Pyrex
Encyclopedia
Pyrex is a brand name for glassware
, introduced by Corning Incorporated in 1915.
Originally, Pyrex was made from borosilicate glass
. In the 1940s the composition was changed for some products to tempered soda-lime glass
, which is the most common form of glass used in glass bakeware in the US and has higher mechanical strength so is less vulnerable to breakage when dropped (the leading cause of breakage in glass bakeware). In 1998, Corning divested its consumer products division which subsequently adopted the name World Kitchen
.
In 1908, Eugene Sullivan, Director of Research at Corning Glass Works, developed Nonex, a borosilicate low-expansion glass, to reduce breakage in shock-resistant lantern globes and battery jars. (Borosilicate glass was originally developed at the Jena Glass works by Otto Schott, which Sullivan had learned about as a doctoral student in Leipzig, Germany.) Jesse Littleton of Corning discovered the cooking potential of borosilicate glass by giving his wife a casserole dish made from a cut-down Nonex battery jar. Corning removed the lead
from Nonex, and developed Pyrex as a consumer product. Pyrex glass bakeware products are to be found in an estimated 80% of American homes and approaching 400 million units have been sold since the divestiture in 1998 alone.
Pyrex kitchen glassware manufactured for sale in the United States is made at the World Kitchen facility in Charleroi, Pennsylvania
. Pyrex products for the European Union
are made at a factory in France.
Borosilicate glass was first made by the German chemist and glass technologist Otto Schott
, founder of Schott AG in 1893, 22 years before Corning produced the Pyrex brand. Schott AG sold the product under the name "Duran." In the English-speaking world, however, in the midst of World War I, Corning's Pyrex brand of borosilicate glass offered a non-German alternative. Ever since, the name Pyrex has been widely used as a genericized trademark
for borosilicate glass in the English-speaking world.
Corning sold off its Consumer Products division in 1998 as World Kitchen
but retained the Pyrex brand name, licensing it to World Kitchen and other companies that produce Pyrex-branded cookware (e.g. Newell Rubbermaid
's Newell Cookware Europe).
The brand in Europe
, the Middle East
and Africa
is currently owned by Arc International
who acquired the European business in early 2006 from Newell Rubbermaid
, who had acquired it from Corning in the 1990s.
A Corning executive gave the following account of the etymology
of the Pyrex brand name:
Pyrex kitchen products in Europe made and sold by a subsidiary of Arc International tableware company are made from borosilicate glass.
, Betty Baugh, Smart Design
, TEAMS Design
, and others have contributed to the design of the line.
, is made of borosilicate glass. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology
, borosilicate Pyrex is composed of (as percentage of weight): 14% boron
, 51% oxygen
, .3% sodium
, 1% aluminium
, 38% silicon
, and less than 1% potassium
.
According to glass supplier Pulles and Hannique, borosilicate Pyrex is made of Corning 7740 glass, and is equivalent in formulation to Schott Glass
8830 glass sold under the "Duran" brand name. The composition of both Corning 7740 and Schott 8830 is given as 80.6% SiO2
, 12.6% B2O3
, 4.2% Na2O
, 2.2% Al2O3
, 0.04% Fe2O3
, 0.1% CaO
, 0.05% MgO
, and 0.1% Cl
.
However, the Pyrex glass cookware made in Charleroi, Pennsylvania is made of tempered soda-lime glass.
's 200 inches (5.1 m) telescope mirror at Palomar Observatory
was cast by Corning during 1934–1936 out of borosilicate glass.
In 1932, George Ellery Hale
approached Corning with the challenge of fabricating the required optic for his Palomar project. A previous effort to fabricate the optic from fused quartz
had failed.
Corning's first attempt was a failure, the cast blank having voids. Using lessons learned, Corning was successful in the casting of the second blank. After a year of cooling, during which it was almost lost to a flood, in 1935 the blank was completed. The first blank now resides in Corning's Museum of Glass.
