Studio glass

A glass factory is a production facility for glass and glass products. Specific occupations are glassmaker and glass blower. Ignored include processing sites such as glass cutting shops.

Description

A glass cabin consists of bearings for the raw materials silica sand, soda ash ( sodium carbonate, Na2CO3), potash (potassium carbonate, K2CO3), manganese oxide and metal oxide, a so-called batch hopper for mixing these raw materials according to precise individual recipes, furnaces for melting of the mixture, processing plants, annealing furnaces for slow controlled cooling of workpieces to avoid stress cracks, and other auxiliary equipment for the production and storage facilities for finished goods.

In industrially operated glassworks (eg flat glass, container glass production) provide sorting, decorating and packaging systems a significant part of the metallurgical equipment dar.

The furnaces are distinguished furnaces, which are used are predominantly used in the mechanical production of mass-produced goods, and pot furnaces for the manual production of high quality glassware, the latter are, however, increasingly being replaced by micro and small tubs.

Glass factories that produce container glass, label their products usually at the bottom or on the floor with the glass of the respective trademark hut. The production of mund-/handgearbeitetem flat glass has become very rare.

History

The oldest known glassworks, it dates from the 13th century BC, was in Qantir - Piramesses (Egypt) found.

In Europe, glass production and glass processing took place in separate workshops to the 11th century. In the Middle Ages north of the Alps emerged in heavily forested areas (for example, Bohemian Forest) so-called forest glassworks which alternated with obtaining the required for glass manufacture potash in the ash houses and for firing the furnaces large amounts of firewood consumed and their location according to the supply of timber.

From the 17th century the glassworks were sedentary. In England at that time switching to Koksbefeuerung took place. An art museum, which documents the life and working conditions in the glass industry in the age of industrialization, the glass Gernheim. Another historical example is the Glashütte Silberhütte.