Float glass is a uniform, solid piece of glass made by placing raw materials in a hot furnace and then in a bath of molten tin. The glass is then passed through rollers and placed in a kiln. This process, also known as the Pilkington process, was invented by Alastair Pilkington and Kenneth Bickerstaff in the 1950s, and is used in most contemporary buildings.
When a piece of float glass is placed on top of a piece of molten metal, the end product is called float glass. This process creates a uniform piece of glass that is completely solid. Most contemporary residential and industrial buildings are made of float glass, although this was not always the case.
Before the dawn of the 17th century, nearly all glass panels were cut from crown glass. To produce crown glass, glassmakers had to create large cylindrical shapes which were then cut in half and flattened to form window glass. In 17, an English engineer named Henry Bessemer attempted to create a glass making process that was less tedious than the original crown glass process. Bessemer’s production system included a large ribbon of flat glass which was wound between two rollers.
In addition to the glass rolling, each sheet of glass had to be polished by hand. This proved to be a very expensive manufacturing process. Numerous inventors have attempted to create a more efficient system, but none have succeeded. It wasn’t until the early 1950s that Alastair Pilkington and Kenneth Bickerstaff invented a new type of glass called float glass.
Float glass is derived from a blend of raw materials including sand, limestone, dolomite and soda ash. These materials are mixed together and then placed in an extremely hot furnace. Once the glass has reached the desired temperature, it is stabilized and then placed inside a bath of molten tin. Due to the reaction between the glass and the molten tin, the glass eventually reaches the surface of the tin bath. As soon as the glass is cold enough to handle, it is passed through two mechanical rollers.
The speed of the laminator indicates the width and size of the glass, which is why some pieces of float glass are larger or smaller than others. Finally, the glass is placed in a lehr kiln, a temperature-controlled kiln specially made for working glass. The result of this whole procedure is a perfectly smooth uniform piece of glass.
As soon as a piece of glass is stable in terms of temperature, it is then cut into specific shapes and patterns according to customer requirements. Within the glass world, the float glass process is often referred to as the Pilkington process, as Alastair Pilkington is largely credited with the invention of float glass.
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