Super firm

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A Superfest beer glass (0.25 l) with the typical calibration mark
GDR business patent No. 157966

Superfest , also known as CV glass or Ceverit until 1980 , was a brand for drinking glasses in the GDR . Thanks to their chemically strengthened glass, they were almost unbreakable. The Superfest glasses were produced between 1980 and 1990 in what was then VEB Sachsenglas Schwepnitz .

story

In the mid-1970s, attempts began in the GDR to make conventional, thin-walled commercial glass stronger and more heat-resistant. The glass structure research department founded in 1973 by the Central Institute for Organic Chemistry investigated u. a. the so-called ion exchange. In an additional process step, smaller sodium ions are replaced by larger potassium ions at the interface of the glasses , which increase the tension in the glass surface and thus make it stronger. This mechanism is also used for the production of Gorilla Glass .

On August 8, 1977, a team of four around the scientist Dieter Patzig applied for patent no. 157966 for the process and device for solidifying glass products through ion exchange for solidified drinking glass. In November 1978 a Council of Ministers decision secured the financing of this “project of particular urgency”. The glass mark resulting from the invention was called CEVERIT , made up of CE (chemical) + VER (solidified) + IT (common ending for mineral substances). The aim was to achieve five times the service life of an ordinary drinking glass, and 15 times that. Further advantages were the heat resistance, the stackability and the lower weight.

Production, which began in the spring of 1980 at VEB Sachsenglas Schwepnitz , was initially limited to beer glasses. At the suggestion of the West German sales representative Eberhard Pook, the name of the glass brand was changed to Superfest . The total daily energy consumption of the system, which was designed for a throughput of up to 48,000 quarter-liter glasses per day, was between 250 and 350 kWh. By the end of production on July 1, 1990, 110 to 120 million Superfest drinking glasses in all sizes had been produced. The main customer was the GDR gastronomy. The intended sale in the Federal Republic did not materialize.

“With Coca Cola, for example, it was said: Why should we take a glass that won't break? We make money with our glasses. [...] The dealers understandably said: Who is sawing off the branch on which they are sitting? "(Eberhard Pook)

In addition to the initial beer glasses, shot glasses, vases, ice cream cups and other shapes were later added to the range.

With the political change began the liquidation of the GDR glass industry and its scientific institutions. In July 1990, the Schwepnitz glassworks became SAXONIA-Glas GmbH Schwepnitz , which was liquidated by the Treuhand in 1991 . In April 1992 the patent was given up by the inventors.

Shapes of the Superfest glasses

In addition to the stacking cup shape, which was awarded the GDR design prize in 1980 for the design collective Paul Bittner, Fritz Keuchel and Tilo Poitz, which was produced in five different sizes, there were two vase sizes, two cup sizes with the name "Konic", two cup sizes for beer and whiskey with the name "Columbus", a champagne bar, a grog glass, a tea bowl, an ice bowl, at least one mustard glass size, a swivel, a stamper , a wine cup and two mugs for beer and whiskey with the name "Capitol". The etched Superfest brand name and the logo for Lausitzer Glas are missing on the tea cups, mustard glasses and vases. The word “Superfest” and the filling level are printed in red on the small stamper. In the Weißwasser Glass Museumthere are three other forms that have probably never been in circulation: a small "Columbus" tamper, a stemmed glass for red or white wine and a shot glass in the well-known stacking cup shape with 4cl content. These three shapes also do not have the etched trademark.

The shape of the most frequently produced stackable cups is based on the so-called host glasses, which were designed by Margarete Jahny and Erich Müller in the early 1970s. The original forms of Jahny and Müller were changed in favor of stackability.

  • Superfest stacking cups in five sizes

  • Wine glass, stamper and shot glass in the shape of a stackable cup

  • Superfest vases

  • Superfest ice cream bowl

  • Superfest tea mug

  • Superfest stamper with print

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c David Krenz: Too good . In: Zeit-Magazin No. 46 of November 5, 2020, pp. 46–51, here p. 47
  2. ↑ a b c d Who needs glass that won't break? . In: Lausitzer Rundschau from January 21, 2017
  3. ↑ a b c d e Ron Schlesinger: “Superfest”: Why these GDR glasses (almost) never break . In: t-online, November 8, 2020
  4. ↑ Dietrich Mauerhoff: "Superfest" - a story about chemically strengthened industrial glass . In: VDG-Nachrichten 4/2013, pp. 37–40
  5. ^ Patent at Google
  6. ↑ a b c d e David Krenz: Too good . In: Zeit-Magazin No. 46 of November 5, 2020, pp. 46–51, here p. 48
  7. ↑ The sources diverge: May 1980 (Mauerhoff 2011, p. 3 f .; Schlesinger 2020) versus June 4, 1980 (Krenz 2020, p. 48).
  8. ↑ Dietrich Mauerhoff: Super strong glasses - history of a destroyed technology for the production of drinking glasses for beer, wine, spirits and non-alcoholic beverages . In: Latest news from the Weißwasser Glass Museum (No. 23) of December 1, 2011, p. 8
  9. ↑ Dietrich Mauerhoff: Super strong glasses - history of a destroyed technology for the production of drinking glasses for beer, wine, spirits and non-alcoholic beverages . In: Latest news from the Weißwasser Glass Museum (No. 23) of December 1, 2011, p. 3
  10. ↑ David Krenz: Too good . In: Zeit-Magazin No. 46 of November 5, 2020, pp. 46–51, here p. 51
  11. ↑ Dietrich Mauerhoff: Super strong glasses - history of a destroyed technology for the production of drinking glasses for beer, wine, spirits and non-alcoholic beverages . In: Latest news from the Weißwasser Glass Museum (No. 23) of December 1, 2011, p. 11
  12. ^ Exhibition gold in Leipzig and Good Design Prize 1980
  13. ↑ Dietrich Mauerhoff: Super strong glasses - history of a destroyed technology for the production of drinking glasses for beer, wine, spirits and non-alcoholic beverages . In: Latest news from the Weißwasser Glass Museum (No. 23) of December 1, 2011, p. 4

Web links

Commons : Superfest  - collection of images, videos and audio files