Glassware
This list of glassware includes drinking vessels , tableware, such as dishes, and flatware used to set a table for eating a meal, general glass items such as vases, and glasses used in the catering industry whether made of glass or plastics such as polystyrene and...
, introduced by Corning Incorporated in 1915.
Originally, Pyrex was made from borosilicate glass
Borosilicate glass
Borosilicate glass is a type of glass with the main glass-forming constituents silica and boron oxide. Borosilicate glasses are known for having very low coefficients of thermal expansion , making them resistant to thermal shock, more so than any other common glass...
. In the 1940s the composition was changed for some products to tempered soda-lime glass
Soda-lime glass
Soda-lime glass, also called soda-lime-silica glass, is the most prevalent type of glass, used for windowpanes, and glass containers for beverages, food, and some commodity items...
, which is the most common form of glass used in glass bakeware in the US and has higher mechanical strength so is less vulnerable to breakage when dropped (the leading cause of breakage in glass bakeware). In 1998, Corning divested its consumer products division which subsequently adopted the name World Kitchen
World Kitchen
World Kitchen, LLC is a kitchenware products maker and distributor based in Rosemont, Illinois. The company began as the Corning Consumer Products division of glassmaker Corning.-History:The division was spun off from Corning in 1998 and purchased by Borden...
.
In 1908, Eugene Sullivan, Director of Research at Corning Glass Works, developed Nonex, a borosilicate low-expansion glass, to reduce breakage in shock-resistant lantern globes and battery jars. (Borosilicate glass was originally developed at the Jena Glass works by Otto Schott, which Sullivan had learned about as a doctoral student in Leipzig, Germany.) Jesse Littleton of Corning discovered the cooking potential of borosilicate glass by giving his wife a casserole dish made from a cut-down Nonex battery jar. Corning removed the lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
from Nonex, and developed Pyrex as a consumer product. Pyrex glass bakeware products are to be found in an estimated 80% of American homes and approaching 400 million units have been sold since the divestiture in 1998 alone.
Pyrex kitchen glassware manufactured for sale in the United States is made at the World Kitchen facility in Charleroi, Pennsylvania
Charleroi, Pennsylvania
Charleroi is a borough in Washington County, Pennsylvania, along the Monongahela River, 25 miles south of Pittsburgh. Charleroi was settled in 1890 and incorporated in 1891. The population in 1900 stood at 5,930; in 1910, 9,615; in 1920, 11,516, and in 1940, 10,784...
. Pyrex products for the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
are made at a factory in France.
History of the Pyrex Brand
Otto Schott
Friedrich Otto Schott was a German chemist, glass technologist, and the inventor of borosilicate glass. He was the son of a window glass maker, Simon Schott. From 1870 to 1873 Schott studied chemical technology at the technical college in Aachen and at the universities of Würzburg and Leipzig...
, founder of Schott AG in 1893, 22 years before Corning produced the Pyrex brand. Schott AG sold the product under the name "Duran." In the English-speaking world, however, in the midst of World War I, Corning's Pyrex brand of borosilicate glass offered a non-German alternative. Ever since, the name Pyrex has been widely used as a genericized trademark
Genericized trademark
A genericized trademark is a trademark or brand name that has become the colloquial or generic description for, or synonymous with, a general class of product or service, rather than as an indicator of source or affiliation as intended by the trademark's holder...
for borosilicate glass in the English-speaking world.
Corning sold off its Consumer Products division in 1998 as World Kitchen
World Kitchen
World Kitchen, LLC is a kitchenware products maker and distributor based in Rosemont, Illinois. The company began as the Corning Consumer Products division of glassmaker Corning.-History:The division was spun off from Corning in 1998 and purchased by Borden...
but retained the Pyrex brand name, licensing it to World Kitchen and other companies that produce Pyrex-branded cookware (e.g. Newell Rubbermaid
Newell Rubbermaid
Newell Rubbermaid is a global marketer of consumer and commercial products including such well-known brands as Rubbermaid food storage, home organization, and refuse container products; Sharpie, PaperMate, Parker and Waterman writing instruments; Calphalon gourmet cookware; Goody beauty and...
