"Daily glass" is a term with Chinese characteristics and divided by use. Its scope mainly covers glass products widely used in daily life. Dating back to the early days of the founding of New China, with the subdivision of industrial sectors, the daily glass industry was classified as light industry, aiming to meet the basic needs of people's daily life. Based on this, daily glass can be roughly defined as: glass products used in daily life scenes. Although this definition is intuitive and easy to understand, its boundaries are still somewhat vague in specific applications.
Foreign scholars such as Macfarlane, in his book "The World of Glass", subdivided glass into multiple categories according to its use. Among them, Verroterie (glass beads, toys and jewelry) and Verrerie (tableware, vases and other containers) both meet the basic characteristics of daily glass, that is, serving people's daily life.
Evolution of the scope of daily glass
Since the 1980s, with the continuous improvement of the domestic higher education system, professional textbooks for daily glass have emerged. In the process of textbook compilation, after many discussions and revisions, the main categories of daily glass were finally determined, including bottle glass, utensil glass, art glass, instrument glass, thermos glass, medicinal glass, glasses glass, electric light source and lighting glass, etc. This classification not only reflects the characteristics of the industry, but also fully considers the actual application of daily glass.
However, with the advancement of science and technology and changes in consumer habits, the market position of some traditional daily glass products has gradually faded. For example, the use of eyeglass lenses has gradually decreased due to the popularity of resin lenses; while art glass and decorative glass have a place in the fields of daily use and arts and crafts due to their unique aesthetic value. Despite this, these glass products often use similar processes and equipment as daily glass during the manufacturing process, so they can still be regarded as an extension of the scope of daily glass.
In addition, it is worth noting that with the advancement of science and technology, some special glasses and functional glasses that were originally used in specific fields have gradually been introduced into the field of daily life. For example, lithium aluminum silicon system microcrystalline glass was originally used in high-tech fields such as radar protection covers, and has now become an ideal material for cookers, tableware and microwave ovens; and functional glass such as luminous glass has also become an important part of modern lighting technologies such as LEDs. These changes have not only enriched the types and functions of daily glass, but also further expanded its application areas and market space.
Development of daily glass
Daily glass has a long history. Among the glass varieties, daily glass was manufactured and used by humans very early. Initially, it was used to make jewelry and artworks, and later expanded to containers and utensils. In 3500 BC, the ancestors in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) used glass precursors to make imitation jewelry and jade. At that time, clay and adhesive were used to make a core, and then a mixture of quartz sand, natural alkali or plant ash was placed in a crucible. Natural alkali mainly introduced sodium, and plant ash contained potassium, sodium and calcium. After heating, a glass precursor (primitive glass) was formed, and then the broken core was immersed in the original glass, or the original glass was wound around the core to form beads, jewelry and containers. This molding method is called the broken core method. Initially, the mixture was heated to only 700~800℃, and after sintering, only a part of the glass and unmelted sand particles could be formed. It is called faience abroad and glaze sand in Chinese. When the heating temperature is raised to 1000C or higher, the glass content is higher than that of glaze sand, which is called frit. Glaze sand and frit are both glass precursors, or primitive glass, but frit is one step closer to real glass than glaze sand. At that time, the ancestors also used carving methods to hollow out the entire glass precursor into a container.
In the 16th century BC, Mesopotamian glassmaking technology was introduced to Syria, Cyprus, Egypt and the Aegean region, with Egypt and Rome being the most representative. Egypt made monochrome glass beads in the 16th century BC and colored inlaid glass beads in the 10th century BC. In addition to the core method, the casting method was also used to form glass pharaoh heads. In 1350 BC, glass bottles were made using the improved core method, and the surface was also inlaid with colored stripes for decoration.
Mesopotamian and Egyptian glass is basically composed of sodium calcium silicate, with silicon dioxide introduced from quartz sand and alkali metals introduced from natural alkali and wood ash. The analysis of the composition of ancient Egyptian glass shows that Pb0 and BaO are trace amounts, and some glasses contain less than 5% Pb0. The colorants are mainly copper and manganese, and cobalt is rarely used.
In the Western Zhou Dynasty in the late 11th century BC, daily glass in my country began to sprout and glaze sand beads were made. From the 8th century BC to the 3rd century BC during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period, the level of glaze sand production was improved, and some of them were already in the range of glass sand. During the Warring States Period, glass primary products were already produced, such as the blue and light blue glass on the sword guards of King Fuchai of Wu and King Goujian of Yue.
