Editing Glass float (section)

== History ==
[[Image:Glass Float Small.JPG|thumb|right|Small glass float from southern tip of Taiwan]]
[[Norway]], around 1840, was the first country to produce and use glass floats. The earliest mention of these "modern" glass fishing floats is in the production registry for [[Hadeland Glassverk]] in Norway in 1842. The registry shows that this was a new type of production. Christopher Faye, a Norwegian merchant from [[Bergen]], is credited with their invention. The glass float was developed through cooperation with one of the owners of the Hadeland Glassverk, Chr. Berg. Many of them can still be found in local boathouses. The earliest evidence of glass floats being used by fishermen comes from Norway in 1844 where glass floats were on [[Gillnetting|gill nets]] in the great cod fisheries in [[Lofoten]]. 

By the 1940s, glass had replaced wood or cork throughout much of Europe, Russia, North America, and Japan. Japan started using the glass floats as early as 1910. Today, most of the remaining glass floats originated in [[Japan]] because it had a large deep sea [[fishing industry]] which made extensive use of the floats; some made by [[Taiwan]], [[Korea]] and [[China]]. In Japanese, the floats are variably known as {{nihongo|buoy balls|浮き玉|ukidama}} or {{nihongo|glass balls|ビン玉|bindama}}.

Glass floats have since been replaced by aluminum, plastic, or Styrofoam.