Production of photosensitive glass with any sort of photographic qualities has remained elusive and expensive, which is why the new product achieved no commercial success. However, Stookey continued to experiment with photosensitive glass, which, five years after its announcement, led to the ancestor of Gorilla Glass. Wired‘s feature article on Gorilla Glass, published in 2012, explains what happened then:
Don Stookey knew he had botched the experiment. One day in 1952, the Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) Glass Works chemist placed a sample of photosensitive glass inside a furnace and set the temperature to 600 degrees Celsius. At some point during the run, a faulty controller let the temperature climb to 900 degrees C. Expecting a melted blob of glass and a ruined furnace, Stookey opened the door to discover that, weirdly, his lithium silicate had transformed into a milky white plate. When he tried to remove it, the sample slipped from the tongs and crashed to the floor. Instead of shattering, it bounced.
The future National Inventors Hall of Fame inductee didn’t know it, but he had just invented the first synthetic glass-ceramic, a material Corning would later dub Pyroceram. Lighter than aluminum, harder than high-carbon steel, and many times stronger than regular soda-lime glass, Pyroceram eventually found its way into everything from missile nose cones to chemistry labs. It could also be used in microwave ovens, and in 1959 Pyroceram debuted as a line of space-age serving dishes: Corningware.
Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) expanded its use of this new glass product by marketing it as Chemcor in the 1960s, but found limited commercial interest. It was shelved in 1971, and would not re-emerge until 2005, as cell phone manufacturing processes began incorporating glass screens. At this point, it was given the codename Gorilla Glass, a moniker it retained after reaching the market. Even then, it remained more an idea than a completed product, and it might have remained so for years longer had the iPhone not needed something insanely advanced to protect its insanely great new screen.
Jobs and the iPhone provided Corning its first major commercial contract for Gorilla Glass, but Jobs’ time frame for delivery gave Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) scientists mere weeks to produce a workable product. Multiple reformulations were required to turn the original Chemcor composition into something thin and clear enough for a sensitive touchscreen, but Corning’s development pushed from concept to commercial production in less than five months. Today, according to Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW), Gorilla Glass protects over 1.5 billion devices built by 33 major brands, and that number is rising all the time.
The article An Industrial Titan Dies, and a Smartphone Innovation Revealed originally appeared on Fool.com is written by Alex Planes.
Fool contributor Alex Planes holds no financial position in any company mentioned here. Add him on Google+ or follow him on Twitter @TMFBiggles for more insight into markets, history, and technology.The Motley Fool recommends Apple, Corning, and General Motors. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple and Corning.
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