it is my understanding that the Model A was the first car to have safety glass in the windshield... I told this to a friend and he said this was not true, that safety glass did not come along till much later.. google is my friend but could they be wrong?
my 28 A had regular plate glass in the windshield when I got it...dont know if it would have gotten replaced with non safetyglass for some reason thru its life..
I've had and worked on 5 or so 'A' windshields with what i always assumed was original glass and they were all regular plate Bob
I got my coupe body from a resto guy & it had all of the orig. glass in it. Yes, it is all "safety" glass, BUT.....it is NOT the modern type that crumbles. It is just two sheets of plate glass sandwiching a sheet of plastic film. This type of glass is not much safer than plain ol plate glass. Get the modern type that crumbles.
Yes Henry did use safety glass in his Model A's. It was marked Ford XXX Triplex in one form or another over the years.
Doesn't look that safe in my 31 AA, but I would imagine being almost 80 years old doesn't help the lamination.
Some interesting goodies I found on line: Although Englishman John Crew Wood patented a form of laminated safety glass with a layer of tree resin in 1905, the real credit for the discovery belongs to France in 1903. Edouard Benedictus (painter, composer, and chemist; 1878-1930) accidentally knocked over a glass flask while working in his lab, and was surprised to discover that it failed to shatter. A brief discussion with his assistant revealed that the flask had contained a small amount of liquid plastic (celluloid), which had evaporated, leaving a transparent layer of plastic on the inside of the flask. Because it was invisible, the assistant assumed the flask was clean and put it away without washing it. When the flask hit the floor, the layer of plastic held the shards together, preventing it from shattering. After numerous experiments, he received a patent for his invention in 1909. As automobiles were relatively new in the early 20th century, Benedictus saw an application for this discovery in windshields. Many injuries from car accidents at the time were compounded by flying glass from shattered windshields, and his safety glass could save lives. Unfortunately, the developing automobile industry had no incentive to spend the extra money on his invention. If one car was safer but more expensive, the average consumer would probably buy the less safe but cheaper model. It wasn't until 1937 that safety glass became mandatory for car windshields, and few manufacturers included the option before then. It is perhaps interesting to note that windshield wipers were also made mandatory in this year. Benedictus also developed the idea of using a gelatin layer to adhere the plastic layer to the glass layer in 1910, creating the first three layer safety glass, called Triplex. This version of safety glass was the first to see real widespread use – during World War I. The military quickly saw the advantages of using glass that would not shatter in such delicate and high-risk applications as airplane windshields and gas masks. Early types of safety glass were made with celluloid, but celluloid becomes brittle and discolored with age. Modern safety glass uses vinyl, specifically polyvinyl butyral, or PVB. Today, the Dupont corporation holds the Benedictus awards in honor of his discovery, which recognizes "the innovative and outstanding use of laminated glass in architectural projects worldwide".
WOW here is the link where I received my comment about the Model A being the first to have safety glass.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Model_A_(1927)
Your kidding right? Plexi glass as in plastic for a flat model a windshield? Its cheap enuff to put safety glass in . Also a real good glass shop that knows what they are doing can cut your side window glass and rear glass and then send it out to be tempered which is basically heat treating the glass if i remember right.. so if anything happens it breakes into a million pieces.. I had my old 30 a done that way.. Then its just like a new daily ... Glass wise anyway.. Dave
A note here on tempered glass - it cannot be cut once it has been tempered. Anyone need new side glass for a 33 3W?
Actually, the glass that sandwiches plastic film also known as AS-1 is much safer. The crumbling type you refer to , also known as AS-2 is used as a more economical option for windows/back glass, but shouldn't be used for a windshield.
A's got safety glass in windshield only, supposedly the result of a Ford exec getting shredded in an accident. I don't know exact chronology of side glass, but at one point side and rear glass could be ordered at extra cost, and within a few years (1934 or so??) safety glass all around became standard. All A windshields should have been laminated type...I'm guessing the plate glass seen is later kludge put in when original cracked or the laminate turned brown. My A had broken plate glass neatly repaired with a bolt and two blocks of wood through the impact area to keep the bigger bits from falling out... Some model of circa 1926 Stutz (I think) is sometimes claimed as first with safety glass...apparently it used something like chicken wire as the laminate! English and Euro cars used to have tempered windshields... a rock would blow away the whole thing instantly, usually leaving the driver temporarily blind from sudden blast of wind and flying crud. Not good at all. English parts stores used to sell emergency windshields, essentially just a roll of plastic, as an item to carry in trunk so car could still be driven after that rock! The box advised carrying it on trips to "the Continent", an uncivilized place where you could not find proper spares for your Hilman Wombat.
When my windshield went it didnt fall out just turned into an opaque shield of a gazillion jigsaw pieces. Had to punch a hole in it to see so i could stop safely Bob
My ( 1930 ) windshield is cracked and looks to be pretty sharp if you were to run your finger on the crack, but its still together in the frame. One of side pieces broke and split into really sharp jagged chunks. It looks like the few pieces of glass the car had were original.
The side plate glass is dangerous as hell, as it tends to break into large, sharp projectiles in an accident. Easiest fix is a roadster body...
Model As that my dad had on the farm in 1940s had plate glass all around. The windshield of one pickup got shattered, big slivers of sharp glass, not laminated. A couple of side windows, over a few years time also got broken. As they went, dad had them replaced with safety glass. Of couse a lot of the plate glass has been replaced but on a windshield it's hard to tell, no edge to see the laminate. Having been involved with building a '31 chivvy, a '29 Model A, a '31 Model A, and both the 29 Nash and 29 Chivvy truck I'm now driving, only the '31 Model A had safety glass. All the others we stood the windshields up on end, let them fall over to shatter on the concrete floor, toasting their demise with a cold beer. It was not uncommon for do-it-your-self (traditionalists?) to use plate glass for replacement because it was cheaper and available at any hardware store in the 1950/60s, so one should check and verify if there is any doubt whatsoever. Will cut you up real bad if in a crash. Anybody with a lick of sense would replace with safety glass. It would be criminal to carry an unaware passenger with plate glass windows.
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.
My windshield is definatly "safety" glass, two piece so plate glass laminated with plastic in the center. The outside plate glass is cracked in the corner, inside is not. I also have a crack in the drivers side window, that is the same but doesn't appear, lookig at the top of the glass when rolled down, to be laminated.
.........good way to verify a windshield! Hit it with a hammer up in the corner, adds character if it's laminated, proves it to a skeptic. If it's plate it needed to be hit anyhow! .
The Jalopy Journal
