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Coming Soon to Your Pocket: Gorilla Glass

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BACK IN 1962 ONE OF CORNING GLASS WORKS developers invented a new type of glass that is nearly unbreakable, flexible, and highly-scratch resistant.  Initially called ChemChor, it was an outstanding discovery, but Corning couldn’t come up with any practical commercial use for it.  So the secret formula was locked away until its function could become usable for the marketplace.

Corning Glass photo

Fast-forward another 46 years until 2008 and the hidden patent is brought out, renamed Gorilla Glass and is sold to cellphone manufacturers as a protective cover for their touch-screens.  Now the product is found on almost every cell phone, MP3 player, and other mobile devices.  Its super strength means it can be effective while remaining very thin.  Now the product has found still another modern use, that of a flat-screen tv cover.  With the new developments in flat-screen technology leading to the “picture-on-the-wall” television receivers and e-readers, sales are expected to explode over the next few years.  Corning expects that by 2015, Gorilla Glass will be its second-leading source of sales income.

WETM-TV Ch. 18 Elmira reported on Corning’s outlook for their product in this video:

The Associated Press has a more detailed STORY HERE.

Posted by on August 3, 2010 • Filed under: News, technology, Videos
  • Dalmatian90

    I used to work at an R&D facility, and whether or not to patent things was always a question.

    Once you patent, the clock starts ticking towards it's expiration, and everyone can see what you're doing and copy it.

    So certain things we thought others wouldn't be able to figure out how we made them without seeing it described in a patent, we didn't patent. Others, like Gorilla Glass, you'd just sit on until you a market for it, and then take the patent at the point you'd be able to make money.