David Fulton & Co 

18-24 Ark Lane, Duke Street Engraving Works, Glasgow, Scotland.

Designers and producers of engraved rolls for embossing all types of materials inc. glass, wallpaper, calico, leather etc.

“This firm has occupied its present premises in Ark Lane, Glasgow since 1868 and began embossing rollers for the glass trade quite early in its history, mostly to small manufacturers in the locality.”  

It would seem probable that Fulton’s supplied their first rollers for embossing glass to the Glasgow Plate Glass Co in the late 1880s.  We shall likely never know how many of the figured rolled designs, registered by varied glassworks, actually originated on the drawing boards at Fulton & Company.  Originally designs were first sketched on paper before being transferred to the surface of the roller using a hammer, chisel and a punch, later developments utilised lathes, welding techniques and acid etching.   

“Hammering would take many weeks and the 20 or so indents per square inch had to be done with the correct weight behind the hammer”  ^{Ben Coates, David Fulton & Co}  

A later process for producing the embossing rollers at David Fulton & Co is described by 1961 Canadian trade journal “Engineering Digest”

“The engraver studies the chosen patterns and the size of the ‘repeat’ of each pattern is measured and the circumference of the embossing roller decided.  The pattern is reflected through mirrors in an enlarging camera on to a white-painted Zinc plate and the design is traced on it in pencil.  The pattern is enlarged from 2.5 to 5 times its original size so as to magnify details (which are sometimes extremely complicated) and to obtain the optimum accuracy in reproduction when the pattern is transferred to the die. 

The Master tool or die which is made of ‘Edgar Allen & Co  No5 hot die steel’ is then turned on centres to the exact repeat of the pattern, painted with an acid-resisting varnish and prepared for engraving.  By means of a pantograph machine the enlarged design on the zinc plate is engraved in its original size on the varnish coated die – a diamond pointed lever cutting through the varnish in automatic response to the operator tracing with a sharp point along the pattern lines on the zinc plate.  The die is then etched with acid to give a permanent outline to the design. 

The die cutter now takes over and with his delicate engraving tools, cuts and scrapes on the cylinder surface of the die until he produces an exact copy of the pattern.  The production of this master or female tool calls for an extremely high degree of skill and accuracy, and a die can take many weeks of patient and painstaking work to prepare.  It is significant that in David Fulton’s workshops there is an atmosphere of peace and almost cathedral quiet, which illustrates vividly the exacting nature of the work in hand and the concentration required to do it.

When completed, the die is tempered to a high degree of hardness.  The mill, or male tool, is now turned in the same manner as the die so that it contains the desired number of design repeats.  The hardened steel die and the still untreated steel mill are placed together in a “clamming” machine” which consists of two jaws, the die being placed in bearings in one jaw and the mill in the other, so that each of their surfaces bears against the other.  They are then rotated mechanically under increasing pressure.  The mill is waxed constantly with acid resisting wax and as the die continues to imprint the pattern  on the mill through the wax, the mill is etched to remove surplus metal.  This process continues until the die and the mill are perfect “lock”.

The completed mill, which is the engraving tool, is then placed in a pot filled with bone meal, hardened to a temperature of 900C in a gas furnace and cooled in oil.  It is then ready for use.

The engraving of the mild steel embossing roller is the reverse of the process already described with the mill imprinting its pattern on steel is used for the mill.

The engraved roller must be handled and stored with great care as its manufacture (including the die and mill) has been measured in months while its service life is measured in years.  If damage occurs to the delicate embossed surface – usually taking the form of scratches – the flaws can be erased and the design reset.  The whole body of the roller has to be machined however, so that the depth of design remains uniform.

Emil Offenbacher of Markt Redwitz, Germany

Offenbacher supplied embossing rolls to Saint-Gobain.

Improvements in the Manufacture of Pattern Rollers or Plates.

