Page 25 - The Science of Glass
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the Littletons in 1912
Good Housekeeping Magazine ran
the first ad for Pyrex in 1915.
The success of Nonex inspired Corning. So, in 1913, Corning hired a scientist
named Dr. Jesse Littleton. They challenged him to develop more products the
company could make with heat-resistant glass. One day, his wife Bessie showed
him one of her casserole dishes that had broken in the oven. She asked her
husband whether he could bring home something stronger from work.
Jesse brought home the sawed-off bottoms of two glass jars, and Bessie used
them to bake a cake. The containers did not crack in the oven.
Inspired by Bessie’s experiments in the kitchen, Jesse invented a stronger glass
for Corning. They called the new formula Pyrex® and made a pie plate as their
first product. The name comes from a play on the words pie and right as well as
Corning’s history of naming their brands with an x.
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