Mercury glass makes a comeback

If you’ve never heard of mercury glass (also called silvered glass), it just means that you weren’t born in the 19th century! Genuine mercury glass is a decorative, double-walled, hand-blown glass that has a layer of mercury or silver sandwiched between the layers. The term “mercury” is a bit misleading; elemental mercury is not used in the creation of this kind of glass, although early versions may have contained it. “Silvered” glass is made with a silver nitrate solution, and is not genuine silver, either.

Mercury glass was made as a tarnish-free alternative to silver, and was also used as a “cheap” substitute for genuine silver. Household objects like doorknobs, glasses, vases and candlesticks were prime candidates for mercury glass. As it began to fade from popular favor, mercury glass could be found in purely decorative objects like Christmas ornaments.

Original mercury glass is now a popular antique find. Because the glass was usually not perfectly sealed, antique mercury glass can tarnish or deteriorate. Delamination is also a common issue among antique mercury glass pieces.

Some crafters like making their own faux mercury glass using mirror spray paint. This paint will adhere to glass, but doesn’t bond permanently, so the mirror effect will be vulnerable to impact damage and delamination over time.

True glass paint, like Glassprimer™ glass paint, makes a permanent bond with glass surfaces. This exceptional paint allows you to apply paint in any color to any glass surface. In addition, special frosting finishes allow painted glass to take on the appearance of frosted glass.

Glassprimer™ glass paint will not peel, chip or fade. It also provides exceptional UV resistance. This allows the paint to retain its color, even when exposed to direct sunlight. It can also help control solar heat gain, which reduces energy consumption.

Used in a decorative capacity, Glassprimer™ glass paint performs well in high-humidity areas like kitchens and bathrooms. It will enable you to create beautifully decorated, cost-effective glass surfaces for walls, cabinet fronts and countertops.

Humber Bridge Could Get Glass Elevator

The Humber Bridge traverses the junction of the Trent and Ouse rivers. It connects North Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire, and was opened in 1981. It has a height of about 510 feet and spans about 1.4 miles. At that time, it was the longest single span suspension bridge in the world. Today, it is the eighth-longest bridge of its kind, and carries about 120,000 vehicles per week.

The bridge was originally planned in the 1930’s but wasn’t built. The bridge plans were revised again in the mid-1950’s, but again, construction was delayed. Construction of the span began in 1972 with a goal of opening the bridge to traffic in 1976. Construction delays prevented the timely completion of the project, and the bridge was finally opened in 1981.

The proposed elevator would take visitors nearly to the top of one of the bridge’s two towers. Once at the top, visitors will be able to enter a glass observation platform, giving a 306° view of the rivers and the Humber region.

According to Hill, the project would create as many as 400 jobs and generate more than £16,000,000 annually in tourist-related revenue. Currently, the plan calls for a 15-month construction schedule. If the plans are approved and construction begins immediately, the elevator could be ready for its first visitors near the end of 2017.

Iconic Glass Structures – Palm House, Kew Gardens

The Palm House is one of three major buildings on the grounds. It is a breathtaking glass structure made of wrought iron and glass. The building houses the Garden’s collection of palms. A second structure, twice the size of the Palm House, known as the Temperate House, is the largest glasshouse in the world. The third major structure in the Kew Gardens is the Princess of Wales Conservatory, which was opened in 1987. It houses plants from the dry and wet tropics.

Kew, which is an area that has been absorbed by London, has been the site of a royal residence since about 1300. The Kew Gardens were originally created in the late 1700’s by combining several royal residences. At that time, the Garden’s first curator was also appointed. The Gardens became a national botanical garden in 1840, shortly before the Palm House was built. The Palm House was constructed between 1844-1848 of wrought iron and glass. It is the largest surviving Victorian-era iron-and-glass structure in the world. The glass panes in the Palm House are all hand-blown. The original glass in the Palm House was tinted green to reduce the heat buildup in the building.

