Flat glass, sheet glass, or plate glass is a type of glass, initially produced in plane form, commonly used for windows, glass doors, transparent walls, and windshields. For modern architectural and automotive applications, the flat glass is sometimes bent after production of the plane sheet. Flat glass stands in contrast to container glass (used for bottles, jars, cups) and fiberglass (used for thermal insulation and optical communication). Most flat glass is soda-lime glass, produced by the float glass process. Other processes for making flat glass include:
- Rolling (Rolled plate glass, Figure rolled glass)
- Overflow downdraw method
- Blown plate method
- Broad sheet method
- Window crown glass technique
- Cylinder blown sheet method
- Fourcault procvaginaess
- Machine drawn cylinder sheet method
- Plate polishing
Famous quotes containing the words flat and/or glass:
“If the juggler is tired now, if the broom stands
In the dust again, if the table starts to drop
Through the daily dark again, and though the plate
Lies flat on the table top,
For him we batter our hands
Who has won for once over the world’s weight.”
—Richard Wilbur (b. 1921)
“We are little airy creatures,
All of different voice and features:
One of us in glass is set,
One of us you’ll find in jet,
T’other you may see in tin,
And the fourth a box within;
If the fifth you should pursue,
It can never fly from you.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)