Abstrakt
Glass melting is the most energy-demanding part of glassmaking technology. For this reason, historical development of the energy sources used for glass melting represents one of the most important chapters of the Czech glassmaking.
Each energy source had its positive and negative sides and corresponded to the time when it was used for melting glass in the Czech glassworks. The oldest glassworks worked on the principle of direct heating of glass-melting furnaces using wood.
In the mid-19th century Friedrich August Siemens invented the gas generator which enabled indirect heating of glass-melting furnaces using generator gas. In the sixties of the 20th century small glassworks began to use long-distance gas.
But it was not available for large glassworks in sufficient quantity. A large number of glassworks began to pace in the eighties to glass melting using natural gas, which became gradually a universal fuel in the Czech glassmaking.
In the seventies and the eighties short episode of fuel oil used for heating of glass-melting furnaces was in the Czech glassworks. The Czech glassmaking is great at using electric energy for glass melting.