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The Creative Muse: Stories of Creativity & Innovation

Madhukar Shukla


  • Preface
  • Introduction

    STORIES:

  • Discoveries about Creativity
  • Laws Of Planetary Motion
  • Electricity From Clouds
  • Band-Aid
  • Pneumatic Tyres
  • Gummed Paper
  • The Trap Of Paradigm
  • Invention Of Sewing Machine
  • Just-In-Time System
  • Transmission of Nerve Impulses
  • Printing Press
  • Dangers Of Locomotives
  • Flashlight
  • Lawn Mower
  • Phonograph
  • Rubber Heels
  • The Periodic Table
  • Discovery Of Electromagnetic Fields
  • The Tao Of Physics
  • Congenital Impact of Rubella
  • Typewriter
  • The Theory Of Evolution
  • The Benzene Ring
  • The Wreck Of Titanic
  • Wagner's Rheingold
  • Underwater Construction
  • Search For The "Hidden Likeness"
  • Fermi & Nuclear Fission
  • Cash Register
  • Discovery Of Current Electricity
  • Cure Of Diabetes
  • Boolean Algebra
  • Principle Of Photosynthesis
  • Ball Point Pen
  • The X-Ray
  • The Fuschian Functions
  • Safety Glass
  • The Creative Triggers
  • Why Aeroplanes Cannot Fly
  • The "Brownies" Of Stevenson
  • The Blunder That Founded 3M
  • Invention Of AC Motor
  • Discovery Of Teflon
  • Toynbee's The Study Of History
  • Inventors' Blindness
  • The Excitement Of Creativity
  • Electric Fan
  • How Typhus Gets Transmitted
  • Proof Of The Big Bang
  • Mathematical Theory Of Chance
  • Coleridge's Kubla Khan
  • Vulcanisation Process
  • Structure Of The Crystals
  • The Compulsion To Create
  • 3M's Post-It Note Pads
  • Ice Cream Cones
  • The Structural Theory Of Atom
  • IBM And Computers
  • Helicopter
  • How Experts Resist Ideas
  • Creative Reveries Of Enid Blyton
  • Predictions In Gulliver's Travels
  • Float Glass Technology
  • Principle Of Immunisation
  • Journey Into Unknown
  • The Genius Of Karl Fredrich Gauss
  • Jean Coceteau's The Knights Of The Round Table
  • Neon Light
  • Transistor Radios
  • Precocious Minds?
  • The Masterpiece Of Sir Walter Scott
  • The "Fraud" That Changed The World
  • The "99% Perspiration"
  • Xeroxing
  • The Poem Of Stephen Spender
  • The Anatomy Of Inspiration
  • Travellers' Cheques
  • Edison's Fraud
  • Awe, Wonder And Alienation
  • The Logic Of Irrational

  • Epilogue: Themes & Patterns

    • Float Glass Technology


    For almost two hundred years, till the early part of this century, the technology for producing flat glass had remained unchanged. The traditional method was not only cumbersome, but was also becoming cost-ineffective. Much of the material had to be rejected since the distortions would always creep in the final product. Meanwhile, the advent of cars had increased the demand for cheap distortion-free flat glass. The discovery of float glass technology by Sir Alastair Pilkington was major breakthrough in solving this problem.

    When he joined the company, Pilkington Brothers, Sir Alastair started dreaming of combining the continuous flow, fire polish, and inexpensiveness of sheet with distortion-free quality of polished plate. As he wrote later:

        "A large part of innovation is, in fact, becoming aware of what is desirable. (Then you) are ready in your mind to germinate the seed of a new idea... I don't know why, but I have always wanted to invent something."

    While he had identified what he wanted, his conscious efforts to develop a process to achieve it were disrupted. Being the technical director, he had to get give his time to the routine functions. However, he found regular job boring and uninvolving, and he often spent his time thinking about how to create a polished flat glass without distortions.

    Like many other discoverers, the insight to solve the problem dawned on him, when he was not actually attending to it. One day while helping his wife in the kitchen to wash dishes, he was struck by the what he saw. The idea that a flat, polished finish could be produced by floating molten glass on a liquid surface came to him as he watched the grease solidify on the water in the sink. To pour molten glass onto a bed of molten tin was a direct corollary of this insight.

    The actual development of the process, however, took seven years and seven million pounds. Sir Alastair assembled a team of engineers, foremen and workers to start working on the project. As the project went ahead, one problem still remained - while they could produce smooth glass plates, they could not remove the bubbles in the glass.

    This problem got solved by an accident. One day in mid-1958, the spout from which the molten glass was poured broke. And suddenly, the bubbles which had been a problem for more than a year miraculously disappeared. The team was able to produce the first sheet of beautifully smooth saleable glass.


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