drop it into a bed of sand (note the early version of virtual reality headgear !).
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CONTEXT 48
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