Float glass process
Vidrio flotado (proceso Pilkington)
- Date
- 1959 · confidence high
- Place
- Pilkington, St Helens, Lancashire, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Alastair Pilkington and Kenneth Bickerstaff
- People
- 👤 Alastair Pilkington1920–1995
- Field
- Tools
What it is
A process that produces perfectly flat sheets of glass by floating molten glass on liquid tin. It cut the cost of large, optically flat glass.
What it led to
- Glass curtain-wall skyscrapers
- Shop windows, double-glazed windows and windscreens
- Flat-panel displays and solar panels (glass substrates)
Built on
- Laminated glass1903
- ribbon furnace
Made possible
- Glass curtain wall1911
- double glazing
- LCD display substrates