A Quick History of Glass Windows

It is interesting to know that the history of glass windows traces back to pre-historic times. A glass surfaced in the regions of Eastern Mesopotamia and Egypt in 3500 BC. The glass window in modern times may look pretty plain, but there are little-known facts about the dozens of engineered parts that make up a glass window.

Take a sneak preview into the history of glass windows and learn to appreciate how glass windows evolve into what it is today.

What did windows use before the invention of glass?

Think about the simple abode of Babylonians during the time of Moses. A window used to be nothing more than a hole on the side of the house or an unglazed roof opening. The people during ancient times covered the hole with animal hide or stone.

When did glass begin to be used in windows?

The Romans were the first recorded civilization to use glass for windows in 100 AD. An ancient ruin of Pompeii bore signs of glass used in windows with bronze frames. But glass during ancient times was very thick and impossible to see through. It is a far cry from the transparent glass that we know today.

By the end of the 1st century AD, manufacturing glass was refined and done at scale. It became a commonly available material during that time.

How were the first glass windows made?

In the 17th century, the British manufactured the first glass window in Britain. It was a broadsheet glass – a lengthy balloon of glass blown and removed. It leaves a cylinder to be split and flattened. As it was expensive, only the affluent could afford it.

Glassmaking in the Colonies

The English settlers brought glass making to America in the early 17th century. Jamestown in Virginia is where first glass factory opened. The manufacturing process consisted of a flattened and reheated bubble of glass cut into shapes. The method was cheap and efficient: the blown glass would be spun into a disc, slit, laid flat, and cut to form a pane.

When did glass windows become common in America?

In 1907, the first automated glassmaking machine was unveiled in America. At the end of the 20th century, all new buildings had glass windows. The glass industry found ways to improve energy efficiency by creating an insulating air space.

Did the Old West have glass windows?

The Old West had glass windows after the emigrants came to the region. They placed thick wooden shutters outside the windows to protect against Indian attacks and cold temperatures.

A few fun facts:

• The term window comes from an Old Norse term, meaning wind-eye
• The White House has 147 windows
• Empire State Building has 6,500 windows

Types of Glass through the Years

• Crown or Table Glass – The earliest type of glass in America
• Cylinder Blown – This glass is ordinary from 1800 until the civil war
• Float Glass – Float Glass is made by floating and drying glass on a bed of molten tin

Timeline in History of Glass Windows

• 100 AD – Romans were the first to use glass for windows
• 1608 – Glass-making in America began in Jamestown, Virginia
• 1700 – The colonists imported glass windows and table glass
• 1843 – Engineer Henry Bessemer introduced an early form of Float glass
• 1848 – Engineer Henry Bessemer patented the Automated glass manufacturing
• 1930 – The first patent for a sealed double-glazed unit in the US
• 1973 – Countries offered grants and cheap loans to improve building efficiency, including the double-glazed windows
• 1990 – Paarhammer made the first double glazed tilt and turned windows for the Australian market

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• Home Window Repair
• Home Glass Repair
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• Custom Mirrors
• Glass Tabletops
• Sun Screens
• Commercial Glass

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In England pre 16th century, most windows were of stone or timber construction with unglazed openings that could be covered in various ways: oiled cloth, paper, shutters, or even thin sheets of horn. Glazed windows were reserved for those buildings of the highest stature, and they were generally small panes of glass set in lead strip latticework. With the 16th century came the Tudor dynasty and a greater degree of prosperity. Windows became larger, and more prosperous households used window size and extravagance as a means of displaying their wealth. While glazed windows were still rare in smaller, more humble homes, their use was definitely on the rise.

From our earliest times, the need for light has been central to our needs as humans. Letting light into a cave or crude structure allowed its inhabitants to better perform tasks and navigate their surroundings, alerting them to the day’s cycle and keeping them in sync with it – something that we now understand is vital to human health and emotional health and wellbeing.

Also notable for this century was the rise in popularity of two window styles: Arts and Crafts and Queen Ann. Arts and Crafts brought with it a return to leaded lights set in timber or stone mullions, while Queen Ann favoured sash windows painted white, usually with the bottom sash being single paned whilst the upper sash featured several smaller panes. By the end of the century, the differences between the two styles blurred, and it became common to see both styles within the same building and sometimes within the same window. Queen Ann and Arts and Crafts stylings continued to evolve into the 20th century. In housing estates, design became simplified while public buildings favoured windows that imitated late 17th and early 18th century stylings. All of this was in conjunction with the rise of the modernist window, which was a “crisp”, simplistic, functional piece manufactured using the very latest in technology.

The 19th century brought with it some experimentation in an effort to move away from simple grid-style arrangements. This included narrow margin lights that were often filled with coloured glass. Glazing bars also took on a curved shape to mimic Gothic design. Advancements in glass making meant window size also began to grow. The existence of plate glass meant that fewer glazing bars were needed, and improved manufacturing methods meant that glazed windows were more affordable.

The sash window was also introduced in the 17th century as a result of the introduction of crown glass. However, because crown glass was so expensive to produce, the most popular type of window remained casement with leaded glazing. However, over the 18th century, sash design evolved, glazing bars became thinner, and window size became more standardized, with the six over six being the most common arrangement.

In the 17th century Europe, the Italian Renaissance had a strong influence on window shape; a trend that would make its way to England. Windows became taller than they were wide and were often divided into four by a mullion and transom. As timber frames came into fashion, the mullion and transom became narrower and glazing was placed near-flush with the exterior window face – allowing for larger glazed areas with less visible frames.

