Float: Pilkington's Glass Revolution

Window glass was originally intended simply to let light in and to keep the weather out, but its use and application have steadily expanded, until today it has evolved into a huge family of products. Its properties can be modified to keep heat in or keep heat out; it may be coloured to impact upon its environment; or it can be reflective to blend with it. It may be thick enough to stop a bullet, or thin enough to be sent into space. The prime quality of glass is that it is invisible. The less you are conscious of the glass itself (rather than its colour or coating), in a window, a car windscreen or a mirror, the more valuable it is. The magic of the float process is that it gave the world the capability of making a valuable, invisible product more cheaply than ever before. To achieve invisibility glass has to be flawless: perfectly flat, totally uniform, and free from any distortion or contamination. We now take this for granted, but in the early 1950s, before the advent of the float process, such perfection was rare and very expensive. This is an account of 'one of the great process inventions of the [twentieth] century'. It tells how Pilkingtons became the global pioneer in float glass production and development, about how it has always been regarded as the technical leader, with the breadth of experience, the latest developments and the expertise to supervise manufacture. It is a fascinating story of creativity, innovation and vision, of extraordinary invention, of a small family-run enterprise, based in a Lancashire coal-mining town, which made the most of a unique window of opportunity, as it were. In doing so they revolutionised not only themselves but also architecture, construction, car design, space travel. In short, Pilkingtons' glass revolution changed the world.

About the Author :
David Bricknell was born in 1948 and brought up in Devon. He read Law at Exeter University from 1966 to 1969, and subsequently spent four years in a City law firm, during which time he qualified as a solicitor. He joined Pilkington Brothers in 1974 as a lawyer, and spent 24 years with the company, taking part in a number of the negotiations and projects described in this book, working with most of the major characters, and ending up as Group Legal Advisor and Company Secretary. In 1997 he left Pilkingtons and spent three years in London before retiring. Four years later he embarked upon an MA and Ph.D. at Manchester Metropolitan University based on his research into what is arguably Pilkingtons' most influential innovation, float glass. He believed then and still does today that the story is so important and interesting that it must be recorded and written down in a way that conveys just how exciting and world-changing this product was and still is.