's Newell Cookware Europe).
The brand in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
is currently owned by Arc International
ARC International
ARC International plc was a developer of configurable microprocessor technology and is now owned by Synopsys. ARC developed synthesisable IP and licensed it to semiconductor companies....
who acquired the European business in early 2006 from Newell Rubbermaid
Newell Rubbermaid
Newell Rubbermaid is a global marketer of consumer and commercial products including such well-known brands as Rubbermaid food storage, home organization, and refuse container products; Sharpie, PaperMate, Parker and Waterman writing instruments; Calphalon gourmet cookware; Goody beauty and...
, who had acquired it from Corning in the 1990s.
A Corning executive gave the following account of the etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
of the Pyrex brand name:
Pyrex kitchen products in Europe made and sold by a subsidiary of Arc International tableware company are made from borosilicate glass.
Design
In 1958 an internal design department was started by John B. Ward. He redesigned the Pyrex ovenware and Flameware. Over the years designers such as Penny SparkePenny Sparke
Penny Sparke is a British writer and academic specialising in the history of design.She studied French Literature at Sussex University between 1967 and 1971 and completed her PhD in Design History in 1975...
, Betty Baugh, Smart Design
Smart Design
Smart Design is a multi-disciplinary design consultancy established in 1980 by Davin Stowell, Tom Dair, Tamara Thomsen, Dan Formosa, and Tucker Viemeister. The firm employs 120+ people in its three locations - New York, San Francisco, and Barcelona . Their approach to solving design challenges...
, TEAMS Design
TEAMS Design
TEAMS Design is a multinational industrial design firm headquartered in Germany founded in 1956 by industrial designer Hans Erich Slany. As of July, 2009, TEAMS has five design studios on three continents. They have been ranked second by the International Forum Design , or 14th in an international...
, and others have contributed to the design of the line.
Composition
Older Pyrex (pre 1900s), European Pyrex, and Pyrex laboratory glasswareLaboratory glassware
Laboratory glassware refers to a variety of equipment, traditionally made of glass, used for scientific experiments and other work in science, especially in chemistry and biology laboratories...
, is made of borosilicate glass. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology
National Institute of Standards and Technology
The National Institute of Standards and Technology , known between 1901 and 1988 as the National Bureau of Standards , is a measurement standards laboratory, otherwise known as a National Metrological Institute , which is a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce...
, borosilicate Pyrex is composed of (as percentage of weight): 14% boron
Boron
Boron is the chemical element with atomic number 5 and the chemical symbol B. Boron is a metalloid. Because boron is not produced by stellar nucleosynthesis, it is a low-abundance element in both the solar system and the Earth's crust. However, boron is concentrated on Earth by the...
, 51% oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
, .3% sodium
Sodium
Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal and is a member of the alkali metals; its only stable isotope is 23Na. It is an abundant element that exists in numerous minerals, most commonly as sodium chloride...
, 1% aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
, 38% silicon
Silicon
Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. A tetravalent metalloid, it is less reactive than its chemical analog carbon, the nonmetal directly above it in the periodic table, but more reactive than germanium, the metalloid directly below it in the table...
, and less than 1% potassium
Potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K and atomic number 19. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air and is very reactive with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite the hydrogen emitted in the reaction.Potassium and sodium are...
.
According to glass supplier Pulles and Hannique, borosilicate Pyrex is made of Corning 7740 glass, and is equivalent in formulation to Schott Glass
Schott Glass
SCHOTT AG is a German manufacturer of high-quality industrial glass products, its main markets are household appliances, pharmaceutical industries, solar energy, electronics, optics as well as automotive...
