Cylinder glass

Description

A type of flat, window glass. Cylinder glass was formed by alternately hand blowing then swinging a globe of glass until a cylinder was formed that was approximately 5 feet long and 1 foot in diameter. The curved ends of the long cylinder were then cut off to form a tube that was split lengthwise, placed on a table and flattened with heat. Cylinder glass has a parallel wavy distortion due to thickness variations. Cylinder glass was made as early as the 17th century in Sunderland, England. It was less expensive than crown glass but, in general, of poorer quality.

Synonyms and Related Terms

broad glass; spread glass; sheet glass (before 20th c.); cilindro (Esp.); verre en table (Fr.); vidro de manga (Port.); muff glass; Lorraine glass; German glass (19th c.)

Resources and Citations

• Dictionary of Building Preservation, Ward Bucher, ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York City, 1996

• G.Allen, L.Black,K.Hallam, "A Preliminary Investigation into the Effect of Self-Adhesive Ultraviolet Absorbing Films on Window Glass" in ICOM preprints Lyon, 1999. p.757-763

• Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com Comment: "Crown Glass." -cylinder glass invented in the 17th century (Accessed 20 May 2004)

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997