Category Archives: glass lenses

…. Continuation of  From idea to finished product from glass Part 1

The production process of the pressed glass article begins

The mould is built in to the press. Now the actual production process begins. It can be sweaty work at the furnace, with temperatures reaching up to 1300 degrees. According to the shape and size of the material of the pressed glass product, the appropriate raw glass rods must be selected. There are glass rods with different diameters. The bigger the glass article, the thicker the glass rods. The diameter of the glass rods can be as high as 44 mm. Depending on the type of glass or even the colour of glass, there are different requirements to be considered when processing. The glass rods are then heated in the oven. As soon as the glass rod is soft and is suitable for the pressing operation, it can be kept in the open press. The press closes and presses the product accordingly. Throughout this process, the mould is permanently heated by flame so that you have an appropriate temperature necessary for the successful finalisation of the product. During the pressing process, there can be excess glass from the edge of the article. When the item is then pressed, the connection to the glass rod is broken with a special pair of scissors. The glass rod is then held to the heat for the next pressing operation in the oven. The pressed article is then removed with forceps from the opened mould.

The first part of this section deals with implementing an idea right up to the production of a prototype – it creates a new glass product. Regardless of whether it is a glass lens, glass ball or ……..

The idea is the beginning for a new glass product

To start with, there is an idea of us working together with our customers right up to the finished product. The first step is a drawing with all the necessary details like, for example, precise measurements, tolerance specifications, description, etc.. We should also be informed of the intended use or purpose, such as the exact requirements set by the customer for the pressed glass product. These requirements also decide on the type of raw glass needing to be used. There is usually the choice of either soda lime glass or borosilicate glass.

A lens is an optically effective element with two light-refracting surfaces. Of which a surface is usually curved as concave or convex. The most important characteristic of a lens or a so-called lens system is the optical image. The critical size of a lens is the focal length the unit is specified in meters, depending on the intended use etc. Thus the distance from the focal plane or the focal point of the lens is defined. The simplest lenses are optically active at both spherical surfaces (surface sections of a sphere). From a historical perspective it is assumed that the first glass lenses were used in the field of optics. They were used as lenses to correct short sight or long sight. Later, the first binoculars and also microscopes were developed. Materials which are suitable for the production of lenses must be made of transparent materials. In addition to glass are also some plastics suitable, such as Polycarbonate. The name of the lenses is defined by the curvature of their surfaces. Each of these surfaces can be concave, convex or flat (plan). Convex lenses have curved surfaces outwards, concave lenses, however, have inner curved surface. With lenses having a flat surface no curvature is present. A very important characteristic of a lens is the principle of reversal of the light path. The focal length is dependent on the curvature radii of the two lens surfaces. There are many different types of lenses. We want to enumerate only a few at this moment.