The new method is as follows: The desired *pattern is engraved on the small Supplementary steel roller a, Fig. 1, said roller being then tempered or hardened and secured on the support of an ordinary lathe or planing machine, so that the same is in close contact with the surface of the steel plate or roller b to be engraved. The latter is coated with an acid-proof paste-like mass c, and as the steel roller b is revolved,(or as the steel plate b is reciprocated) the supplementary roller a is also revolved and presses the pattern into the coating c,-so that the steel of the roller or* plate is uncovered at certain points d, While the remaining surface is still coated with the said paste-like mass. The roller or plate to r be engraved is then treated with nitric acid or other suitable etching liquid, which thus acts on the uncovered points of the steel to remove the excess; of material and produce chemical alterations whereby the steel is converted at these points into a soft spongy mass. Then after removing the acid the pressing of the pattern into the etched parts is repeated by means of the supplemental roller a, Fig. 2, Whereby the projecting parts on the latter penetrate still deeper into the parts softened by the etching liquid. Then by repeating this as many times as required the desired depth or recesses and projections may be obtained on the steel roller or plate, as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4.  ^{US PATENT 681727A} 

Special Patterned Glasses

Included within our galleries of patterned glass are these special purpose glasses.

Wired Glass

Wired glass has metal netting embedded within it for safety, fire protection & security.

The industrial revolution during the Victorian era transformed sheet glass manufacture allowing architects to utilise glass in new ways.  Sheet glass became a roofing material for the first time and was used extensively in the construction of railway stations and the like.  But using glass overhead in this new way obviously created a potential hazard and indeed there are several reports of roofing glass falling to the ground.  Wire netting had to be installed under the glass in order to catch any future glazing breakages.  Experiments soon followed in Europe and America to embed a wire mesh within the body of the glass sheet.

Experiments started as early as the 1850’s but the results of these early experiments were of poor quality, often with wire protruding from one or both surfaces.  The iron ‘chicken-wire’ would distort when contacted with the hot glass  and so new metals, coatings and weaves had to be developed.  Although various patent applications were lodged there would appear to be no successful commercial production until the 1890s.

1855 – Newton’s British patent for a moulded sandwich method.   1871 – Hyatt’s English patent for sandwich method using glass moulds.   1887 – Armstrong’s English patent for a single pour method.  1889 – Tenner’s German patent.  1892 – Shuman’s single pour method.  1893 –  Appert’s double pour method. 

“A new invention under the name of wire-glass has just been put upon the market in Dresden.
The process consists in imbedding in the glass while in a hot and plastic condition some
flexible metallic layer, as a wire netting. The metal being entirely enclosed in the glass is
effectively protected against the weather, and gives the glass a much greater resisting power
than the ordinary material, and is it is claimed, indifferent to the most abrupt changes of
temperature, and will even withstand open fire. The glass is specially adapted for skylights,
and the powerful resisting qualities of the material enabling the usual wire protectors to be
dispensed with. As wire-glass cannot be cut by the diamond, except under the application of
great force, and cannot be broken without creating considerable noise, the substance is
claimed to be, in a measure, burglar proof.” ^{1892 The Irish American Weekly,}

In 1898, Pilkington Brothers patented rolled wired cast glass that was successfully adopted by builders and architects.  Wired Cast glass incorporates a strong steel-wire mesh for safety and security. 

Figured wired glass soon became popular as the textured glass patterns act to obscure the view of the wire netting.  Many of the glass patterns documented in this article were offered in wired glass versions.

Pilkington TV – ‘The Polished Wired Story’ can be viewed here.   1980s video about clear smooth polished wire glass production.  30 mins.

Prismatic Glass

Prism Glass is an architectural glass which bends and projects light to illuminate areas far from windows, this is known as anidolic lighting.

Prism glass was mostly used in commercial and public buildings in the first quarter of the 20th century.  Pavement lights also used prism glass to light rooms set below ground level.  The basic principle still lives on to this day with scientifically designed patterns that focus light into our rooms. Following the adoption of electric lighting, prism glass was no longer a key marketing tool and was dropped from common usage although it remained on the market for use in commercial buildings.

Pressed glass quarries and slates as well as embossed glass tiles and pavement lights also featured textured prismatic designs, but this article relates only to obscured glass that was produced in sheet sizes.