subject: The Origin And History Of Glass Windows [print this page] The history of Glass windows began around 100 AD when the Romans began using glass for windows in buildings and villas with prestigious status. Various glass pieces made by the Romans have been found in areas across the Mediterranean, Europe and China. German Craftsmen expanded on the use of glass in the eleventh century by producing small flat pieces and putting them together with lead, hence the beginning of stained glass.
The development of machines and advanced equipment made it possible to get glass produced in a more uniform way which was used for items such as vases, bottles or decorative items. Belgium resident Fourcault, discovered in 1914 that he could use a take furnace as a way of producing glass in continuous sheets.
A tank furnace was designed at the end of the industrial revolution for replacement of the pot furnace. This new furnace was able to produce excessively large amounts of molten glass compared to the pot furnace. Following Fourcault was Colburn, an American that expanded on ideas passed along by Fourcaults and found better ways to produce sheet glass.
Colburns idea spread and was soon thereafter adapted into the process used by the Libby Owens Company. In 1928 the Pittsburgh process combined both Fourcault and Colburns systems to create a better system that is still in use for glass sheets today. At the last parts of the Victorian era glass was beginning to be more accessible and less expensive due to the amounts produced by the Pittsburgh system.
The Great Exhibition in 1851 had on the Crystal Palace on display which was a glass structure. The structure made entirely from glass encouraged home owners replace the thin sheets of wood currently covering the open areas, with glass windows as protection against the elements and to add decorative elements to the home.
The history of glass windows has taken many turns throughout the years from thick small pieces, stained glass and thin easily breakable pieces to the new as well as popular construction of Plexiglas. Plexiglas is the choice for many when it comes to new or replacement windows, however, many of the older homes continue to have the thin glass mounted in wooden frames.
