Abstract
Glass production is 5000 years old. Until the 1st century BC when blowing appeared in the Middle East, glass objects were mainly ornaments and small containers for cosmetics. Tiberius created a glass industry in Rome to satisfy the local customers more easily. Very soon, the western European glassmakers learnt to make glass themselves instead of importing ingots and processing them in secondary workshops. The collapse of the Roman Empire did not mean the disappearance of a product that has proved so useful. The art of glass was renewed during the Middle Age: stained glass windows appeared in numerous churches and cathedrals that were built all over Europe. The crusades enhanced the movement with new techniques coming from the East.
Glass was still made with sand and a flux but the flux changed from sodium to potassium salts produced by combustion of land plants instead of the Mediterranean coastal plants containing mainly sodium.
This composition was still used with a few improvements like purification of the ashes when industrial soda ash was invented at the beginning of the 19th century. The same century saw very important progress in glassmaking and it led to a huge decrease in price to the point where everyone could buy glass panes for their windows at the end of this period. Melting processes were also much improved. Use of coal was common since the 18th century, but the furnaces themselves had not really changed until the Siemens brothers invented the regenerative gas furnace where gas was produced with a gas producer. Ten years later, the tank furnace, a close ancestor of present-day melting furnaces, was introduced.
The forming processes had been improved since antiquity but the major changes occurred at the end of the 19th century when the processes were mechanized. As a result, the output increased spectacularly even after the end of the First World War, which took the lives of many glassworkers. Throughout the 20th century, the trend towards automation accelerated and melting tanks were applied to all types of glass. The middle of the century saw the revolutionary invention of float glass which laid the foundations for the modern glass industry.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
S. Johnson: The fondness of every man for his profession, The Rambler April 17th (1750)
A. MacFarlane, G. Martin: The Glass Bathyscaphe (Profile Books, London 2002)
A. Bitard: Les arts et métiers illustrés (Jules Rouff et Cie éditeurs, Paris around 1890)
Pliny the Elder, Natural History, Vol. 36
W.E.S. Turner: Studies in ancient glasses and glassmaking processes. Part V Raw materials and melting processes, J. Soc. Glass Technol. 8 (1929)
J.F. Cubells: Le verre à vitre de l'épave romaine de Porticcio (Golfe d'Ajaccio, Corse), Verre et Fenêtre de l'Antiquité au XVIIIème siècle, Les cahiers de Verre et Histoire n°1, 39–45 (2005)
M.-P. Jézégou, H. Bernard: Epave Ouest-Embiez I – Agencement de la cargaison: quelques pistes pour l'étude du commerce du verre au début du IIIème siècle après J.C, Verre et Fenêtre de l'Antiquité au XVIIIème siècle, Les cahiers de Verre et Histoire n°1, 25–28 (2005)
P. Vipard: L'usage du verre à vitre dans l'architecture romaine du Haut-Empire, Verre et Fenêtre de l'Antiquité au XVIIIème siècle, Les cahiers de Verre et Histoire n°1, 15–24 (2009)
L. Figuier: Industrie du verre et du cristal. In: Les merveilles de l'industrie (Librarie Furne, Jouvet et Cie, Paris 1880) pp. 7–158
S.D. Fontaine, D. Foy: La modernité, le confort et les procédés de fabrication des vitrages antiques. In: De transparentes speculations, vitres de l'antiquité et du haut Moyen-Age (Occident-Orient), exposition du Musée départemental de Bavay (2005) pp. 15–24
T.C. Barker: Pilkington Brothers and the Glass Industry (Ruskin House, George Allen & Unwin, London 1961)
R. Wagner, F. Fischer, L. Gautier: Chimie Industrielle (Librairie F. Savy, Paris 1892) p. 42
D. Foy, G. Sennequier: A travers le verre du Moyen Age à la Renaissance (Rouen exhibition 1989)
A. Neri: The Art of Glass (Society of Glass Technology, Sheffield 2006), original published in 1662, ed. by M. Cable, translated into english by C. Merrett
