float-glass method

…Brothers in England developed the float glass process, in which a continuous 3.4-meter- (11-foot-) wide ribbon of glass floated over molten tin and both sides were fire finished, avoiding all polishing and grinding; this became the standard method of production. Pilkington also pioneered the development of structural glass mullions in…

…Pilkington introduced in 1959 the float glass process, which altogether eliminated the need for grinding and polishing. (The float process is described in Glass forming: Flat glass.) A further development, the electro-float process, introduced in 1967, made it possible to implant copper and other metal ions into the upper surface…

…in the 1950s, called the float-glass method, results in an important economy of space. The molten glass is conveyed onto a bath of a molten metal, such as tin. The high temperature of the molten metal smooths out any irregularities on the surface, making a flat, even sheet. As the…

…windows and mirrors is the float process, in which molten glass is brought over the lip of a broad spout, allowed to pass between rollers, and floated over a bath of molten tin in a steel container (see Figure 10). Glass enters the container at approximately 10^3.5 poise—a viscosity that,…