Talk:Pigmented structural glass

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: Moved to Vitreous marble Mike Cline (talk) 11:53, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

Vitrolite → vitreous marble – Vitrolite, Sani Onyx and Carrara Glass are/were trademarks for the same category of pigmented structural glass from different (former) manufacturers. All were glass replacements for architectural marble, common in the art deco and streamline moderne construction of the 1930's through 1950's. To list this under one manufacturer's trade name only violates neutrality; it should be under the generic name and all of the various genericized trademarks redirected there. relisted --Mike Cline (talk) 13:25, 11 May 2012 (UTC) 66.102.83.61 (talk) 23:10, 3 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Support, per nom. I got the following Google hits:
 * "vitreous marble", About 1,240 results
 * Vitrolite, About 56,400 results
 * "Sani Onyx", About 1,660 results
 * "Carrara Glass", About 38,300 results
 * There doesn't seem reason to favor one brand over another unless one has become both dominant and genericized, which is not in evidence. ENeville (talk) 17:58, 18 May 2012 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Vitrolite as a generic term
I came here as I have been reading the book 'Art Deco Architecture' by Patricia Bayer, Thames & Hudson, 1992. This repeatedly refers to 'Vitrolite' without saying what it is, e.g. describing the Daily Express building in London, it says the façade is 'made up of black Vitrolite and glass'. I was curious to know what Vitrolite is, and guessed that it is some kind of plastic, since the description just quoted implies that it is *not* glass (though according to this article, it is). In the book the word Vitrolite is capitalized but seems to be used as a generic term. I do not greatly care whether the article is headed 'Vitrolite' or 'Vitreous Marble', except to say that if architectural writers commonly use Vitrolite as a generic term, then that is what readers will be looking for. I also note that 'Vitreous Marble' has the drawback of implying that the substance is a type of marble, which it is not.109.157.18.136 (talk) 22:03, 8 June 2014 (UTC)

Origin
This material was not first developed in 1900. It is already mentioned in a Dutch local newspaper as early as 1872: "A newly invented building material is vitreous marble." So this article may describe the production in the U.S.A., but it lacks information about its origin or invention. – Intype (talk) 14:19, 24 October 2022 (UTC)


 * Pigmented structural glass was first developed in 1900. The term "vitreous marble" is much older, and can refer to any number of different types of materials. To what, exactly, was the Dutch newspaper referring? - Tim1965 (talk) 17:17, 24 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Here is a quick translation of the paragraph about 'marmerglas' (literally: marble glass): "A newly invented building material is vitreous marble. It is hard to distinguish it from marble. There are as many types as marble, and for fronts of houses, for chimneys and floors it is more durable than marble, because it doesn't easily crack and barely takes on stains or dirt." – Intype (talk) 18:50, 4 June 2023 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the translation. So what was it made of? "Vitreous marble" is not a technical term. It can mean many things. One of the things it means is pigmented structural glass. It apparently also means something developed on the Netherlands in the 1700s, but we don't know what it was made of; if it was glass, glass-like, porcelain, or some other material; or if it was structural. The only definition I can find is from Rijksdienst voor het cultureel erfgoed in 2019: "Marmerglas is grillig gevlamd glas met een marmerachtig karakter, ontstaan door verschillend gekleurde glasmengsels in de gietkroes gelijkmatig te mengen, waarna het gloeiend glasmengsel wordt uitgegoten en gewalst.(Marble glass is whimsical flamed glass with a marble-like character, created by mixing different colored glass mixtures evenly in the pouring crucible, after which the glowing glass mixture is poured and rolled.)" That makes marmerglas sound like regular glass, not structural glass.


 * Perhaps what should happen is that there should be a new article for marmerglas. I strongly encourage you to write that article! There should also be a disambiguation page for "vitreous marble" that points to Pigmented structural glass and to marmerglas. - Tim1965 (talk) 17:05, 10 June 2023 (UTC)