The Kew Gardens is one of London’s top tourist attractions. Annually, it welcomes more than 1.3 million visitors, and occupies about 300 acres.

Shatterproof glass worked in NYC

Following the 9/11 attacks, New York City required many buildings to retrofit with shatterproof glass. The benefits of the retrofit were evident last week when homemade bombs exploded in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. While the blasts did cause some limited damage, one thing that did not happen is that street-level glass didn’t shatter or break as the result of the explosions.

Surveillance video of the area during the blast showed just what the city hoped – windows remained intact, instead of showering broken glass onto pedestrians in the street. Shatterproof glass contains a layer of plastic between two panes of glass. When the shatterproof glass panes break, they don’t shatter randomly, like ordinary glass. Instead, the broken glass remains bonded together – exactly what’s needed in situations like the one in Chelsea.

Shatterproof glass isn’t new; in fact, it’s more than 100 years old. The first patent for breakage-resistant glass was issued in 1909, although the glass itself was invented in 1902. The need for shatterproof glass became evident when manufacturers first started incorporate glass into automobiles. By the mid-1930’s, shatterproof glass was standard in automobiles.

Shatterproof glass may have been a required component of automobiles for more than 80 years, but it typically isn’t required in ordinary buildings. While the Uniform Building Code has required shatterproof glass in buildings since 1991, the requirements focused primarily on doors, glass panels in and near doors, and glass in safety situations. Very large windows, windows in close proximity to a walking surface, and glass in wet areas like bathrooms, may also be made of shatterproof glass. The NYC requirements focused on windows, regardless of their proximity to doors, walking paths or even size.

Tempered glass is a form of safety glass, but it’s far from shatterproof. In fact, tempered glass is known to shatter in a rather explosive way. The benefit of tempered glass in a breakage situation is that like shatterproof glass, it doesn’t break randomly. Tempered glass, which is heat-treated and specially cooled at the time of manufacture, breaks into uniform pieces that won’t create significant injuries, even if the pieces become airborne.

Shatterproof glass looks like ordinary glass, and it can be decorated, painted or printed like ordinary glass. Glassprimer™ glass paint will create a permanent bond with tempered glass, thanks to its specially engineered nature. In addition to resisting chipping, peeling and fading, it also offers superior UV resistance.

Photovoltaic glass rises to the top

Designers are looking for ways to reduce energy consumption in commercial spaces, and photovoltaic glass is emerging as a viable solution. Photovoltaic glass converts sunlight to electricity, and is increasingly being used to reduce energy commercial energy demands.

Apple recently announced that it will install a photovoltaic glass floor into its San Francisco retail store. The floor is able to generate as much as 90,000 kWh of electricity annually. The company’s new headquarters are also fitted with photovoltaic glass, and is expected to generate an eye-popping 5 MWh of electricity each year.

The efficiency of photovoltaic glass is generally below 20%, but new research is improving the efficiency of glass, and making effective solar installations possible in more locations. Heliatek, a German manufacturer, has just completed the second phase of a large solar project in Singapore, using HeliaFilm, a film intended to collect solar energy on building façades and rooftops. The film is designed specifically for use in Asia, as a way to boost energy collection and meet growing demands in urban areas. The installed film currently covers about 200 square meters of space and generates about 110kWh of electricity. A third stage, which will apply transparent films to the existing collector.

Other research aims to improve the transparency of photovoltaic glass. Typically, photovoltaic glass is dark – nearly opaque – to improve the collection potential of glass. A new approach to photovoltaic glass involves taking advantage of the large amount of glass surface available in modern commercial buildings. If films or other coatings could improve the efficiency of energy collection and the transparency of glass, solar energy could support a significant portion of the energy that each building consumes.

Another approach to reducing energy costs is to discourage solar heat gain. Coatings like paint can accomplish this. Glassprimer™ glass paint creates a permanent bond with the surface of the glass, and resists UV radiation. At the same time, the paint can permit natural light transmission.