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Show ........ ,-ww.v--.yt - - 3 I. Jt ; ' '" i ' i New Type of Window ! Will Conserve Fuel Postwar living presumably does not encompass continued fuel rationing ra-tioning for the average home owner, but a 50 per cent reduction in heat losses and consequently in use of that commodity now looms as a possibility because of an "air-conditioned glass sandwich." Described as the "most revolutionary revolu-tionary basic improvement in win-dowpane win-dowpane construction in more than 500 years," a new type of built-in built-in transparent window insulation called thermopane and introduced here may prove the basis for revolutionary revolu-tionary changes and improvements in postwar architecture. The unit consists of two panes of glass which sandwich a dehydrated air space hermetically sealed in by a special metal-to-glass bond. Insulating Insu-lating properties of the thermopane window, announced by Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass company as ready for civilian use to achieve important impor-tant fuel economies, are such that not only are heat losses greatly reduced, re-duced, but the frosting of windows win-dows in cold weather is also prevented pre-vented under most conditions. Because the new window sharply reduced the escape of interior heat, Dr. George B. Watkins, research director di-rector of the glass company, explained ex-plained at the first public demonstration demon-stration at the Architectural league, This is a section of the new "glass sandwich" which consists of two panes sealed in a metal frame. The air in the space between the glasses is dehydrated. the postwar home may utilize much larger glass areas than in the past without resulting additions in fuel consumption. "Large wall areas of the postwar home can be designed to utilize thermopane," ther-mopane," he explained. "Actually, the postwar home can be efficiently illuminated during the day by natural light, even in the corners of a house farthest from windows." The insulating properties of the "glass sandwich," the results of 14 years' experimentation, were demonstrated dem-onstrated at the initial public showing show-ing of the glass in a cold test cabinet, cabi-net, equipped with two windows, one of which was glazed with a single pane of glass, the other with a light of thermopane. Delicate instruments in-struments which gave inside and outside temperatures were attached to both types of windows, and the temperature inside the cabinet was reduced to near zero. Readings on the thermopane window win-dow indicated a 20-degree difference in temperature between the warm and cold side of the glass, but only one degree difference on the single pane. Translated into terms for the home owner, Dr. Watkins explained that this means that more interior heat would be flowing outdoors through the single window pane, since heat flows from a warm to a cold body, unless there is an insulating in-sulating barrier. |