History of Double Glazing
Double Glazing In Ancient Rome
The ancient Romans used glass in windows, but not the clear glass we use today. According to Wikipedia, they found out that insulated glazing (or “double glazing”) improved greatly on their ability to keep buildings warm, and this technique was used in the construction of public baths. Over 2000 years later, the vast majority of Australian homes still don’t have double glazing No slouches in the field of energy efficiency, the Romans also developed underfloor heating and the solar chimney.
Double Glazing In Europe In The 1800s
Over 800 years later, double glazing reappears in the record in Europe, in the latter part of the 1800s. To quote historyextra.com, “There is good evidence that some houses in Scotland had double-glazed windows as early as the 1870s. However, this took the form of the second sheet of glass puttied to existing windows. Similar claims have been made for Switzerland and Germany”
Modern Double Glazing Invented In The United States 1930
Today’s modern double glazing was developed in the United States in the 193o’s. From the 1930s on, C.D. Haven was awarded a number of Patents. Double Glazing US Patent 2030869 A noted “…invention relates to a commercially practical, single unit multiple glass sheet glazing constructions consisting of two or more sheets of glass spaced apart by separating means cemented between the glass sheets entirely around their edges. Such a product has been manufactured and sold commercially by the Thermopane Company…” The major improvement, which was a critical advance over the old-fashioned, less-effective “just adding a second pane of glass” approach, was the introduction of the vacuum between the glass panes. This enhanced both the thermal and acoustic insulation properties beyond what was possible with just two panes of glass. Unfortunately, in the 1930s, with the United States coming out of the Great Depression, the process was expensive and had little early success. The design required the glass panes to be of uniform thickness and to be absolutely flat if the vacuum gap was to be maintained, and that too was expensive. It was after WWII, in the early 1950s, when double glazing became more economical and was more widely adopted.
Double Glazing Takes Off In Europe
In the 1950s and ’60s, double glazing increased in popularity in Europe- particularly in colder regions. Germany was a leader in developing new technologies, with companies like Deceuninck developing a meld of double-glazing and uPVC framing technologies. Today, double (and sometimes triple-) glazing is standard in the colder areas of Europe, the UK and North America.
