I doubt it too. Laminated safety glass is normally only used for front windshields in a car of that era (if you were lucky). It would probably be tempered safety glass, the type that will break into a million small cubes that you will find in odd cracks and crevises for decades.
Definitely tempered glass. The previous owner of my house had a chopped '50 Studebaker and he left some of the original window panes in the garage. Sent from my SM-T350 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
My 34 Ford 2dr deluxe sedan had laminated safety glass in every window...It had the black edge sealing strip around it.. Course it was all flat glass to...
In 1932 Safety Glass was new, and I believe the first year it was used in cars. Most cars that had it, only had it in the windshield, the rest of the windows were plate glass.
Safety Glass’s First Use "Laminated safety glass was first used in automobiles in the 1920s. Before that, standard glass had been used, even in horse-drawn carriages, but was very dangerous in the event of a crash. Tempered glass began to take over for the side and rear windows starting in the 1930s because it was cheaper than laminated." It appears there is some conflicting info out there about this. Not surprising for this day and age of internet almost-anything-goes. I do not know the exact facts and timeline for the introduction of safety glass into vehicles, but will see what I can dig up. This may turn into a fun and educational thread. Does anyone have any documented info regarding specific oem use of the two types of safety glass in specific year/make vehicles?
The following are posts on the Model T Ford Forum. I cannot guarantee the info as correct. "The earliest windshields, introduced by 1904, were folding affairs. When mud, rain, or other substances blocked his or her view forward, a driver could simply tip the top half down for an unobstructed view. (Goggles came in handy in those situations.) While the usefulness of windshields was clear to everybody, they posed a serious danger. Manufacturers quickly discovered that during an accident, their glass windshields could shatter, sending a shower of sharp shards into the vehicle. Glass windshields proved most hazardous during front-end collisions, when passengers could end up smashing headlong through the glass. Not surprisingly, when the first cars with glass on all four sides were introduced, many people were afraid to ride in them. Early this century, two European scientists independently invented a solution to deadly windshields. While working in his lab, French scientist Edouard Benedictus accidentally knocked a flask to the floor. To his amazement, the glass did not break. Looking closer, he discovered that the chemical that had been inside the flask, nitrocellulose, had dried up, leaving an adhesive film that kept the numerous bits of fragmented glass from separating. Benedictus went on to develop a window consisting of two layers of plate glass held together by layer of cellulose. Meanwhile, on the other side of the channel, British inventor John C. Wood had also been working with cellulose and had come up with his own method for cementing a layer of celluloid between two pieces of glass. Wood's shatter-resistant glass came to be produced under the brand-name of Triplex. Though it was first developed in 1905, Triplex was not brought to the U.S. until 1926. A year later, Ford began incorporating laminated glass into each of its automobiles. In the 1950s, cars came off the line with side and rear windows of tempered glass. Tempered glass is made by placing one piece of glass into an atmospheric oven, which heats and hardens the glass. This treated glass can withstand forces of hundreds of pounds per square inch. When broken, it breaks into smooth beads that do not cut the skin, and unlike safety glass, rescuers can cut into it to reach victims trapped in a car." "You could get safety glass in the side & rear window as an option starting in late 1931."
I Don't get it. I answered a question about a Sudebaker rear window. I definitely have one and it is tempered. What did I miss? Sent from my SM-T350 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Tempered glass was standard for most rear windows starting in the '40s and by the early '50s was all you'd find. There was a couple of reasons for this. One, it was a safety feature; in the event of an serious accident it would shatter, where safety glass could pop out of it's frame and become a sharp flying object inside the car. Two, until the early '50s curved laminated safety glass was still difficult to make and expensive. Tempered could be much easier formed with curves at less cost. Flat safety glass was still used as side windows until the OEMs switched to curved side glass in the early '60s when those were switched to tempered glass also.
