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featured product
Hollander Circa 1900
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featured product
Hollander Solar 1900 Low-E
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featured products
Hollander Circa 1900™
Heat-Cast Restoration Window Glass: Through a special process, regular window glass is reheated up to its softening point.
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Hollander Solar 1900 Low-E
Our Solar 1900 low e glass is made here in the USA and sold exclusively by Hollander Glass.
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WELCOME TO HOLLANDER HISTORIC RESTORATION WINDOW GLASS™
A source for historically accurate Restoration Window Glass. Chosen by architects, designers and homeowners in restorations ranging from the “Chateau De Versailles” to the “Smithsonian”.
Our goal is to recreate period glass by using the same manufacturing process used in America from the 17th to the mid-20th century. Our Old World Colonial™ glass is made exactly as it was during the colonial period by the mouth blown method. The turn of the century glass circa 1900 is made here in the USA one sheet at a time using a special patented process, and is almost identical to glass made in the first part of the 20th century. Our Restover products are made exactly as it was in the mid nineteen hundreds using a vertical drawing machine (Fourcault).
You will find in our product range to be the most historically accurate reproduction of old window glass. We do not believe that one type of Restoration window glass “fits all”. On the contrary the more options we give you the more confident you will be that your period style restoration of buildings, homes or furniture will be as accurate as possible.
The on-line resource for all your replacement and authentic restoration window glass needs! Here is a brief history of the glass making milestones in America.
Modern window glass (commonly known as Float glass) is produced by floating the molten glass on top of a ribbon of molten metal to give a uniform thickness and a distortion-free surface. Prior to this invention, window glass was produced using a variety of different methods. From the 1700’s to 1850, some of the first window glass was mouth blown and whirled into a large disk. This glass was cut into panes and graded based on clarity and overall quality; the highest quality glass would then be used in sections of the building that were most visible. This process was known as Crown Glass and it resulted in glass that was heavily distorted and very small in size.
From the mid 1800’s until the early 1900’s, the preferred method was Mouth Blown Cylinder Glass. The glass was mouth blown into cylinders and then flattened into sheets by hand. This process produced glass containing various imperfections both within the glass and on its surface, but was of better quality then previous methods and produced larger panes of glass.
The turn of the century heralded great innovations in glass making. The first was the invention of the “Lubbers” machine by John Lubbers. This machine could produce Mechanically Blown Cylinder Glass in larger cylinders of glass up to 40 feet. The glass would then be placed in a flattening furnace, similar to mouth blown cylinder glass, and cut into panes. This process would eventually replace the traditional mouth blown method. Factories during this time were also producing Polished Plate Glass. This was done by casting molten glass into a tray and polishing both sides of the glass until most flaws were removed. The finished product was of good quality with the advantage of producing large sheet sizes of varying thicknesses.
Beginning around the First World War, the Fourcault Process was invented. This machine was able to draw glass from its molten state into sheets. This was an improvement over the machine cylinder process as it removed the surface imperfections created by the flattening of the sheets and also took out the unwanted green tint. Still the glass had a slight distortion on the surface ( mostly drawn vertical lines), but this process would eventually replace the “Lubbers” machine cylinder process.
GLASS HISTORY TIMELINE
Crown Glass
From the 1700’s to 1850 some of the first window glass was mouth blown and whirled into a disk. This process created a heavily distorted glass in small sizes.
HRG equivalent - Old World Colonial RG MA3 CO Heavy Restoration.
Old World Colonial
The preferred method was Mouth blown Cylinder Glass. This process produced glass containing various imperfections but of better quality and larger sizes then the previous method.
HRG equivalent - Old World Colonial RG Ma1 CO | Light Restoration and RG MA2CO Full Restoration.
Hollander Circa 1900
The turn of the century saw the invention of the mechanically blown cylinder machine, producing larger sheets of better quality glass. At the same time factories were producing polished plate glass in even larger sizes and improved surface quality
HRG equivalent - Circa 1900 RG 1900H | Circa 1800 RG 1800H | Circa 1900 Plate RG 1900P.
Restover / Goethe Glass
Invention of the Foucault machine produced vertically drawn glass eliminating all of the imperfections except for vertical drawn lines. This was the best quality glass until the advent of the “Float process”.
HRG equivalent - Restover RG 0189 | Goethe glass RG 0189-5 | Renova RG REN4.