Fire and glass are inextricably bound, per the motto of the National Fraternity of Ceramic Engineers, "Through Fire to Perfection." Yet, an obscure glass property, electrical conductivity, has developed into an important commercial technology, ie, melting glass with electricity. Glass that melts itself, without fire. Magic indeed! Voelker's 1902 patents claimed feasibility, but little electric melting was done until the 1950's when pioneers showed that molybdenum electrodes lasted for extended periods in many glasses, without discolouring the glass. Initial developments were in the borosilicate and lead glass industries, both industries with serious emission problems. Glass fibre became a major producer in these all-electric melters. For this article, "Electric Melter" is defined as one that uses only electricity to heat glass, via Joule-heating.
