ONLY THE FLATTEST FLOAT GLASS IS USED TO MAKE VIG.

Float gass had and interesting start.  Sir Alastair Pilkington started to “float” molton glass on tin. His idea came while washing the dishes. He noticed how oil floats on the surface of water. Tin has properties which has Synergy with glass in its molton form. 

Sheets  of fine quality glass could be  made better, with  less grueling production labor than drawn, sheet glass. The issue became one of continuity.The  process for quality control  was easier floating glass. In 1959 thr  worlds first float glass factory was built. The continuous batch process for glass brought with it new size constraints, better tollerances, yield and quality. With the buildout of  the first float lines in the US, standard sizes and thickness were offered to manufacturers of windows for  commerical storm door manufacturers,, insulated glass manufacturers,  

after market auto glass manufacturers, mirror,  laminated  manufacturers and flat glass distributors.

The market for float glass was dominated  by Pilinkton. The family protected  the fundamental patents for  manufacturing float glass. Licenses were only offered  to the largest companies.    Libby Ownes and Ford and the Pitcairn  family were the first to license  the technology for a float line in the US. Ppg was a household name in the 60s.They  had 33k employees and did 500m a year

Michael Joseph Ownens, a cole miners son along, with the banker Ed Libby and Ed Ford partnered. Mike developed a new bottle  process. Ed Ford was a minority share holder of PPg and sold his interest to join Ed and Mike. 

Ed picked Rossford Ohio. Being close to the natural resources easily available to ship  and recieve raw materials made Toledo the glass capital of the world. 

The glass Industry was a monolpoly. The other licensee was Ford Motor Company who built lines for their own consumption.

Guardian Industries was a fabricator of automotive glass. They applied for a patent and was denied because they werent a prime manufacturer. 

AFG  as well found work arounds to become q player. 

Soon the largest fabricators were able to bypass expired patents for prior art. Cardnial had suppoted Andersons Growth and shortly built their own factories. 

Today  the landscape is an oligopoly although still, market share lies with the top fabricators. 

Today in addition to privatized companies International conglomerates from Mexico, and Japan are clear competitors . 

As float glass quality has impoved the next ste in tolerance is flatness. Vacuum insulated Glass(VIG) requires a seperate requsite for quality