Cars, which have been in our lives for a century, are for some of us today only vehicles we use to go from one place to another. Some of us value the cars we own much more, making them an integral part of our lives. But there is one thing that even the hardest coachman doesn’t know or think about. In this content, we will tell you about the “butterfly glass”.
Butterfly windows are fixed glasses on some cars in the front door, in some in the rear door, and in some in both doors. Although the side windows usually have a movable mechanism, the butterfly glass attracts attention due to its fixed structure. Because it just stands there and apparently has no function. So why this glass? Who invented it? Let’s look at the answers to these questions together.
First of all, why are these tiny glasses called butterfly glasses?
As a matter of fact, you will get the answer to this question later in the article, but in case you are wondering, we wanted to open a separate topic on this subject. These small windows in car doors became known as butterfly windows when they first appeared because they could open outwards like butterfly wings. Although these windows cannot be opened today, they are still referred to as butterfly windows.
Butterfly glass, which began to be used in the 1930s, became the standard in the 1950s!
Butterfly glass was also used in “primitive” cars introduced in the 1930s. Butterfly glass, brought to the industry by General Motors, was very different in those years than it is now. Designed with a special locking mechanism, the windows opened outwards, albeit at a slight angle, allowing the vehicle to breathe. Of course, the cars released in those years also had windows that open normally, but the butterfly glass had become the reason for preference due to the extra ventilation possibility.
Butterfly glass, which is now fixed, was used as follows in those years:
The photo above shows the openable butterfly window. In the years when there was no air conditioning, people actively used this window and provided extra air flow. Nowadays, there are air conditioners and there is no need for openable butterfly windows. So why wasn’t it removed completely?
Now that there are air conditioners; Why do you need a butterfly glass?
As you can see in the image above, the rear doors are designed to narrow in the body part due to the position of the rear wheels of the cars. Since the glass part on the top is wide and the body part is narrow, it will not be possible to open the glass completely. This is where the butterfly glass comes into play.
The red line in the image shows the alignment of the post separating the butterfly glass from the openable glass on the body of the door. The green jagged part shows the area occupied by the openable glass inside the door after it is opened. The orange jagged part shows the area that the door would cover if the butterfly glass could be opened, or rather how it would overflow outside. In other words, if these small compartments in the doors were not separated, naturally we would not be able to open the windows.
So why don’t they just make the openable part glass and leave the other part whole with the body? The answer to this is actually quite simple… Being able to see their surroundings is an extremely important issue for drivers. Creating a quarter glass instead of a closed area combined with the body allows drivers to have a wider field of vision.
What’s inside a car door?
In the image above, you see the inside of a car’s rear door. In this interior, there is a mechanism that holds the rail system that allows the glass to open evenly. This mechanism governs the up and down movement of the glass. If the butterfly glass is also openable, the mechanism opens this window completely. That means a big problem. Because glass is not flexible and will break if forced. In order not to break the glass, it must be opened halfway. Although we see half-opening rear windows on some models, many brands do not prefer such a thing. By the way; Let’s say the same is true for windshields. The glass, which cannot be fit into the door body, is used in pieces. We call the small part a butterfly glass…
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