^^^^ @Crazy Steve has it I think. I am finding much the same info regarding timeline. Very early on was all plate glass. Then laminated for early winsheild + plate glass for side and rear. Then laminated for all glass (not in all cases). Then tempered (including windshields ?) mainly for cost reasons for curved glass. Back to laminated for windshields for anti-intrusion reasons. Modern product is both laminated and tempered. A timeline of sorts that I found. https://autoglasschangers.wordpress.com/2015/11/27/auto-glass-evolution-timeline/
To my knowledge tempered glass windshields have never been legal in the US. They have been (and may still be) legal in Europe, and every once in a while you'll run into a owner-imported car that has one.
There's a supposedly true story in the Robert Lacey book 'Ford: The Men and the Machines' about how Henry Ford was convinced to switch to safety glass. Ford was still using plate glass but competitors were switching. Edsel wanted the upgrade, but Henry felt that it would be seen as an admission his cars weren't safe. As they were testing new models that day, one of the engineers took Henry for a test drive while extolling the virtues of safety glass. Henry still wouldn't budge, at which point the engineer swerved off the course into a tree. Henry got cut up, and it was pointed out his injuries would have been less with safety glass. He relented and Ford started installing safety glass windshields....
That seems to be correct. Some other (western/first world) countries allowed tempered windshields to be used up to an alarmingly late date. For instance, laminated windshields were apparently not mandatory in Australia until 1994 !!!
That's been true of every vehicle I've owned newer than '65. Safety glass was probably used here and there on limited-production stuff, but even flat glass is tempered these days. Although I read somewhere that Jeep is offering a special windshield that's made of 'Gorilla Glass', the same extra-tough glass they use for cell phone displays.
‘re Laminated windshields.......they were/are utilized mostly to keep passengers inside the car in severe collisions. Prior to wide use of sear belts and shoulder harnesses (and laminated safety glass), there was a common term to describe an accident victim’s fate “thrown through the windshield”. Not only would that usually result in serious cuts going forward, but in many cases bodies would rebound and flop back and suffer even more damage from the remaining shards of glass. The whole point on laminated safety glass is that it will crack and break but the plastic layer allows deformation from the impact of a body pitched into it, absorbing some of the energy and restraining that body from penetrating the glass and thereby minimizing injuries. That laminated safety glass resists penetration from outside objects is an important benefit, but i do not think it was the primary goal. Ray
Ray, I don't think that is strictly true from personal experience. While the basic idea was to help keep the occupants in the vehicle, the windshield had to have some 'give' to it or broken necks would result. In 1958 my parents and I were returning home from our 'garden plot' (a piece of property that would have our new home built on it a few years later) in a '50 Ford F1 pickup when my father pulled over against the guardrail and stopped. He'd seen a car coming towards us at a high rate of speed and driving erratically. I can still picture this in my mind like it was yesterday... A early '50s Studebaker slewed around the corner, fishtailing badly. The driver got it pointed straight, but drove directly into us, hitting us head-on. No seatbelts of course... My father was uninjured as he had the steering wheel to hold onto. Both parents tried to restrain me with their arms but in spite of that my head hit the windshield... and popped it out of the frame. I ended up with big knot and minor cuts (which bled like crazy, as head wounds do) but was otherwise OK. My mother slammed her left knee into the dash, shattering her kneecap. It got infected and she spent the next four months in the hospital, with some talk about taking off her leg. She wouldn't hear of that and eventually recovered. But that windshield popped right out and was laying on the hood of the truck, broken of course. I was told later that was by design, I don't know if that was true or not. Anybody who's seen those gory graphic '50s 'traffic safety' movies will recall that windshields knocked out or even bodies punched through the glass wasn't uncommon...
My '34 Ford also had laminated safety glass with a Ford date stamp of 1934. "ALL Ford windshields from day one of the Model A onward were laminated safety type. Anything else there is a replacement. And after a graphic description of a minor accident causing a fatal slit throat (on Ahooga board), I would not drive a car with the plate side windows still in it." Quote from Bruce Lancaster, H.A.M.B. 2009.
The Jalopy Journal
