[ti:Heat-Resistant Glassware Celebrates 100th Anniversary] [ar:Jonathan Evans] [al:Economics Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]One hundred years ago, [00:01.76]a new kind of cookware entered the American market. [00:05.79]It was called Pyrex. [00:08.45]Today the Pyrex name is well known in the United States. [00:13.27]The heat-resistant glass products are still being manufactured. [00:18.64]And early Pyrex products are now considered collector's items. [00:24.23]Heat-resistant glass was invented in Germany [00:27.90]at the end of the 1800s. [00:30.27]But the glass was used mostly in lanterns [00:33.80]because the lighting produced heat. [00:36.79]It also was used in containers for telegraph and telephone batteries. [00:42.98]The usefulness of heat-resistant glass [00:45.91]as cookware was discovered by accident. [00:49.04]It started at the Corning Glass Works manufacturing company in New York. [00:54.62]A scientist working there [00:57.19]gave his wife a battery jar made of borosilicate glass. [01:02.07]Borosilicate glass is resistant to heat and very strong. [01:07.61]Kelley Elliott is with the Corning Museum of Glass. [01:12.04]She says the scientist's wife used the jar while cooking, [01:17.44]and noted something unusual. [01:20.06]"She proceeded to bake a cake, a sponge cake, in this battery jar. [01:25.34]And she discovered that the baking was much more efficient, [01:29.58]and much more even than baking in ceramic or metal was." [01:33.35]Ms. Elliott says that when Pyrex products [01:37.21]began appearing in U.S. stores in 1915, [01:40.24]the cookware quickly became popular. [01:42.90]At first, Pyrex dishes were only made of clear glass. [01:48.17]But the Corning Glass Works soon started producing dishes in colors. [01:54.16]Kate Halasz is the owner of Aunt Katie's Attic, in Scotia, New York. [02:00.63]Her store sells vintage household items to cookware collectors. [02:06.75]She says the dishes with different colors [02:09.33]and designs are popular among collectors. [02:13.07]"It's kind of crazy! [02:15.88]But the popular patterns are the pinks, the turquoises. [02:20.24]The friendship pattern is a pattern that came out in the 70s. [02:24.10]That's highly collectible." [02:26.20]Borosilicate glass is also being used for astronomical instruments [02:31.57]because the material is not affected by temperature changes. [02:35.80]One example is the 5.1 meter telescope mirror [02:40.83]at the Mount Palomar Observatory in California. [02:44.49]Pyrex dishes are still being manufactured today [02:48.97]by companies that bought the rights to this recognizable brand name. [02:54.23]I'm Jonathan Evans. [02:56.45]¸ü¶àÌýÁ¦Çë·ÃÎÊ51voa.com