Modern people have analyzed the glaze sand products unearthed from the tombs of Chu from the middle to the second half of the 6th century BC and found that the composition of the glaze sand products in the tombs of Chu and the Western Zhou Dynasty is similar. Therefore, it can be considered that the Chu people learned the manufacturing technology of glaze sand from the Zhou people and developed it. First, they adopted a variety of glass component systems. In addition to the potassium-calcium-silicon and sodium-calcium-silicon systems, there are also silicon-lead systems and silicon-lead-barium systems. The colorants are iron and copper, and the glass is yellow-green or blue. At that time, the manufacturing of primitive porcelain and bronze ware in my country was relatively developed. The porcelain glaze was glassy, and the porcelain glaze drops could form glass beads; the slag during the smelting of bronze ware could also be glassy, which provided conditions for the development of glass in my country. The potassium-calcium-silicon composition of ancient Chinese glass is different from the sodium-calcium-silicon composition of ancient Western glass, while the silicon-lead-barium composition is close to the slag of bronze smelting, which is not found in ancient Western glass; the primitive porcelain firing furnace and bronze smelting furnace also provide equipment for glass melting. Therefore, some scholars believe that these unearthed ancient glasses were not introduced from the West, but were independently manufactured by my country, that is, the self-creation theory. In the glass forming method, in addition to the core method, there is also a molding method derived from the clay mold of bronze casting. The mold is divided into two pieces, the upper and lower parts. The glass melt is poured into the lower mold and pressed with the upper mold to make glass walls, sword rings, plates, ear cups, etc.
In the 10th century BC, glass manufacturing technology was introduced to Greece from West Asia through the Mediterranean and Crete. In the 4th to 2nd century BC, Greek daily glass manufacturing tended to mature, using both the core method to make glass bottles and the pouring method to make glass bowls. Daily glass tableware and utensils have been used in Greece. Their composition is still soda-lime glass, containing a small amount of potassium and magnesium, and cobalt oxide and nickel oxide are used as colorants.
In the 5th century BC, Rome was the manufacturing center of glass. Around the 1st century AD, the Romans (some scholars believe that it was the Syrians) invented the blowpipe and created the blowing method, making a significant contribution to glass manufacturing technology. In terms of glass cutting, engraving, painting, coating and other deep processing, the Romans made innovations, and the products also changed from opaque glass beads and decorations to transparent glass bottles, glassware, flat glass, glass mirrors, and mosaic glass. The blowing method requires that the glass viscosity is lower than the core method and pouring method, and the glass melt temperature is higher. At this time, the glass furnace was improved, the melting temperature was increased, and the requirements of the blowing method were met. The corresponding glass quality and transparency were also improved.
In the 5th to 3rd century BC, the Sassanid Dynasty of the Persian Empire used the blowing method to manufacture daily glass bowls, bodies, cups, and bottles. The surface was decorated with circular or oval patterns with molds or heat processing, which was called the famous Sasanian glass.
From 206 BC to 220 AD, it was the Han Dynasty in my country. From small-sized glass beads and jade bi to daily-use utensils and flat glass of a certain size, the transparency was also improved: the 16 green glass cups, glass beasts, and glass fragments unearthed from the early Western Han Dynasty can serve as evidence. Glass spears and glass jade clothes unearthed from tombs in the middle and late Western Han Dynasty were made of sodium-calcium glass instead of lead-barium glass. Some scholars speculated that they were imported from the West, but other scholars believed that the shape of the spears was similar to bronze spears unearthed in other parts of the country, so they were made in China. During the Han Dynasty, glass was also called Liuli (Liuli, Luli), and this name has been used to this day.
The Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties was an era of great cultural exchange between China and the West. Glass ornaments and containers were exported to my country from West Asia through the Silk Road. The glass blowing method was also introduced by Rome. At the latest in the Northern Wei Dynasty, my country had used the blowing method to manufacture hollow products such as daily glass bowls and cups. In particular, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties in the 5th century AD, glass craftsmen were invited from Persia to use the moldless method to blow glass bowls, glass cups, glass bowls and other hollow products. The size and volume were relatively large, the output also increased, and the cost was reduced. Glass not only imitated jewelry and jade, but was also used as daily utensils. The manufacture and application of daily glass has since entered a new stage.
In the Sui Dynasty, the division between the Northern and Southern Dynasties ended. The emperor ordered the officials of the palace to resume glass production, invited the Yuezhi people in Central Asia to make glass, and began to use high-lead glass components to suit the production method, blowing green glass bottles, glass cups and glass plates.
