- Vacuum flasks have the magical ability to keep hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold, making them a convenient way of carrying drinks to have wherever and whenever you like. To someone who hasn't used one before, these flasks must seem amazing.
- The principle of the vacuum flask comes from the idea of German physicist A. F. Weinhold that the contents of a receptacle would retain its temperature more effectively if a vacuum were created in the space between the receptacle's multiplex walls. During the same period, the British chemist Sir James Dewar designed and made a bottle with multiplex walls enclosing a vacuum and a silver or copper plated inner wall which minimized heat loss through radiation, and this became the prototype for the vacuum flasks of the present day. In 1904, Rheinehold Bulgar started production of a vacuum flask for domestic use, which he called a "thermos" from the Greek word for heat.
- Vacuum flasks were first imported into Japan in around 1911 from Germany, and these were probably thermos flasks. Domestic production of thermos flasks appears to have been started in 1912 by Teijiro Yagi, an employee of Nihon Denkyu. Minosuke Takemori, a bottle maker from Edo Bori, Osaka also tried manufacturing vacuum flasks, and the two working in collaboration succeeded in manufacturing products of stable quality. Osaka was at the time at the center of the glass industry, and the various techniques used in making glass products played an important role in the production of vacuum flasks. Osaka also had a well-developed system of canals which were useful for transporting raw materials and fuel, and this too contributed significantly to the development of the vacuum flask industry.
- When domestic production of vacuum flasks first began, the high cost of materials made them luxury goods. There was consequently little demand from ordinary households and production was extremely low. In 1914, however, the First World War broke out, and the interruption of production in Europe, orders poured into Japan. Exports to Europe began in 1917. There was a growth in orders from India and countries in Southeast Asia, which had been a market for European products, and the market for Japanese vacuum flasks expanded rapidly. In 1920, the vacuum flask industry in Osaka Prefecture was designated a key export industry, and from then on vacuum flasks became a speciality of Osaka and the industry experienced major growth.
- However, exports ceased during the Second World War and production also stopped. The industry recovered after production began again in 1947 and 2.01 million flasks were shipped in 1953, the majority of which were exported. Thereafter, production increased as Japanese living standards rose. Shipments of glass vacuum flasks between 1947 and 1996 were as follows:
| YEAR |
EXPORTS |
DOMESTIC SHIPMENTS
|
TOTAL |
| 1947 |
0.050 |
- |
- |
| 1953 |
1.540 |
0.470 |
2.010 |
| 1963 |
0.820 |
8.973 |
9.793 |
| 1973 |
3.654 |
19.223 |
22.877 |
| 1983 |
12.189 |
16.520 |
28.708 |
| 1993 |
8.702 |
5.083 |
13.785 |
| 1994 |
7.421 |
4.693 |
12.114 |
| 1995 |
7.105 |
4.353 |
11.458 |
| 1996 |
7.374 |
4.027 |
11.401 |
Unit: million flasks Source: National Vacuum Flask Industry Association
- From the mid-1960s there were various technological improvements. In 1968 the revolving table-top vacuum bottle was developed, followed by the "air pot" pump vacuum bottle in 1972. In 1978 the dream of creating a tough vacuum flask was realized and a vacuum flask with a stainless steel inner appeared on the market.
- Vacuum flasks can be broadly divided into portable, table-top and lunch-box types, but the glass inner of portable vacuum flasks is increasingly being replaced by stainless steel.
- The industry is made up of (1) brand makers manufacturing and marketing complete products, (2) inner makers supplying inners to makers/distributors, (3) suppliers of metal cases and plastic parts to makers/distributors, and (4) subcontractors assembling products for makers/distributors. Specialist makers of metal cases have almost disappeared as the major makers/distributors now make metal cases by themselves.
- Demand for table-top vacuum flasks has recently fallen off due to competition from electric pump pots, and the retail price has fallen due to consumer cost consciousness and cheap imports. At one point, imports similar to domestic products selling for JPY2,400 were once on sale at leading supermarkets for JPY1,000. The price of domestic products too has now fallen to around JPY1,700 due to price competition from imports. There has also been a considerable drop in exports due to fierce competition in the main export markets of the Middle and Near East (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, etc.) from cheap products made in China, Taiwan and South Korea. Exports are also being squeezed in North America by competition from disposable Taiwanese products. Nevertheless, in 1996 exports still accounted for 65% of total shipments. We cannot find any other products, export ratio of which is more.
- The three leading Japanese makers have expanded into Thailand, Malaysia and China (Shanghai) to produce only stainless steel vacuum flasks, but exports from there are high and some flasks are exported back to Japan.
- Vacuum flasks with glass inners are a speciality of Japanese manufacturers, which make exceedingly tough vacuum flasks capable of withstanding drops and knocks by using borosilicate glass (made from expensive raw materials) for the inners. Vacuum flasks made in the EU, China and Taiwan, however, are fragile as the inners are made from soda-lime glass (used for windows and made from cheap raw materials) and break easily when knocked. Soda-lime glass is used so as to sell the products cheaply, and the technology required to make inners from borosilicate glass does not exist yet outside Japan.
- Vacuum flasks are supplied from makers to department stores and major discount stores via wholesalers, although in some cases makers avoid wholesalers and sell directly. Supermarkets buy imports via small importers, but no department stores or other large stores currently import directly.
- Price, quality and design are the three main factors affecting sales of vacuum flasks, and each maker has its own designers. Designer goods by famous designers such as Kansai Yamamoto marketed as a series sell well. The emphasis is switching from mass production models to more individual products of varying colors, patterns, capacities, styles and materials ranging from deluxe to bargain models which appeal to individual tastes.
- Firms take out Product Liability insurance and no problems have as yet arisen.
- Demand for vacuum flasks will not disappear in the future, and the likelihood is that resources will be concentrated on developing extremely safe, light and portable flasks to meet the needs of an aging society. Goods which appeal to young people will also need to be made, and the stress in the future will be on the preferences of the consumer. Increasing environmental awareness also appears likely to make the use of glass vacuum flasks popular as a method of energy conservation. With the increase in ownership from one flask per household to one per person, vacuum flasks will continue to offer excellent business opportunities.
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