Rolled plate glass is a term used to describe several types of glass all produced by rolling, for example figured rolled glass and cathedral glass. The glass is easily recognisable as it always has a texture or pattern on one or both surfaces. It is therefore not completely transparent and often used in bathroom windows.
Rolled plate glass is made by shaping molten glass between two metal surfaces. Either using a steel roller and a casting table or two or more steel rollers. The latter is called double rolled.
Rolled plate glass is developed from the method of cast mirror glass but is much faster and less demanding to produce as it does not need grinding or polishing. The first of these methods of producing rolled plate glass – using a casting table and single roller – was patented by the Englishman James Hartley in 1838.
