Evening star., 1937-09-05
GLASS IS UTILIZED
AS SOUND-PR0OF
New York Office Building
Has Walls Made of Vitre-
Gus Blocks.
BY HOWARD w. BLAKESLEE,
Associated Press Science Editor

BY HOWARD w. BLAKESLEE,
Associated Press Science Editor.
NEW YORK, September 4-Glass
Is making bid to shield office work.
ers from street noises in a new glass
walled Office building at Fifth avenue
and Fifty-sixth street.
Glass windows have been the noise
leaks in architectural sound proofiing
They have acted as sounding boards
for outside noises
The new building, five stories. erect
ed as gesture to the future of struc-
tural glass by the Corning Glass
Works, has walls of hollow glass blocks
above the second floor. There is not
window in the entire building.
Daylight enters through the walls
But noise is not expected to penetrate
the glass blocks as it does closed win
dowS
This expectation is based on ex-
perlments made in the Pittsburgh
testing laboratory. There ordinary
window glass, plate glass and the
glass blocks were tested for ability to
shut out noise.
Blocks Cut Out More Sound.
The blocks cut out 1913 decibles OF
sound, which WAS eight more than
ordinary window glass. The eight
decibels means volume Of noise equal
to eight times the sound which is Just
audible to the average ear The block.
were a little more than three noise
levels quieter than plate glass on the
same scale.
The glass blocks rated as sound alb
sorbers about II points less ef11cien,
than brick, and 3 to 7 points
under tile. But the window sounding
board effect was gone.
Some sounds, according to labora.
tory tests. should pass through tn,
glass walls twice as easily as others
A low-pitched male voice, for thes>
glass blocks, should have about twic.
the penetrating power Of a FIRE siren
The glass may be expected to ad
NIT rumbling sound more freely thar
shrleklng, screaming types TIL,
AuiiiOAHiS holSSS are q rule OF les
volume.
The house of glass is the sixth
spectacular offering of the Houghto,
family since it started IN the glas
business in 1851. Amory Houghton
sr., was the founder. at Somerville
Mass. In 1868 he moved the glas
business to Corning, N. Y.
AT that time gold was used for tn
red coloring matter in railroad sigma
glass. In foggy weather this "gol,
ruby glass" changed to a pale white
1t was blamed for many railroad &C
cidens
Mr.. Houghton substituted coppe
for gold. This made the fast" re-,
color which still is used.
The second spectacular glass inven
ton was a thin bubh!A. Thomas A
Edison had written to Mr.. Houehto,
that he could use such a glass bubbl
Tor his electric light This was il
1879, and making these bulbs ha
since become one Of the great slas
industries.
The bulbs were hand made at frs,
NOW there are giant machines, hal
the size of railroad locomotives. Tn
best OF these can make 500 bulbs
minute.
In 1890 another member of tn,
family, Charles F. Houghton. mad
an unspectacular contribution whic,
nevertheless has a high rating i,
safety. This was railroad lens whicl
reversed the usual process of lens
making. 1t changed the corrueation
from the outside to the inside of tn
glass. Thereby dimming of railros,
safety signals by dirt and snow wa
greatly cut down.
Glass Used for Cooking.
About the time of the World Wa
the company developed glass to tn
point where it could be used for bakin
and cooking. Later this was extende
to glass pots and pans for use directl
over fire.
Two years ago came the 200-incl
glass mirror, now in California bein
ground to form the eye Of the world
greatest telescope.
The glass Office building" on Fift
avenue attempts no risky experiment.
Its framework is steel, its interio
concrete: Indiana limestone walls it
f1rst two floors, and In wide band
forms the corners.
The interior by It's structure point
out what is already feasible wit
building glass" There are glass til
partitions where other buildings us
all wood or mortar and plaster
Where interior sound -proof1ng
wanted it Is done with glass Abe
pressed into square tiles that hav
no outward resemblance to glas
Here and there holdings Of glass sub
stitute for wood. plastic or plastel
There are glass bAnisters
Newest of all are solid glass cur
tains. These are made of the pur
white, glass wool fibers, each Of whic
are finer than average human hair.
Hidden from sight completely, .
stuf1ng inside hollow walls is NOR
of this wool, which is now one Of tn
principal heat-and-cold insulatin
materials Of the building business.
Glass wool is said to make the glas
block walls feasible for this onic
building Glass expands and contract
with changes in temperature At in
tervas between the glass blocks ther
are wedges Of glass wool. These hbei