Following the bankruptcy of his company, Colburn's patents were
purchased by Edward Libbey, president of the Toledo Glass Company.
After a period of experimentation, a machine was built that could
successfully produce plate glass in commercial quantities by mechanical
means. In Colburn's process, the production of sheet glass using began
with an iron rod as "bait" immersed lengthwise in a shallow tank of
molten glass. This caused some glass to stick to the rod, whereupon an
electric motor pulled the rod, drawing a ribbon of glass horizontally
over a set of rollers which roughly formed a flat sheet of glass as it
contined to be drawn out of the molten reservoir. Its width was
controlled by water-cooled side rollers as it approached a flattening
table. In the next stage, the glass sheet passed through an annealing
oven supported on a train of asbestos-surfaced rollers. The final step
was to cut the work into plate glass sheets of the required size.
See also:
Today in Science History:
entry
for birthdate of Irving Colburn on 16 May 1861.
