page_title: Hermann Hammesfahr
section_title: Flexible Glass Fabric
hierarchical_section_title: Hermann Hammesfahr / Flexible Glass Fabric
caption_attribution_description: English: Georgia Cayvan in her glass dress in The Chicago World's Fair 1893
context_page_description: Hermann Hammesfahr was a Prussian-American inventor who invented a type of fiberglass cloth in which glass was interwoven with silk. He was awarded the patent by the United States Patent Office in 1880. This was the earliest fiberglass of any kind that is known to have been patented.
context_section_description: Many onlookers were impressed by the dress at the 1893 World's Fair and a copy was purchased for $30,000 by Princess Eulalia of Spain. However, the dress was reportedly impractical and no one else is known to have bought another dress. Hammesfahr's granddaughter modeled a glass dress her mother had made at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair and reported that the dress scratched and was fragile. Despite this, the dresses, neckties, and other attire made from the glass fabric succeeded in publicizing the flexible glass thread technology. Hammesfahr's creation inspired new, innovative uses for glass fabric. It could withstand corrosive chemicals so chemists and druggist used it to filter solid particles out of liquid. Tangled glass fibers - glass wool - made a great insulator and was used by industry to surround steam pipes. Glass fabric was even used as bandages.
caption: Georgia Cayvan in her glass dress, 1893.
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