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Glass Wool
Games Slayter · Public domain (expired patent)
Emma

Created by

Emma

22. September 2026SE
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Glass Wool

Glass wool was made before the 1930s by blowing steam at a falling thread of molten glass, but by the time the glass reached the blast it had cooled too far to draw really fine fibres. Games Slayter at Owens-Illinois brought the blast right up to the bushing the glass leaves the furnace through, while it was still at furnace heat. **US 2,133,235**, "Method and apparatus for making glass wool", Slayter, assigned to Owens-Illinois, filed 11. November 1933, granted 11. October 1938. Its FIGURE 1 (the picture above) shows the furnace, the bushing, the steam blast and the wool piling onto a conveyor. The same work led to Owens-Corning Fiberglas in 1938. **You measure what it is for**: three jars of hot water - bare, in glass wool, in cotton wool - logged by an Arduino, and the cooling curves turned into heat-loss figures.
Beginner
2 hours

Instructions

1

Wire the logger

Probes' red to 5V, black to GND, data (yellow) together to D2, with a 4.7 kΩ resistor from D2 to 5V. Install the OneWire and DallasTemperature libraries. Warm each probe in your hand in turn to learn which index is which.
three_jar_cooling_logger.inocpp
// Three-jar cooling logger - batch 98, US 2,133,235
// Three DS18B20 probes share one data wire on D2 with a 4.7 k pull-up to 5V.
// Prints one CSV line every 30 s: seconds, then the three temperatures in C.
#include <OneWire.h>
#include <DallasTemperature.h>

OneWire bus(2);
DallasTemperature sensors(&bus);
const unsigned long PERIOD_MS = 30000;
unsigned long t0;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  sensors.begin();
  Serial.print(F("# sensors found: "));
  Serial.println(sensors.getDeviceCount());
  Serial.println(F("t_s,probe0_C,probe1_C,probe2_C"));
  t0 = millis();
}

void loop() {
  sensors.requestTemperatures();
  Serial.print((millis() - t0) / 1000);
  for (uint8_t i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
    Serial.print(',');
    Serial.print(sensors.getTempCByIndex(i), 2);
  }
  Serial.println();
  delay(PERIOD_MS);
}

Materials for this step:

DS18B20 Temperature SensorDS18B20 Temperature Sensor3 pieces
Resistor KitResistor Kit1 kit
Dupont Jumper Wire Set (M-F)Dupont Jumper Wire Set (M-F)1 set

Tools needed:

Arduino Uno R3Arduino Uno R3
Breadboard - ClassicBreadboard - Classic
SparkFun Cerberus USB Cable - 1.8 meterSparkFun Cerberus USB Cable - 1.8 meter
2

Prepare three jars

Drill a 7 mm hole in each of three identical lids. Push a probe through each so its tip sits mid-jar. Seal the hole with tape.

Materials for this step:

Glass Jars with LidsGlass Jars with Lids3 pieces
Masking TapeMasking Tape1 roll

Tools needed:

Cordless DrillCordless Drill
Drill Bit IndexDrill Bit Index
3

Wrap two of them

Gloves, long sleeves, mask, glasses. Put glass wool inside a plastic bag, then wrap jar 2 in it 30 mm thick all round and under, and tape. Wrap jar 3 the same way in cotton wool. Leave jar 1 bare.

Materials for this step:

Glass Wool InsulationGlass Wool Insulation1 roll
Cotton WoolCotton Wool1 pack
Plastic BagsPlastic Bags4 pieces
Masking TapeMasking Tape1 roll

Tools needed:

Leather Work GlovesLeather Work Gloves
Dust MaskDust Mask
Clear Safety GlassesClear Safety Glasses
ScissorsScissors
4

Fill and log

Boil water. Pour 500 ml into each jar, one after another, and close the lids. Start the serial monitor and log for 90 minutes. Note the room temperature.

Tools needed:

Electric Kettle - GlassElectric Kettle - Glass
Graduated CylinderGraduated Cylinder
5

Fit the curves

Loading Jupyter Notebook...
6

History & Context

**What the patent specifies:** a steam blast applied at the bushing itself, so the glass stream is drawn while still at furnace temperature, giving very fine wool. **Modern build (derived):** commercial glass-wool insulation, handled wrapped. Continuous glass filament for textiles and reinforcement followed from the same laboratory. Its limits: loose fibres irritate skin, eyes and lungs, so it is always handled covered, and like any fibrous insulation it loses most of its value when wet or compressed.
Step 6 - Image 1

Materials

8

Tools Required

11

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