Now we all know how much glass is used in this day and age, from smartphones to windows – we take its existence for granted. Here at Ace Glass we make our living out of custom glass for businesses and homes, as well as auto glass, for example repairing car windshields. Its original origins can be traced back to Egypt in 3500 BC, the earliest known objects were glass beads that were excavated. Compared to ceramics and metal work, glass making came pretty late to the party.
It wasn’t until the 17th century that glass production was really ramped up with the advent of adding lead oxide into the glass making process. This gave the glass a much more polished appearance and allowed the process of making glass much easier and allowed people to mold the glass into much more intricate objects never previously seen. By the 18th century the British government had imposed a hefty lucrative tax on glass making factories across the UK.
In 1898, Pikington invented wired cut glass, this had a strong wire mesh built into the glass for increased security and safety. Incidentally Pilkington glass is still going strong today in the UK. He then went further and developed the “float glass” process. This was the first commercially suitable way of integrating glass in a continuous ribbon effect by using a molten tin bath to on which the molten glass flows unhindered under the influence of gravity. This enables the glass to have a uniform thickness and a perfect flat surface. This method is still be used in production this very day.