The political unification, economic and cultural prosperity of the Tang Dynasty provided favorable conditions for the development of glass. The glass composition developed from lead and barium in the Han Dynasty to high lead components, and sodium and calcium components were applied in the later period. Molding adopts molding, die casting, free molding and blowing methods. There are many kinds of glass products, including imitation jewelry, such as imitation jade bi, sword ornaments, beads, fish symbols, etc.; there are also furnishings and daily necessities specially provided for the royal family, such as high-foot wine glasses, bottles, cans, boxes, tea bowls and bowl holders; there are also Buddhist supplies, such as relic bottles, glass fruits (Anagami fruits), gourd bottles, cups and cup holders.
In the 8th century AD, perfume bottles, tableware, utensils, and lamps of different sizes, shapes, and colors were produced in the Arab region. Glass with obvious Islamic cultural characteristics in terms of shape and decoration was called Islamic glass. In the 9th to 12th centuries, Arabs also made achievements in surface decoration such as gilding, painting, colored glaze, and engraving. Most Islamic glass is soda-lime silicate glass, and only a few types are high-lead glass components.
From 960 to 1234 AD, it was the Song, Liao, and Jin periods. Although the Song Dynasty achieved remarkable achievements in ceramic manufacturing, daily glass manufacturing could only maintain the level of the Tang Dynasty. The Liao Dynasty had frequent exchanges with West Asian glass. In recent years, Sassanid, Byzantine, and Islamic-style glass cups and bottles have been unearthed in Northeast China and Inner Mongolia.
Venice began to manufacture glass in 982 AD. The 13th to 17th centuries AD were its heyday. Since 1291, it has been the world's glass center. Its products include cups, water vessels, wine vessels, plates, perfume bottles, trays, mirrors, glass ornaments, and furnishings, which are sold all over Europe. In a narrow sense, Venetian glass refers specifically to glass produced on the island of Murano in Venice. Since the 15th century, Venetians have used relatively pure quartzite and recrystallized white soda ash as raw materials. The glass produced has fewer impurities, better whiteness, and higher transparency, which has changed the impression of low transparency and blurred vision in the past. It is similar to crystal, so it is called crystal glass (Cristllo). In the past, blown glass was mostly made by moldless molding, while Venetian glass products are mostly made by mold blowing. In the molding process, they are decorated with broken flowers (flowers), mesh patterns, colored strips, chalcedony (imitation marble), etc. The surface treatment adopts methods such as engraving, gold plating, glazing, and painting, and multiple surface treatment methods are used together to form a unique Venetian decorative style. This kind of glass produced in the vicinity of Venice and with Venetian decorative style is called Venetian glass, and can also be regarded as a broad Venetian glass product.
In the 12th century, there were many glass factories in Bohemia (now the western part of the Czech Republic) that produced carved glass products, which were called Bohemian glass. Around 1700, the Bohemians used potassium-containing wood ash and relatively pure quartz raw materials to produce potassium-calcium silicate glass, which was more transparent than Venetian glass and was named Bohemian crystal glass (Crysta lex), which is still in production today.
The 13th to 17th centuries were the Yuan and Ming dynasties in my country. The production and application of daily glass had also developed compared with the Song and Jin dynasties. The Yuan Dynasty established the Guanyu Bureau, and making glass was one of its functions. At this time, "Guanyu" was used to refer to glass, which referred to glass fired in a jar with medicine, similar to the "medicine jade" of the Song Dynasty. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, glass workshops were mainly in Yanshen Town, Yidu County, Qingzhou Prefecture, Shandong. At that time, there was a large furnace that melted the mixed materials into glass. In addition to directly forming daily glass products, it also drew material strips for lamp workers to make "material vessels". There was also a rice bead furnace that specialized in making rice beads. Glass varieties include glass beads, hairpins, earrings, pot tops, chess pieces, wind chimes, lanterns, screens, blown light bulbs, fish tanks, water pots, fire beads, etc. in various shapes and colors.
In the 17th century in the West, the production of daily glass moved north from Italy to Britain, Germany, France and other countries. In 1670 (or 1673), the British George Ravenscroft developed lead glass, that is, potassium lead silicate composition system. The glass is easy to melt, has long material properties, can be formed into complex glass products, has low hardness, is easy to grind, and more importantly, has high transparency and glossiness that is more similar to crystal than the crystal glass of Venice and Bohemia. It was named lead crystal glass (lead crystal glass), or crystal glass for short, and became the ancestor of today's crystal glass.
