The Development Of Float Glass in China

In the late 1950s, the British Pilkington Glass Company announced to the world the successful development of float glass forming technology for flat glass, which was a revolution from the original slotted upper forming process. For a moment, waves of hot float water converged into a "float water frenzy" sweeping the world. Many countries in the world are willing to spend huge amounts of money to purchase Pilkington patents, but Pilkington has imposed a technological blockade on China. The Western technological blockade has made us realize that the development and production of float glass in China must follow the path of self-reliance and independent innovation. In May 1971, the former Ministry of Building Materials Industry decided to conduct float glass industry experiments at Luoyang Glass. Glass experts from all over the country gathered at Luoyang Glass, and more than a thousand employees from Luoyang Glass participated in the battle.
The production of float glass in China is a new and unprecedented undertaking. Due to the lack of any reference materials, the experimental production encountered wave after wave of difficulties from the beginning. Without designers, experts from the building materials department and the vast number of technology personnel from Luobo are working on design in the boiler room, drawing sketches and then constructing. Without large lathe equipment, the fitters at Luobo used small furnace workers to repair the pot and process 25 meter small tin troughs on site. An important challenge encountered in the production process at that time was that high-temperature glass water was prone to condensation when passing through the tin bath, resulting in uneven thickness of the glass. Sometimes glass water splashes around in the tin bath, causing injuries to workers everywhere. After long-term thinking, the technicians at Luobo have designed an electric heating device on the upper part of the tin bath, which solves the problem of glass water easily condensing through the tin bath. Subsequently, they independently developed a glass edging machine, carefully designing the speed, angle, and depth of pressing, and modifying the shape of the molding process. The glass became wider and flatter as it was pulled, resulting in higher quality. On September 23, 1971, the cadres and employees of Luoyang Glass, under the guidance of the department leaders and relevant experts, and with the full cooperation of sister units, worked together for more than three months and finally successfully built the first float glass production line, producing China's first float glass. Mechanical strength, flatness, and transparency are all superior to other flat glass. With superhuman wisdom and hard work, Luo Bo fulfilled the Chinese dream of floating.
From 1971 to 1981, Luoyang Glass carried out three large-scale technological transformations on this line. The melting capacity of the production line reached 225 tons, the plate width exceeded 2 meters, and the total yield rate reached 76.96%. Moreover, from the end of 1978 to the beginning of 1979, it steadily produced thinner 4mm glass. The technology and equipment of the "Luoyang Float Glass Process" have also become increasingly perfect, and the technical level has been continuously improved.
From April 27th to 30th, 1981, the National Science and Technology Commission organized a national level technical appraisal meeting for the "Luoyang Float Glass Process" at Luoyang Glass. This was the third national level technical appraisal meeting in China after the 10000 ton giant ship and the 10000 ton hydraulic press. The meeting officially named this process as the "Luoyang Float Glass Process" in China and awarded the gold medal for creative invention. The birth of Luoyang float glass technology in Luoyang Glass marked the end of an old era and ushered in a new dawn for the development of China's glass industry. It opened up a new era of transformation, innovation, and development in China's glass industry, erected a magnificent monument for the development of China's glass industry, and became one of the world's three major float glass technologies, alongside Pilkington float glass in the UK and Pittsburgh float glass in the US.