Mirror glass
Mirror glass is a quality designation for ground and polished flat glass that was originally made for the production of mirrors . The Brockhaus from 1911 defines mirror glass as "sheet glass ground and polished on both sides, previously only used for mirrors, now also a lot for windows." The corresponding production facility is a mirror glass manufacturer or mirror glassworks . The term mirror glass is now often used synonymously for float glass .
mirror
In prehistoric times, all-metal mirrors made of polished metals such as copper, bronze and silver were used. Mirrors based on glass spheres have only been known since the 14th century. In the 19th century, the silver mirror was created by depositing silver on flat glass, whereas today aluminum is used to make mirrors because silver mirrors become cloudy after a while. Metal oxides or gold were also used to coat glass . If flat glass is coated, the transmission of light is completely or partially prevented, depending on the type and thickness of the coating, and a mirror or one-way mirror (police mirror ) is obtained.
Mirror glass production
Today, flat glass is mostly manufactured using the float process. The majority of flat glass production is made in mirror glass quality. Today the majority of mirror glass is used as building glass or is further processed into special glasses.
Mirror glass works Münsterbusch
The mirror glassworks Münsterbusch built in Stolberg in the area of today's Straße An der Kesselschmiede was the first mirror glassworks in Germany with a fully mechanized grinding and polishing system. In 1863 the Saint Gobain glass company relocated its activities from the Münsterbusch mirror glass works to the Stolberger Tal to the Schnorrenfeld because there was enough water there for grinding. Despite these largely mechanized grinding and polishing methods, a hallmark of industrial production methods, the hut called itself “Spiegel manufaktur ”.