Window Glass
Time to shut down for the night boys. Damp those furnaces. Remove the crucibles so we can refill them for the morning. Watchout!! That crucible is cracked and is going to... Run, get out of here! I don't want to lose anyone because of burns from the hot glass on the floor.
Access/Availability
Due to the fragility of the panes of glass the price is extremely high. This is for both the creation and transportation of the panes from the factory to the customer. Each pane must be packed separately, in a crate filled with straw and sheepskin surrounding it. This protects it against rough roads during transit.
Because of the cost, only nobility or the exceptionally wealthy can afford to purchase window glass. Even now glass windows are rare, even in the houses for those who can afford them.
Smaller panes of glass have been created with the concept of using multiple panes for a single larger window. The glass could be placed within wooden frames then installed into the window edifice. The House of Healing in Herigberg has this type of window. Though the glass is cloudy it still permits light in while keeping the cold out during the winter.
Utility
The primary use of glass was for drinking glasses and goblets, however, window glass is used for windows in buildings. The first building to have glass windows was the glass factory.
Even though the discovery was an accident the foreman and owner of the glass factory decided to capitalize on it. Having windows was a great way to showcase a new product.
Manufacturing
In order to make glass, a furnace capable of reaching between fourteen and seventeen hundred degrees Celsius or three thousand ninety-two degrees Fahrenheit is needed, this means a water powered bellows blast furnace. In order to handle those heats special crucibles are crafted. The crucible with the silica sand and elements for colours inside the fire box then bricked in with a brick width opening to watch the glass so it can be stirred to remove air bubbles from the molten glass.
Once the glass reaches the correct consistency it is removed from the firebox and moved to the sand tables to be poured into the molds. Once in the molds it is left to cool over night before being removed. Once it is finished it is moved to a storage room before packaging to be shipped.
Parent Technologies
Complexity
For the creation of glass window panes, the molten glass is poured into molds in a sand table and left to harden. The adding of specific minerals to the molten ore, such as cobalt or malachite, is used to created coloured glass.
Some artisans purchase small pieces of coloured glass to create pictured windows. This includes the use of a lead seam to join the glass pieces into a larger whole which can then be fixed into a wooden frame. These windows cost more than plain glass windows do. The cost of windows with a single colour varies depending on the colour and the rarity of the mineral added.
Discovery
The original discovery of glass was during the Unending War when dragon flames hit sand during a battle. However the ability to craft with glass didn't happen until the year 455 OTO. This is when they discovered that blowing through a long tube into molten glass could create glassware like glasses. During shutdown at a glass factory in Shay, a crucible broke spilling the molten glass on the sand floor. When the crafters returned in the morning the glass had formed a sheet on the floor. The foreman looked from the glass to the window and considered how it would cut down the wind while still letting light into the factory.
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