8830 glass sold under the "Duran" brand name. The composition of both Corning 7740 and Schott 8830 is given as 80.6% SiO2
Silicon dioxide
The chemical compound silicon dioxide, also known as silica , is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula '. It has been known for its hardness since antiquity...
, 12.6% B2O3
Boron trioxide
Boron trioxide is one of the oxides of boron. It is a white, glassy solid with the formula B2O3. It is almost always found as the vitreous form; however, it can be crystallized after extensive annealing...
, 4.2% Na2O
Sodium oxide
Sodium oxide is a chemical compound with the formula Na2O. It is used in ceramics and glasses, though not in a raw form. Treatment with water affords sodium hydroxide....
, 2.2% Al2O3
Aluminium oxide
Aluminium oxide is an amphoteric oxide with the chemical formula 23. It is commonly referred to as alumina, or corundum in its crystalline form, as well as many other names, reflecting its widespread occurrence in nature and industry...
, 0.04% Fe2O3
Iron(III) oxide
Iron oxide or ferric oxide is the inorganic compound with the formula Fe2O3. It is one of the three main oxides of iron, the other two being iron oxide , which is rare, and iron oxide , which also occurs naturally as the mineral magnetite. As the mineral known as hematite, Fe2O3 is the main...
, 0.1% CaO
Calcium oxide
Calcium oxide , commonly known as quicklime or burnt lime, is a widely used chemical compound. It is a white, caustic, alkaline crystalline solid at room temperature....
, 0.05% MgO
Magnesium oxide
Magnesium oxide , or magnesia, is a white hygroscopic solid mineral that occurs naturally as periclase and is a source of magnesium . It has an empirical formula of and consists of a lattice of Mg2+ ions and O2– ions held together by ionic bonds...
, and 0.1% Cl
Chlorine
Chlorine is the chemical element with atomic number 17 and symbol Cl. It is the second lightest halogen, found in the periodic table in group 17. The element forms diatomic molecules under standard conditions, called dichlorine...
.
However, the Pyrex glass cookware made in Charleroi, Pennsylvania is made of tempered soda-lime glass.
Use in laboratory ware
Because Pyrex borosilicate glass has a high thermal resistance, it is often used in the manufacture of laboratory ware. In Europe, SciLabware Limited manufactures more than 800 items under the Pyrex brand name including beakers, bottles, flasks, dishes and test tubes.Usage in telescopes
Because of its low expansion characteristics, Pyrex is often the material of choice for reflective optics in astronomy applications. The California Institute of TechnologyCalifornia Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
's 200 inches (5.1 m) telescope mirror at Palomar Observatory
Palomar Observatory
Palomar Observatory is a privately owned observatory located in San Diego County, California, southeast of Pasadena's Mount Wilson Observatory, in the Palomar Mountain Range. At approximately elevation, it is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology...
was cast by Corning during 1934–1936 out of borosilicate glass.
In 1932, George Ellery Hale
George Ellery Hale
George Ellery Hale was an American solar astronomer.-Biography:Hale was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was educated at MIT, at the Observatory of Harvard College, , and at Berlin . As an undergraduate at MIT, he is known for inventing the spectroheliograph, with which he made his discovery of...
approached Corning with the challenge of fabricating the required optic for his Palomar project. A previous effort to fabricate the optic from fused quartz
Fused quartz
Fused quartz and fused silica are types of glass containing primarily silica in amorphous form. They are manufactured using several different processes...
had failed.
Corning's first attempt was a failure, the cast blank having voids. Using lessons learned, Corning was successful in the casting of the second blank. After a year of cooling, during which it was almost lost to a flood, in 1935 the blank was completed. The first blank now resides in Corning's Museum of Glass.
Corning Museum of Glass
The Corning Museum of Glass, in Corning, New York, explores every facet of glass, including art, history, culture, science and technology, craft, and design....