Now that you have seen the many ways people use chicken wire glass, we thought it would be interesting to take a step back and look at the origins of this amazing product.

First, we need to start with chicken wire itself, which was invented in 1844 by British ironmonger Charles Barnard. The son of a farmer, Barnard wanted to help his father by finding a way to keep wayward chickens from fleeing the coop.

Inspired by the cloth-weaving machines common in his home town of Norwich, Barnard developed a way to manufacture a mesh fence out of thin, flexible galvanized steel wire twisted into hexagonal patterns.

The idea took off and a company was born. Barnard, Bishop & Barnard later produced and sold chain-link and other types of wire fencing internationally.

Chicken wire is used today to build cages for small animals or to protect plants from hungry squirrels and chipmunks. Creative people have adopted this versatile material in dozens of other clever ways, including making sculptures, baskets, picture frames and even chandeliers.

As for embedding chicken wire in glass, we need to go back to 1894. Coca Cola was sold in bottles for the first time and the Tower Bridge in London opened for traffic. What is the significance of these two facts to chicken wire glass? Glass-enclosed rooftops became trendy, raising concerns about breakage and safety.

But innovative glass manufacturers managed to come up with a solution. The Pilkington Group, headquartered in St. Helens, United Kingdom, was among the first to manufacture chicken wire glass that year.

The process consisted of sandwiching steel wire mesh between two separate ribbons of semi-molten glass and then passing “the sandwich” through a pair of metal rollers that squeezed the wire and glass together. The temperature at which the wire is embedded in the molten glass ensures cohesion between the metallic netting and the glass, and the two materials become as one.

This marriage creates a glass of extraordinary strength. A quarter-inch-thick piece is just as strong as a half-inch-thick piece of ordinary glass. It will not shatter like plate or skylight glass, thus it is often used for overhead work where falling shards would create danger.

In addition, chicken wire glass is a good fire retardant; the wire mesh keeps glass shards from falling, thereby preventing flames from spreading.

It is practically burglar-proof and missile proof, which is why you’ll see chicken wire glass used in schools, banks, museums, prisons, airports and jewelry shops. You can also find it in interior glass screens, partitions, balustrades, display windows and showcases.

Beyond its practical safety benefits, chicken wire glass is valued for its beauty.  Chicken wire glass can be made with a maize-like design, ribbed, rough-rolled or as a clear polished plate. Dimensions vary. A piece can be 1/4, 3/8 or 1/2-inch thick, up to 40 inches wide, and up to 100 inches long. The wire is so thoroughly covered that rust or corrosion are highly unlikely.

Additionally, this type of glass intercepts 99 percent or more of incoming ultraviolet rays, protecting furniture near windows from discoloration caused by exposure to direct sunlight. If you don’t like shutters, this is the glass for you. It also provides good sound insulation.

If you feel like chicken…

If you’re interested in incorporating chicken wire glass in your renovation or building project, check out our inventory here. And lots more info on our specialized glass site.

Corrugated glass is one type of industrial and commercial glass that was once used almost exclusively in factories. Because of its strength, and ability to diffuse light and shadow to help increase privacy and security, it was in high demand during the early industrial revolution.

Corrugation is a form of folding that can add strength and stability to cardboard boxes, flexibility and drainage to metal awnings and roofs, and light refraction and diminished visibility to glass. Corrugated boxes, metal, and glass can bare heavier loads, and corrugated glass is thicker and more shatter resistant than regular flat glass of the same height and length.

In 1926, a United States patent was awarded to Walter Cox and Arno Shuman of the Philadelphia Wire Glass Company for the process that makes corrugated glass. The process of making corrugated glass is as follows:

·         Place a crimped sheet of wire netting on a lengthwise corrugated table.

·         Corrugate the sheet of wire by passing over it a corrugated roll.

·         Embed the sheet of wire in the center of a corrugated sheet of glass by rolling the sheet of corrugated glass along the table, holding the netting, with the roller.

Fortunately, there is also some information contained within the patent that gives us some details about what makes corrugated glass so special.

According to US Patent US1156214 A, “Evidently the sheet is possessed of great mechanical strength. The distance from center to center of the corrugations is considerable and may be measured by saying that it is at least three times the thickness of the glass.” The patent also states that because a sheet of chicken wire mesh is pressed between each sheet of glass, the glass is thick but flexible which makes it ideal for use in industrial settings.

This glass is one-of-a-kind and because it was only made during the height of America’s industry period, the original, high quality corrugated glass is no longer in production. That means that every piece of corrugated glass made is a rare, high demand home décor item that can only be purchased from salvage experts who have the experience to safely and carefully remove the glass, the room to store the glass, and the skill and creativity to repurpose the glass into new glass panes, decorative pieces, tables, partitions, awnings, or anything else they can think of. One such salvage company is Olde Good Things.