Most Canadian glass works produced industrial glassware such as lantern and street light globes, lenses for railway and ship lanterns, and telegraph and telephone line insulators as well as glass for domestic use. The Dominion Glass Company 1926 catalogue listed the following industrial items: fire extinguishers, battery jars, lightning rod balls, fishing floats, stove door plates, headlight lenses, dental cuspidor bowls, prisms, vault lights, and insulators.
Glass prisms once transmitted light to rooms under the sidewalks of Canadian cities. Glass fire grenades provided safety as early fire extinguishers. A non-conductor of electricity, glass insulates telephone and telegraph lines, and decorates lightning rods. Glass floats were used for fishing nets on both coasts of Canada and on World War I submarine nets. In the automotive industry, glass was at one time used for parts such as battery jars and fuel filters. Glass is still important for shatterproof windows and as a structural element in modern buildings. |
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