Re: [OMC-Boats] OMC Myth Busted -- The Deluxe 17 and Sweet 16Windshield Origin

From: jd <jdood@...>
Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 22:01:27 -0700

So there's a good chance there's a lot more of the plexiglass ones
floating around in the world than the fragile glass ones?

On May 12, 2009, at 6:18 PM, Lee Shuster (lib1) wrote:

> No. What I actually meant to say was: the Canadian-built 16-footers
> used Plexiglas screens.
>
> Sorry, I stand corrected...
>
> Lee
>
>
> On May 12, 2009, at 6:45 PM, dan wrote:
>
>> Lee... then your saying my 17' OMC Deluxe was built in the
>> states ? it has a powered glass windshield..... Dan
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Lee Shuster
>> To: 'Evinrude & Johnson Boats of the 1960's and 70's'
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 4:05 PM
>> Subject: [OMC-Boats] OMC Myth Busted -- The Deluxe 17 and Sweet
>> 16Windshield Origin
>>
>> Okay guys -- after years of hearing this OMC "urban legend" or myth
>> about the Deluxe 17 windshield design originating in Detroit I
>> decided to do some additional research. Here are my findings:
>>
>> The unique OMC 17 Deluxe - Sweet 16 windshield was made expressly
>> for OMC by Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company. The unique industrial
>> design work was by Myron Stevens, OMC in-house designer, who joined
>> OMC from Brooks Stevens Associates in Milwaukee (no family relation
>> to Brooks). You will recall Brooks Stevens did Evinrude's product
>> styling and logo designs for many years. See: http://hhscott.com/evinrude/brooks_stevens.htm
>>
>> The tooling for forming the Deluxe 17 - Sweet 16 windshield (USA
>> market-only*), was designed, funded and owned by OMC and used by
>> PPG in their Pittsburg, PA plants to produce the OMC USA-market
>> windshields. The windshield was made of "float" plate glass ( a
>> process relatively new in 1960), in which the molten glass is
>> floated on a pan of molten lead and allowed to solidify there,
>> producing a smooth surface and optically uniform thickness, just
>> like ground and polished plate glass. This is a very touchy process
>> in which the glass (in a plastic state, maintained by gas flame
>> heat), is laid on a flex frame which warps the glass into its
>> unique curved "sagged" shape and then is rapidly cooled by air jets
>> to temper it. See:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Float_glass
>>
>> The tubular stainless steel perimeter molding was installed by
>> another company with a rubber insert all around that was bonded
>> right to the glass to protect the edge of the windshield. This was
>> needed so the ball sockets for the tilting pivots could be welded
>> right to the molding before it was put on. Windshields were shipped
>> from Pittsburg, PA eventually making their way to Waukegan, IL for
>> final assembly.
>>
>> It is important to point out that these marine-application
>> windshields were manufactured of non-laminated tempered safety
>> glass, which cannot be used in the U.S. for automotive windshields.
>> Automotive laminated plate glass has been mandatory since 1927,
>> which has a thin layer of flexible clear plastic film called
>> polyvinyl butyral (PVB) sandwiched between two or more pieces of
>> glass.
>>
>> So, for the OMC Deluxe 17 - Sweet 16 marine windshield THERE NEVER
>> WAS A CONNECTION WITH ANY AUTOMOTIVE WINDSHIELD, though some of the
>> same manufacturing processes were used for both, but DEFINITELY not
>> the same shape.
>>
>> Next time you have your Deluxe 17 or Sweet 16 out, enjoy the view.
>> Take extremely good care of that rare piece of glass; as it will be
>> hard to come by a replacement. The re-tooling costs to reproduce
>> this baby would definitely be astronomical!
>>
>> Myth most definitely busted!!
>>
>> * Canadian market, Peterbourgh-built boats used Plexiglas windshields
>>
>> Lee Shuster
>> OMC Boats Myth Buster
>>
>> Keep 'en floatin'
>>
>>
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Received on Wednesday, 13 May 2009

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