History of OHARA
As a pioneer in the development of the optical glass industry from its foundation to the present, we have supported the foundation of the optical industry. We will introduce the history that OHARA has taken so far by age group.
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As a pioneer in the development of the optical glass industry from its foundation to the present, we have supported the foundation of the optical industry. We will introduce the history that OHARA has taken so far by age group.
1930s～1960s
| 1935Oct. | OHARA Optical Glass Mfg. Co. Ltd. was established in Kamata, Tokyo as Jinpachi Ohara’s private enterprise |
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| 1936Nov. | Optical Glass Melting started |
| 1944Feb. | Reorganized as a Joint-Stock Company |
| 1944Mar. | Sagamihara factory construction started |
| 1946Mar. | Head office relocated to Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture |
| 1954May | Platinum Pot Melting started |
| 1958Oct. | Production of Lanthanum Glass started |
| 1959Nov. | Appointed Chicago Aerial Industries(CAI) as an export agency |
| 1961Jan. | Production of Strip Glass by Continuous Melting Method started |
| 1962Oct. | Acquisition of stock of Ashigara Optical Incorporated(Kaisei-cho, Ashigara Kami Gun,Kanagawa) |
| 1965Oct. | Continuous Melting and Direct Pressing Production Method started |
| 1967Jan. | CAI was mergedinto bourns Inc. Bourns optical Glass was appointed as a distributor in U.S.A and Europe. |
| 1969Jul. | OHARA Glass reached the moon (Apollo 11). |
1970s〜1980s
| 1975Aug. | Production of Low Refractive Index – Low Dispersion Glass “FK01” started |
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| 1976May | Production of Glass Beads started |
| 1979Feb. May |
Direct Pressing with Lanthanum Glasses started Production of Penta Prism by Direct Pressing started |
| 1981Aug. | Ohara Corporation (USA) was established |
| 1982Mar. | OHARA Glass flew into the universe with Space-Shuttle “Columbia” |
| 1983Mar. | Volume Production of High Homogeneity Glasses started (±0.5∼±1.0X10-6) |
| 1984Mar. | Began Supplying “Cherenkov glass” to National Laboratory for High-Energy Physics. |
| 1985May. | New Company Name “OHARA INC.” introduced |
| 1987Jan. Mar. May |
TAIWAN-OHARA OPTICAL CO., LTD. (Taiwan) was established Production of High UV (365nm) Transmittance Glass started OHARA Precision Corporation (Japan) was established |
| 1988Jun. Aug. |
Volume Production of Aspherical Molded Lens Blanks started Production of “Glass -Ceramics” started |
| 1989Sep. | Introduction of 18″ Interferometer (Zygo Mark IV) |
1990s
| 1990Jan. Oct. |
OHARA GmbH (Germany) was established New Glass Type Desination System started |
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| 1991Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. |
Production of “Eco-Optical Glass” started Production of “Crystallized Beads” started OHARA OPTICAL(M)SDN.BHD. (Malaysia) was established Introduction of Super Precision Spectrometer |
| 1992Jan. Mar. |
T.Q.C.(Total Quality control) was introduced OHARA Measurement Service started |
| 1993Mar. Jun. |
Production of Ultra Low Expansion Glass started Production of “Fine Gob (FG) for precision glass molding” started |
| 1994Nov. | Production of Glass Ceramics for Hard Disk Substrates started |
| 1995Nov. | Starting of ACTIVE-21 movement |
| 1996May Oct. |
OHARA DISK(M)SDN.BHD. (Malaysia) was established OHARA Hard Disk Division was ISO9002 Qualified |
| 1997Mar. Jun. Oct. |
All 112 Recommended Glass Types were switched to Eco-Glasses Production of “Glass Disk for Flying Height Tester (GD-FHT) ” started Optical Glass Div. and Special Glass Div. were ISO9002 Qualified |
| 1998April Oct. |
All OHARA Products got ISO9001 Qualified Production of “Light High Refractive Index Eye-Glass ” started |
| 1999Jan. Jul. |
Installed OHARA Glass in Suprime-Cam in Subaru telescope. Production of “Glass Substrates for DWDM ” started |
2000s
| 2000Jan. April Oct. |
Production of “Low Photoelastic Glass” started ISO14001 was qualified Measurement service for refractive indices at Vacuum UV region started |
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| 2001Nov. | UNIQUE OHARA OPTICAL CO., LTD. (China) was established |
| 2002May Jun. Dec. |
OHARA OPTICAL (HONG KONG) LTD.(China) was established Large-scale Continuous Melting started OHARA OPTICAL (ZHONGSHAN) LTD. (China) was established |
| 2004Nov. | “Production Renovation” was introduced |
| 2005Oct. | Listed on First Section of Tokyo Stock Exchange |
| 2006Jul. Nov. |
Became a member of “Nippon Keidanren,” Japan Business Federation Production of “Eco-Glasses for optical fiber (for endoscope)” started |
| 2007Jan. Feb. May Sep. |
Headquarters building completed Production of “Low- fluorescence Glasses (for microscope)” started 2-for-1 stock split OHARA Glass was mounted on the Lunar Orbit Explorer “KAGUYA (SELENE)” |
| 2008Mar. Jul. |
Acquired own shares Ohara Quartz Co.,Ltd. was established |
2010s
| 2011Mar. | NHG-OHARA OPTICS(XIANGYANG)CO.,LTD.(China) was established |
|---|---|
| 2012Mar. Aug. |
Taiwan Ohara Optical Material Co., Ltd.(Taiwan) was established OHARA Glass was Installed in Hyper Suprime-Cam in Subaru telescope. |
| 2013May | Sales of “Lithium-ion Conductive Glass-ceramics (LICGC™)” began |
| 2014Feb. Mar. |
Withdrew from the business of glass-ceramics for HDDs, the Group. “Ultra Low Expansion Glass-ceramics (CLEARCERAM™-Z)” was adopted in the TMT astronomical telescope. |
| 2015Mar. Oct. Dec. |
Mass Production and Supply of “Aspherical Glass Mold Lenses” began 80th anniversary of OHARA’s foundation. Sales of Shock Resistance and High Hardness Clear Glass-ceramics NANOCERAM™ began Non-Browning Optical Glass was released. |
| 2016Jan. Aug. |
“Shock Resistant and High Hardness Clear Glass-ceramics (NANOCERAM™)” has been used as high-grade filters “WR CERAMIC PROTECTOR” for interchangeable lenses. “Shock Resistant and High Hardness Clear Glass-ceramics (NANOCERAM™)” was used as high-grade filters “WR CERAMIC PROTECTOR” for interchangeable lenses. |
| 2017May Dec. |
Sales of optical glasses designed for automotive cameras began for the first time in the world “Ultra Low Expansion Glass-ceramics (CLEARCERAM™-Z)” was adopted to the Super Low Altitude Test Satellite “Tsubame” (SLATS). |
| 2018Jun. Sep. |
Participation in NEDO project advanced/innovative storage battery material evaluation technology development (2nd term) Operations of new “Aspherical Glass Mold Lenses” factory began |
| 2019Feb. | “Ultra Low Expansion Glass-ceramics (CLEARCERAM™-Z)” was adopted in Japan’s largest telescope Seimei. |
| 2020Nov. | Opened OHARA INC. Oita Sales Office. |
| 2022Mar. | NANOCERAM™ was adopted as a camera protector for the micro-optical satellite “KITSUNE.” |
| 2023Sep. | NANOCERAM™ was adopted as a high-strength screen protector for docomo select smartphones. |
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