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Duralex
IN HALF A CENTURY, A CANTEEN TUMBLER HAS BECOME A LEGEND AND A NATIONAL TREASURE
For many of us, Duralex is a magical name which tells a story of childhood with the little inlaid numbers found at the bottom of the canteen tumblers we all played with during lunchtime.
But it is also much more… Duralex owes its birth to the Saint-Gobain group and the industrial patent for moulded, tempered glass, developed in
1936 in the La Chapelle Saint-Mesmin factory. This industrial process gives the tumbler a perfect transparency and lasting clarity, and makes it practically unbreakable.
The Duralex company has been an emblem of a particularly French industrial demand since 1945. Since its creation, the expertise and know-how of its collaborators have given the brand its international renown with its unbreakable tumblers whose pure, simple style is never outmoded.
For over 65 years, Duralex has owed its history to those who every day ensure unequalled mastery in producing the millions of products distributed each year around the world.
We wish to thank all the men and women who have remained loyal to the brand and share its values.
Today, the path is clear for new markets and new ambitions. With its new team of shareholding managers, the brand is again
finding its financial stability and the necessary energy for success.
We know that lasting success durability is the result of an innovative industrial project and commercial ambition.
This is why we plan to increase our customers, with new products, new colours, new design and new brand communication, as with
this catalogue. The Duralex brand has a bright future, and by using its history it will write new pages about cooking and table art throughout
the world.
Our company has all the means to guarantee its success with the help and confidence of all those who share its values.
In half a century, a canteen tumbler has become a legend and a national treasure. The industrial adventure is never linear, as all entrepreneurs know well. The DURALEX
adventure is no exception. The perfumer COTY bought the glassmaker in 1930 to produce its bottles, and the industrial caster Saint-Gobain Pont in Mousson bought it in 1934. A major technological revolution lead the company to develop tempered glass. The procedure rests on applying a thermal shock of brutal cooling to incandescent material as soon as it leaves the furnace in order to create an exceptional solidity of two and a half times that of normal glass. Tempered glass produced this way served
to make windshields and therefore played a considerable role in passenger safety on the road, guaranteeing that in case of shock the glass would break into thousands of dull pieces that would not cut. Saint-Gobain became a glass specialist, with the creation on June 6, 1945 the DURALEX brand to produce glass
objects for culinary use, notably of tempered glass.This moulded, tempered glass which proved to be practically unbreakable would take the form of the emblematic “le Gigogne” tumbler of DURALEX brand in 1946.
The history of DURALEX brand was born, and the presence of these tumblers in their daily life would be playfully remembered by generations of school children due to the number of the
mould from 1 to 48 engraved on the bottom. A legend was born.
Today over 250 references in 4 colours, make up the DURALEX offer: glasses and tumblers, plates and dishes, complete services and table accessories.
TECHNICAL DEFINITION
The tempering operation consists of a brutal
cooling by ventilation of cold air over the two
faces of the glass product, which has been
brought beforehand to a temperature of 700° C.
This treatment creates in the glass a force
which improves most of its physical properties:
resistance to mechanical duress (bending,
shocks and impacts) and to thermal shocks.
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES: the product is 2.5
times more resistant than a fired product of
equal thickness.
THERMAL: tempered glass can resist a thermal
shock of 130°C, while classical glass breaks from
a thermal shock of about 40°C.
Tempered glass conserves the optical and
acoustic properties of each basic product.
After being tempered, the glass can no longer
be recut or reshaped. Slight deformations may
be observed after tempering which are inherent
in the manufacturing process.
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