Up: Glassmaking
Sheet of Glass
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R O Y A L
I N S T I T U T I O N
O F G R E A T
B R I T A I N
W E E K L Y
E V E N I N G
M E E T I N G
Friday, December 8, 1933
SIR ROBERT ROBERTSON, K.B.E., M.A., F.R.S.
Treasurer and Vice-President, in the Chair
MAJOR R. M. WEEKS, D.S.O., M.C.
A Director of Messrs. Pilkington Brothers, Limited
T H E M A K I N G
O F A S H E E T
O F G L A S S
The Discourse to-night will be confined to the description of some of the
main processes involved in the making of certain forms of flat glass,
concluding with a description of two of the most modern uses to which a
glass sheet can be applied. Much of the early history must be omitted and
reference to the scientific aspect of the subject must be incidental to the
description of the processes, although I want to emphasise how much importance
we attach to scientific research and scientific control. You will also
understand how much romance and excitement go hand in hand with the routine
of manufacturing monotony, the joy at an experiment which succeeds, and the
heart-breaking feeling when it fails. Technically it is not difficult to
make a bad sheet of glass. A sheet of glass, one of our oldest building
materials, serves the double purpose of keeping out the weather and of
letting in the light, but the consumer now requires an article which will
not only perform these primary functions satisfactorily, but which will
come up to a high standard of quality.
G E N E R A L
P R I N C I P L E S
Before describing the processes themselves, there are a few fundamentals
which dictate all glass-
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