Glass

The use of glass itself goes back to our earliest history, where obsidian – a form of natural glass created by sand melting in the intense heat of a volcano and distributed during an eruption – was used to make spear tips. The existence of manmade glass can be traced back to 4000 BC, where it was used as glazing for stone beads. The first glass container is believed to have been made around 1500 BC. It was constructed by adding a layer of molten glass to a core made of sand.

From 100 BC, glass blowing was the most popular way to make glass containers. The glass produced during this century was poorly suited for window applications because the impurities in the raw materials made it densely coloured. However, by the end of the first century AD, colourless glass was being produced.

During the years of Roman domination, the secret to making glass was closely-guarded. It wasn’t until the fall of the Roman Empire that the skill became accessible to wider Europe and the Middle East.

The first evidence of a glass industry in Britain dates back to 680 AD in the area around Wearmouth and Jarrow in the North of England. By the 1200s, the industry had spread to include areas around the Weald, Surrey, Sussex and Chiddingford.

Glass in windows

When glass was discovered in Roman-occupied Egypt, it wasn’t only used for decoration but to form small panes that were then set into those openings. When Rome occupied Britain, they brought glass making with them.

To make window glass, the Romans started with a long balloon of blown glass. They cut off the ends and split the resulting cylinder into two. The half cylinder
would be placed on an iron plate and flattened. This manufacturing process meant that openings were limited to a small size, but that changed in the 17th
century when, in England, a process for making large panes of glass was discovered.

Unfortunately, this breakthrough didn’t benefit the English when it came to windows in their homes because, in 1696, William III introduced a “window tax”. People were required to pay between two and eight shillings a year, depending upon the number of windows in their houses, and many bricked over their windows in order to avoid the charge. (William’s window tax is where the term “daylight robbery” originates from.) The tax remained in place for 156 years, with the levy-free window allowance going from 10 to six and then to eight. The tax was finally repealed in 1851.

Polished plate glass was introduced to Britain in the late 18th century; however, the production process was so expensive that it was only used for windows in the best rooms of larger, more expensive homes.

When, in 1834, a cylinder sheet process for glass-making was imported from Germany, Britain was able to produce higher quality glass in larger sheets far less expensively than previously-used methods. That combined with the withdrawal of the window tax meant that the price of glass was greatly reduced and more people could afford to have windows in their homes. This included opaque glass which, by 1888, was primarily patterned and produced by machine rolling.

In 1903, laminated glass was introduced, which greatly increased safety and allowed for wider use of much larger panes of glass. Laminated glass could also be glazed as a single sheet, without the need for glazing bars.

The 20th century brought a plethora of new techniques for mass production, which led to cheaper ways to consistently produce higherquality glass in increasingly larger sizes. The glazing technique introduced, and still widely used today, was the float process – where molten glass floats on a bed of molten tin whilst the top surface is polished usingpressurised nitrogen. Double glazing was introduced in the late 20th century as means to improve energy efficiency in homes.

Window glass through the ages

Slab glass

The earliest form of glass, slab glass was made by pouring molten glass onto a flat surface.

Broad or cylinder glass

Broad or cylinder glass is an 11th century German invention that made its appearance in the UK during the early 1200s. It consists of glass that was blown to form a bubble, which was then cut into a cylinder shape, reheated, and flattened into sheets. The result was a highly imperfect glass that provided a distorted view through a green tint.

Crown glass

This glass was introduced to England in 1674 and remained popular until the 1830s. Also a blown glass, crown glass was blown into a bubble which was pierced by a rod and then spun to form a disk. The glass was cooled and then cut into panes. The centre piece, where the rod was attached, was usually discarded, although you occasionally see panes of that type in older homes. Crown glass was finer and clearer than broad glass. Although crown glass provided a less distorted view than previously produced window glasses, it still had a slight ripple to it.

During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, crown glass was produced alongside the cylinder type, but it was eventually pushed out of production and the technique for making crown glass was lost. Today, the closest one can get to crown glass is cylinder glass.

Cylinder sheet glass

In a method similar to creating broad glass, cylinder sheet glass starts its life with the same blown glass technique but then the cylinder was swung in a trench to increase its size. As with broad glass, this larger cylinder is then cooled and cut before being reheated and flattened. As well as allowing larger panes to be made, the resulting product also provides a superior surface quality compared to broad glass.

Cast glass

Cast glass is a product of the late 17th century and created by pouring molten glass into a mould. The cast glass process is used for multiple purposes, including creating glass sculptures and mirror glass. Because the process is labour intensive, in glazing applications cast glass is typically reserved for statement windows – often including a texture or design.

Drawn glass

Invented by Emile Fourcault in 1904, the drawn glass process places a slot in a tank of molten glass and then ‘draws’ sheets of glass through it over water-cooled rollers and into a cooling chamber.

Around the same time, Irving Colburn introduced the Colburn machine, which used paper making as its inspiration. The sheet of glass is first drawn vertically from the surface of the molten glass and then gradually bent over a roller until it lays horizontally.

Glass produced by both of these methods was marked with ripples where it has been pulled and then rolled and, as with earlier processes, the glass had to be ground and polished afterwards.

Float glass

The process for making float glass was introduced by Alastair Pilkington in 1959, and it is still the industry standard today. With this process, the molten glass is poured onto a bed of molten tin. Floating on the tin, the molten glass spreads out to form a level surface.

Originally, Pilkington’s process enabled glass only to be made at 6.8 mm thick, but today it can be as thin as 0.4 mm or as thick as 25 mm. While the principles of the process remain unchanged, the surface quality of the glass has greatly improved, providing an end product devoid of distortions and/or flaws.

The introduction of the float process opened the doors to an architectural revolution that allowed very large panes of perfect glass to be created. Additional improvements since then have enabled increased and varied functionality and the further development of what is known as intelligent glazing.