The war in the late Ming Dynasty also affected glass production. After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, glass production was restored. Emperor Kangxi established the Imperial Household Department to set up a glass factory, which was prepared by French missionary Guillain. Later, several French technical workers were invited one after another. During the reign of Emperor Yongzheng, a new factory was built in Yuanmingyuan. From 1736 to 1765 (the first to 30th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign), the glass factory was at its peak. It had 42 warehouses and workshops, producing tens of thousands of ceremonial items, furnishings, decorations, and Buddhist temple supplies annually. In 1755 (the 20th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign), an imperial decree was issued to make 500 glass snuff bottles and 3,000 glassware for the purpose of giving gifts. The production capacity at that time was evident.
The glass produced by the Imperial Household Department of the Qing Dynasty had high melting quality and rich colors. There were more than 30 kinds of monochrome glass, as well as Venus glass, stirred glass, and wire-wrapped glass. The shapes were full of Chinese characteristics, and the decoration methods were varied, including painted enamel glass, gold-inlaid glass, gold-drawing glass, and carved glass. Especially in terms of nesting, the colored glass of nesting ranged from two kinds (two colors) to eight kinds of glass (eight colors), and then carved using the jade carving method, becoming the world-famous Qianlong glass.
In the Qing Dynasty, in addition to the glass factory of the Imperial Household Department, the main private glass production areas included Beijing, Boshan and Guangzhou. Beijing's private glass workshops were inferior to the official ones in terms of glass variety, quantity and quality. The main products were glassware, which were made of material strips heated by lamps to make snuff bottles, material spouts, potted flowers, gourds, jewelry, pendants, etc. In the Qing Dynasty, Zibo's glass production had reached its peak. There were three types of kilns: large furnace, round furnace and rice bead furnace. Coal or coke was used as fuel to increase the melting temperature. In addition to producing solid glass products, they also produced material strips for glassware. Some of them were used for self-use, and the other part was shipped to Beijing to make glassware in Beijing. Guangzhou is the gateway to southern my country's maritime transportation. At the latest in the Kangxi period, Guangzhou's glassmaking industry developed, producing snuff boxes, glass covered bowls and other products, becoming a glass production base in the south, but the technical level and product quality were far inferior to those of the palace workshops.
In the 1760s, the West began the industrial revolution in Britain, which promoted the transition of glass from handicraft production to mechanical production. The mechanized production of glass is first of all the development of mold manufacturing. In 1825, the Baker Company in Pittsburgh, USA, invented the glass die-casting machine and
In the past, glass melting used crucible furnaces, which had low thermal efficiency, low melting temperature, limited production, and did not match mechanized production. In 1841, the Siemens brothers (Robert Siemens and Friedrich Siemens) cooperated to study the regenerator melting furnace. In 1867, Friedrich Siemens successfully built the first regenerator tank furnace in Dresden, Germany. In 1873, this type of tank furnace was officially put into production in Belgium, using coke oven gas or generator gas as fuel, and using the regenerator to recover waste gas heat. The thermal efficiency was significantly improved, the melting temperature rose, and the glass melting quality was improved. It can form a continuous production line with a mechanical molding machine, laying the foundation for the large-scale mechanized production of daily glass in the future.
In 1847, Magoun successfully used a hinged bimetallic mold to manufacture glass tableware and glass bottles. In 1882, Arbo-gast obtained a patent for the glass pressing, transfer and second mold blowing of finished glass, namely the press-blowing method. In 1886, it developed a molding machine, which led to the semi-automatic press-blowing era of wide-mouth bottles before 1890. It was not until 1890 that the first motor-driven bottle-making machine appeared.
In 1903, Owens began to develop a vacuum suction bottle-making machine, called the Owens bottle-making machine. It was successful in 1904-1905 and occupied the market a few years later. It was not until 1915-1920 that other types of molding machines began to compete. At this time, there were 200 vacuum suction bottle-making machines that produced 45% of American glass bottles. However, the Owens machine was very bulky, consumed a lot of electricity, and was only suitable for the production of bottles with a single model and large batches.
In 1915, Grabam Machinery Company developed a feeder, and in 1920, Hartford Empire Company improved the feeder, and the quality of bottle making reached the level of Owens machine. Later, Lynch and O'Neill's bottle making machines adopted Hartford's feeder, Lynch and O'Neill bottle making machines cost less than Owens machines, and soon occupied 45% of the US bottle making market.