M. Verita: Italian window glass chemical composition from the roman time to the 18th century, Verre et Fenêtre de l'Antiquité au XVIIIème siècle, Les cahiers de Verre et Histoire n°1, 11–16 (2009)
G. Agricola: De Re Metallica, Book XII (Dover, New York 1986), original published 1556, translated by H.C. Hoover and L.H. Hoover, http://farlang.com/books/agricola-hoover-de-re-metallica
J. Henrivaux: Le verre et le cristal (Vicq-Dunod, Paris 1897)
D. Foy: La suprématie du verre soufflé en cylindre, panneaux et vitraux du Vème au IXème siècle. In: De transparentes speculations, vitres de l'antiquité et du haut Moyen-Age (Occident-Orient), exposition du Musée départemental de Bavay (2005) pp. 59–64
G. Bontemps: Le Guide du verrier (Society of Glass Technology, Sheffield 2010), original published in 1868, translated by M. Cable
F.W. Hodkin, A. Cousen: A textbook of glass technology (Constable, London 1925)
N. Fiérobe: La champenoise, outil de champagnisation. In: Champenoises, Champagne 2000 (Atelier-musée du Verre de Trélon, Écomusée de la région de Fourmies-Trélon, Trélon 2000) p. 79
Delaunay-Deslandes: Mémoires, unpublished Internal Report, Archives de la Compagnie de Saint Gobain
H. de Coqueréaumont: Compagnie de Saint Gobain – Fabrication des glaces 1665–1914, Internal Saint Gobain report by 1920 (Archives de la Compagnie de Saint Gobain, Blois 1920)
P. Flamm: Le verrier du XIXème siècle (Eugène Lacroix, Paris 1863)
A.F. Gehlen: Über das Glasmachen ohne Pottasche vermittels des Glaubersalzes, Ann. Chem. 1816(97), 216–218 (1813)
W.E.S. Turner: General discussion, Trans. Soc. Glass Technol. (1922)
W.E.S. Turner: Discussion, J. Soc. Glass Technol. (1927)
M. Cable: The advance of glass technology in the nineteenth century. In: Proc. Int. Congr. Glass, Edinburg, Vol. 1 (2001) pp. 121–130
M.-H. Chopinet: Developments of Siemens regenerative and tank furnaces in Saint-Gobain in the XIXth century, Glass Technol. 53(5), 177–188 (2012)
C.W. Siemens: Improvements in furnaces and in the application of heated currents, patent A.D. 1857, May 11, No. 1320 (1857)
C.W. Siemens, F. Siemens: Four à gaz et à chaleur régénérée inventé par M. C.W. Siemens et son frère Frédéric Siemens (Dunod, Paris 1863)
F. Siemens: Four Siemens Nouvelle Disposition, document Archives Saint-Gobain
T.C. Barker: The Glassmakers – Pilkingtons: The Rise of an International Company 1826–1976 (Weidenfied & Nicolson, London 1976)
H. Le Châtelier: La mesure des températures élevées (George Carré et C. Naud, Paris 1900)
M.-H. Chopinet: Lucien Delloye, ou comment un ingénieur mécanicien régna sur l'industrie européenne du verre à glaces pendant plus d'un quart de siècle, Mat. Tech. 103(4), N9, 1 (2015)
J. Hartley: Specification of the Patent granted to James Hartley, of Sunderland, Glass Manufacturer, for Improvements in the Manufacture of Glass, Sealed 7 Oct. (1847)
C. MacIntosh: The Book of the Garden, Vol. 1 (W. Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh 1853)
J.B. Langley: The Illustrated Official Guide and Tourist's Handbook to the Northern Railway (Lambert, Newcastle 1863)
J.P. Daviet: Un destin international, la compagnie de Saint Gobain de 1830 Ã 1939 (Editions des archives contemporaines, Paris 1988)
M. Boagglio: Evolution des technologies de fabrication de la champenoise. In: Champenoises, Champagne 2000 (Atelier-musée du Verre de Trélon, Écomusée de la région de Fourmies-Trélon, Trélon 2000) pp. 92–113
E. Damour: Cours de verrerie. Part 3 (Librairie polytechnique Ch. Béranger, Paris 1936)
E. Damour: Cours de verrerie. Part 1 (Librairie polytechnique Ch. Béranger, Paris 1929)
J. Henrivaux: La verrerie au vingtième siècle (E. Bernard & Cie, Paris 1904)
J. Barton, C. Guillemet: Le verre, science et technologie (EDP Sciences, Les Ulis 2005)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chopinet, MH. (2019). The History of Glass. In: Musgraves, J.D., Hu, J., Calvez, L. (eds) Springer Handbook of Glass. Springer Handbooks. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93728-1_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93728-1_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-93726-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-93728-1
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)