Curiosities
The history of glass
The history of glass industry in Brazil began with the Dutch invasion in the period between 1624 and 1635, Olinda and Recife (PE), where the first workshop of glass was mounted by four craftsmen who accompanied the Prince Maurice of Nassau. The workshop manufactured glass for windows, glasses and bottles. With the departure of the Dutch, the factory closed.
The glass has returned to the economic map of the country from 1810, when, on 12 January of that year, the portuguese Francisco Ignácio da Siqueira Nobre received royal charter authorizing the installation of a glass industry in Brazil. The factory installed in Bahia produce flat glass, of white crystal, bottles, jugs and bottles. She went into operation in 1812. In 1825, closed because of the financial difficulties.
In 1839, an Italian named Folco, founded in Rio de Janeiro Glass factory São Roque, with 43 workers Italian and Brazilian, with crucible furnaces with entirely manual process. Already in 1861, the Brazilian glass industry presents its products in the national exhibition at the Central School in Largo São Francisco, Rio de Janeiro.
In 1878, Francisco Antônio Esberard founded the factory Glass and Crystal of Brazil in São Cristóvão (RJ). The factory worked with four large ovens and three minor, with steam engines and electric. Manufactured glass for lamps, windows, cups and tableware and their machines imported from Europe to manufacture bottles and jars. Your crystal was compared to the traditional Baccarat. It employed 600 people, including workers and glass artists. The glass factory was active until 1940 Esberard. Another highlight was the factory Fratelli Vita, of Bahia, founded in 1902, that produced bottles for sodas, soft drinks, and crystal quality.
Until the twentieth century, production was essentially handmade glass, using the process of blowing and pressing, parts being produced one by one. It was from the beginning of the twentieth century that the glass industry has developed, with the introduction of continuous furnaces heat recovery and equipped with semi or fully automatic machines for mass production.
In 1982, the French industry Saint-Gobain and Pilkington industry of england have joined forces to build the first float glass plant in Brazil, the Cebrace, in the Vale do Paraíba, the state of São Paulo.
The first line was built in Jacareí in 1982, the second in Caçapava in 1989, and the third too in Jacareí in 1996.
In 2004, Cebrace opens its fourth line in Barra Velha (SC). Together, the four units produce 2,700 tons of glass per day.
The History of 3M
3M was founded in 1902 in the Lake Superior town of Two Harbors, Minn. Five businessmen set out to mine a mineral deposit for grinding-wheel abrasives. But the deposits proved to be of little value, and the new Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co. quickly moved to nearby Duluth in 1905 to focus on sandpaper products.
Years of struggle ensued until the company could master quality production and supply chain. New investors were attracted to 3M, such as Lucius Ordway, who moved the company to St. Paul in 1910. Early technical and marketing innovations began to produce successes and, in 1916, the company paid its first dividend of 6 cents a share.
Symbol Glass
Have you heard of the alchemists?
They were people dedicated to the study of the chemistry of the Middle Ages who sought a formula to turn base metal into gold.
How they have used symbols to identify the elements, created the symbol of the glass that is formed by number eight that representing infinity and an inverted cross that represents the fragility, because the glass has these two variables, while he has his infinite recycling cycle is very fragile and falls and hits.