Rouge: Pictured in Its Prime

15. Glass Plant

15 GLASS PLANT The Ford Motor Company pioneered the manufacture of automotive plate glass. Following World War I, when sedans were becoming popular, Henry Ford noticed distortion in the purchased glass used in his Model T sedans. His solution was to manufacture his own glass. At the Highland Park Plant in 1921, after trying the customary procedure of making batches of molten glass that were poured into pots, lifted by cranes, and then repoured onto fixed tables, a new continuous process was devised. This new process, whereby the furnace operated continuously and poured continuously onto moving tables, was the method adopted by the Rouge glass plant, which began production on August 11, 1923. Over the years, Rouge glass furnaces were enlarged and operated continuously for months at a time, producing as much as a mile of plate glass before being relined. Also in constant operation were the overhead grinders and polishers that produced the perfectly flat surface as the glass passed beneath them on the endless line of tables. The Rouge glass plant was the largest of Ford’s three such plants. In February 1923, because of the popularity of closed cars, Ford purchased the Allegheny Plate Glass Company’s plant at Glassmere, Pennsylvania. In 1926, because of the high-quality sand beneath the Twin Cities, Minnesota, assembly plant, glass production was undertaken at that location. By 1930, the three plants were producing 20 million feet of glass annually, of which the Rouge produced half. And by that date, the need to produce both laminated and tempered safety glass for automobiles brought numerous additional technical challenges. 100 A front view of the Rouge glass plant as it appeared in July 1936, following installation of new and more efficient equipment. There are now two much larger furnaces rather than the previous four smaller ones built in 1923. Grinding and polishing lines move faster, and laminated safety glass becomes a standard product. The one-story building at the left is the Rouge fire station. (833.66411) 101 At the charging end of one of the two glass furnaces, this worker, guarding his eyes from the glare, is stirring the molten glass and will extract a small sample to be sent to the laboratory for analysis. Fuel for heating the furnaces is Rouge coke-oven gas. (833.65267) 102 Top: Inside one of the large glass furnaces when drained of glass in May 1938, after sixteen months of continuous service. Inside dimensions of the tank are 117 feet long and 22 feet wide. In operation, the tank contains 5 feet of molten glass weighing 900 tons held at a pouring temperature of 2250 degrees Fahrenheit. (833.70267-A) Bottom: Molten glass, at left, is flowing from the furnace and between two watercooled rolls controlling the 3/16-inch thickness and 53-inch width of the glass sheet. At the right, the endless sheet of glass enters a 440-foot annealing lehr, where the temperature is gradually lowered until the glass is cool enough to handle. (833.03297-7) Left: This photograph was taken on August 15, 1936 the very month the new manufacturing equipment was put to use. This man operates the glass-cutting machine at the cool end of the annealing lehr. The continuous line of glass, moving at the rate of 160 inches per minute, is cut into large sheets whose surfaces are still rough. Grinding and polishing are yet to come. (833.65276) Below: A rare view of a motionless line of thirty grinders in the newly equipped Rouge glass plant. Usually, these grinding wheels are whirling at a good clip driven by the electric motors mounted above. A wet-sand abrasive, accurately graded from coarse to very fine particles, provides the necessary grinding action. (833.64348) 104 One of the thirty giant grinding wheels is inspected on December 29, 1937. (833.69633-0) Opposite, top: The line of polishing wheels, either standing idle or photographed with split-second exposure in the Rouge glass plant on April 9, 1938. On the polishing line, the sand is replaced by red ferric oxide (rouge) to obtain the finest polish possible. (833.70081-A) Opposite, bottom: One of the multiple polishing wheels is examined on December 29, 1937, after more than one year of use. (833.69633-M) 105 [3.149.214.32] Project MUSE (2024-04-24 08...