Post by Rhonda on May 22, 2009 3:26:26 GMT -5
The name "Pyrex" has entered everyday language as a term for oven-resistant kitchenware, but this material was originally developed for railroad use. A century ago, brakemen still carried oil-fired lanterns for night time signaling.
Railroads complained that their lantern globes would shatter when the hot glass was struck by rain or snow. In response, Corning Glass Works developed a borosilicate glass with very low thermal expansion. This "fire glass" resisted temperature fluctuations and was nearly shatterproof - so good that Corning promptly experienced a slump in sales of replacement lantern globes.
"Pyrex" became a household word thanks to Bessie Littleton, wife of a newly-hired Corning scientist. It seems that, in July 1913, Mrs. Littleton was using a brand-new casserole dish when it shattered in the oven. Knowing what her husband worked with at Corning, she challenged him to bring home something better from the plant. The next day, he brought her two sawed-off battery jars made from fire glass. Bessie baked a sponge cake in one of them. She was delighted to find that its cooking time was shorter; that she could watch the cake bake and know when it was done by seeing the underside; and that the cake was easy to remove without sticking to the glass.
Littleton took his wife's creation to work the following day. Laboratory researchers inspected the cake, which was a "remarkable uniform shade of brown all over". The men thought it was delicious. Corning then began a two-year process to perfect a line of kitchenware.
On this date in 1915, the Jordan Marsh department store in Boston placed the first order for PYREX bakeware.
Today, nearly 75 percent of all U.S. households own PYREX products.
PYREX€ ¦® is a registered trademark of Corning Incorporated under license to World Kitchen, LLC
GEE I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!
Railroads complained that their lantern globes would shatter when the hot glass was struck by rain or snow. In response, Corning Glass Works developed a borosilicate glass with very low thermal expansion. This "fire glass" resisted temperature fluctuations and was nearly shatterproof - so good that Corning promptly experienced a slump in sales of replacement lantern globes.
"Pyrex" became a household word thanks to Bessie Littleton, wife of a newly-hired Corning scientist. It seems that, in July 1913, Mrs. Littleton was using a brand-new casserole dish when it shattered in the oven. Knowing what her husband worked with at Corning, she challenged him to bring home something better from the plant. The next day, he brought her two sawed-off battery jars made from fire glass. Bessie baked a sponge cake in one of them. She was delighted to find that its cooking time was shorter; that she could watch the cake bake and know when it was done by seeing the underside; and that the cake was easy to remove without sticking to the glass.
Littleton took his wife's creation to work the following day. Laboratory researchers inspected the cake, which was a "remarkable uniform shade of brown all over". The men thought it was delicious. Corning then began a two-year process to perfect a line of kitchenware.
On this date in 1915, the Jordan Marsh department store in Boston placed the first order for PYREX bakeware.
Today, nearly 75 percent of all U.S. households own PYREX products.
PYREX€ ¦® is a registered trademark of Corning Incorporated under license to World Kitchen, LLC
GEE I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!