In 1925, Hartford engineer Ingle developed a segmented bottle making machine, which consists of several independent segments, each of which can independently perform bottle making operations. Even if the mold is replaced, only this part needs to be stopped, and the other parts can continue to produce as usual. This bottle making machine is named IS machine after the first letters of the surnames of the inventor Ingle and the company manager Smith. Some people also think that IS machine is the abbreviation of Individual Section. In my country, it is called a determinant bottle making machine. IS machine can use the blow-blowing method or the pressure-blowing method to make bottles and cans, and can produce products with uniform distribution of glass throughout the bottle body, that is, products with small wall thickness differences. After its introduction, it has been widely used. Currently, IS machines account for more than 80% of the number of bottle glass forming machines.
When daily glass in the West was moving towards mechanized production, daily glass in my country was still at the handicraft stage. The products were mainly imitation jewelry, gemstones, decorations, furnishings, and collectibles. There were few varieties of glass bottles, jars, and utensils, and the output was also very low.
From the demise of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 to the founding of New China in 1949, my country's daily glass industry was small in scale, with many small workshops, low output and poor quality. Except for a few enterprises that were semi-mechanized, the others were basically manual production. They were also impacted by foreign products and faced bankruptcy.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, utensil factories have been established in Chongqing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Dalian and other places. They are all melted in crucible kilns, picked up manually, and blown manually. Thermos bottles were introduced into my country in 1921 and put into production in 1927. In the 1930s, Jinghua Glass Factory was established in Qingdao, and Lynch six-mold bottle making machine was introduced from the United States to produce glass bottles. This was the first mechanized production enterprise of daily glass in my country. Some glass factories also produced laboratory measuring cups, medicine bottles, syringes and other medical products in small batches in the 1930s. Before the founding of New China, the output of daily glass was less than 100,000 tons.
After the founding of New China, the science and technology and production of daily glass developed, which can be basically divided into two stages: the first stage was from 1949 to 1980, which was a period of recovery and development; the second stage was from 1980 to the present, which was a period of rapid development.
Since the 1950s, my country has successively developed pneumatic six-mode Jiefang 20-type bottle making machines, four-group and six-group single-drop matrix bottle making machines, and corresponding supporting feeders, gradually realizing the mechanized production of bottle making; and introduced 56 sets of molding equipment in 20 years, most of which were 8-group and 10-group double-drop matrix bottle making machines, which increased production efficiency by 20 to 30 times.
In terms of glassware, a 10-station cup pressing machine with drip block feeding was developed in the 1950s, and then 12- and 14-station cup pressing machines were developed. In 1980, a thin-walled product forming machine was trial-produced, and the H-28 blowing machine and the electric melting furnace for continuous melting of lead crystal glass, acid polishing equipment and glassware tempering production line were introduced. Lead crystal glass products were mass-produced, and a variety of surface treatments and decoration processes were used to increase the variety of glassware.
In terms of instrument glass, in 1953, Shanghai trial-produced 95 material, which is a borosilicate glass with good heat resistance. Later, GG-17 glass with better heat resistance was developed, making the quality of instrument glass close to the level of American Pyrex glass. In 1952, Germany assisted in the construction of Beijing Glass Instrument Factory, and all equipment was imported from Germany. In 1980, Japan's advanced technology was introduced for transformation. It has brought glass instrument manufacturing to a new level in production scale, production equipment, and process technology.
In terms of thermal insulation glass, in 1960, an automatic bubble blowing machine for thermos bottles was trial-made, and the bottle liner was blown. Later, a horizontal sealing machine and a bottom pulling machine were created, which improved labor productivity and reduced labor intensity. In addition, a new thin-layer silver plating process was promoted, reducing silver consumption by about 1.9 times.
In 1952, the total output of daily glass was 100,000 tons; 45.225 million thermos bottles; in 1976, the output of daily glass exceeded one million, reaching 1.0383 million tons. The 1980s and 1990s were a period of rapid development of daily glass. In 1985, the output of daily precious glass was 4.8389 million tons, and the output of thermos bottles was 191.39 million; in 1995, the output of daily glass was 7.4760 million tons; in 2005, the output of daily glass was 8.7175 million tons, and the output of thermos bottles was 289.9762 million; in 2010, the output of daily glass and packaging containers was 19.9314 million tons, an increase of 128.7% over 2005, an average annual increase of 18%, and the output of thermos bottles was 570.658 million, an increase of 96.8% over 2005, an average annual increase of 14.5%. In 2012, the output of daily glass products and glass packaging containers was 21.887 million tons, a cumulative year-on-year increase of 6.34%; the output of glass insulation containers was 771.23 million, a cumulative year-on-year increase of 31.13%. my country's output and growth rate of daily glass products and thermos bottles ranked first in the world.
