subject: The Story Of The Windscreen; Past To Present [print this page] The windscreen started off as an optional feature for vehicles which could be slotted in or attached to old cars. It was at first a luxury item; this was instead of the standard protection from the elements which was a pair of goggles! At first driving a car was really only for fair weather occasions as the earliest designs in the early 1900s had just a one person top and side curtains.
Soon the demand for auto glass rose dramatically with lots of new fully enclosed vehicles being made. By 1929 nearly all designs were closed from the elements, fully wrapped in glass shielding. Protection from sun, wind, rain, mud and road debris and dust was now available changing things allowing people to drive in all conditions. This inspired a new era, people were no longer just driving to get from one place to another; they started to drive purely for pleasure.
Driving slowly became an important part of society, the way in which the manufacture of glass started to advance changed the way in which windscreens were made. Up until 1924 the process for creating glass was known as the batch process. This involved casting a large pool of glass on an iron surface. This was then polished down on both sides. In 1924 the process switched to creating glass in the continuous ribbon method, known as float glass, this method was much more efficient and the outcome less costly and better quality. The advances in technology in the field of glass manufacture meant that the quality of windscreens improved dramatically. Initially there were problems with distortion which were eradicated with this new method.
The improvements for peoples vision through windscreens and the lowered cost of the glass made it more readily available for use in vehicles. There was however still slight problems with the older style windscreen. The glass could easily shatter upon impact which meant that drivers and passengers were at risk of being hurt. In 1927 this problem was also solved by the invention of the new laminated screen. This involved a sheet of vinyl being sandwiched in between two other sheets of glass. This new method meant that instead of shattering into sharp pieces, if it was to break it would fracture and the vinyl helped to hold the pieces of glass together. It is commonly referred to as safety glass. This is the type of windscreen which we still to this day use in vehicle manufacture.
