The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1869-01-26
nY !, 7. TROwBEIDCE.

nl !, T. TROWBFrDCE.
'Nhat is this p said Lawrence, picking
up a piece of glass from the floor. 'lt
looks like broken thermometer'tube.
1T was blown for one said the gailtr
blown so small = exclaimed Law>
renee. i can't find any hole in it,
1T has a holc--or bare, as we call it
Of the usual size; but it is fiat. That is
to make n very little look to bo good
deal, DO you see narrow white
stripe running the length OF the tube ,
Lawrence saw it, and said he had often
observed the stripe in the backs OF thcr-
momctcrs, but had never learned what it
was for.
1T is background to see the mercury
against Would you like to see such a
tube made Come here Watch this
man
With delight and curiosity Lawrence
watched. The man was gathering a
lump Of metal from one Of the pots. lie
blew into i; gently, and shaped it on
mAryer, ilattcning it until it resamblcd in
form and size that part ofa sworl-hIlt
that Is grasped by the hand.
In hdttening it, said the gailtr, 'he
nattcned the bubble Of air hc had blown
into it. Lawrence looked, and could see
the bubble, about as broad as his finger,
extending through the glass. That is to
be the bore of the thermometer, though
of itself il is now larger than two or three
Thermometer tubes Now they are going
to put on the stripe.
\ boy brought lump Of melted,
Opaque, white glass on ponty. 1t was
touched to the now hardened sword-hilt,
r and drawn from end to end along TIE fiat
, side, leaving a stride about as broad as a
, ladv's finger. The sword-hit, with the
, stripe carefully pressed down and hard
cned upon it, was now plunged INTO a pot
l of melted glass, and thickly coated the
: soft exterior was rounded on marvcr,
| until the entire boly of GAS, enclosing
: the stripe AMI The hattencl bore, was il
, size and shape little longer AMI consider
( ably larger than banana,
t This was now slowly heated to a melt
! ing state. Then came forward boy wit
4 punty, bearing on It's end piece of glas
Y resembling an inverted conIca! inkStand
n This he set upright on the ground, tn
t bottom Of the inlstanl uppcrmost. Ih'
blower, with the melting lump, now al
c vauccd, and held it over the ponty, until
d the soft mass dropped down aud touchc'
= the bottom of the inkstand, TO which /
q adhered. The man AMI the boy held th
i lump moment between them then. n
|. a word of command, the hoy shouldcrc'
Y his pontv, like very large staff with.
II very small bundle on the enl Of it, and Sc
h out to travel. As he ran in one direction
into a wcrkroom, the man backed of i
2, the other, the glowing lump stretchln
/, between them like some miraculous kin
10 of spruce gum In a minute they wcr
rs seventy or eighty feet apart, with a CLEAN
,c ing cord Of glass smaller than pipe-sen
- sngging between them. This was pre-
re- emily lowered, laid out ut its full lenat
upon the ground, and broken from wh'
was left Of the lump at the ends.
Even the Doctor, who had hitherto sai
little, now expressed his astonishment m
- admiration, exclaiminG. 1T is marvellous
:" it is truly maryelous!'
u 'Of course said the gaiitr. the bo
" stretches with the tube, and keeps
~ nattened shape SO does the stripe.
en- 'But what keeps the tube Of unilor
"a size Why don't it break p said LP'
'"' renee.
sThc reason is this. As the glass ru
- out thin, it cools, and stops stretchir
no. while it continues TO draw ont the s.
ior glass from the thicker p0lts ut the en-
,h' If we wish to make small tube,
''7' stretch it quick, without giving it mn
time to cool TO make large tube,
'nI stretch slower. Here is piece of ba
ell meter tubing, stretched in the same wa
No so is this lot of homeopathic medic
''" vials.' The 'vials' were n small stack
y " hollow glass canes rbout five feet
'y' length, standing in n corner OF the We
,,.' room. into which the visitors had follow
we the boy. Though, of course added
ere aaifer, SO make them, we don't fiat
the bore, but only blow il larger
res 'rhen how are vials made ont of Il
'rd" tubes ?
loh' 'lhey are cur ln'o pieces Oh Tue u
tosa length, then the bottoms are melted
ured closed in by means Of common blow-p
had such rs chemists use
Lawrence was about to ask sin
swan question with regard TO the 'hermome
Her when man came along, and, siooi
hill. commenced cutting the long tube into
hal form lcnglh' of about five feet,
part. packing them together into narrow,
S put box.
they These said the gaGer, he sends
rhad hop in Boston, fer he is thermom
pl.y m.Ecri there they are cut up into