The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1875-02-18

who afterward shaped them by rolling
the blowpipe, holding the heated mass
alternately to and from him rapidly, and
applying TO theAot metal a tool not un-
like pair of shears. The workman gen.
orally sat on stool between two rails,
known as the bullion bars, upon which
he rolled his blowpipe, passing it rapidly
until, with the centrifugal movement
produced by the motion and the manipu
lations of the tool described, he shaped
a decanter goblet, vase or wine-glass of
any desired pattern and in an incredibly
brief space of time. In this art, as in all
others, modern invention has in a great
measure superseded the more tedious
processes OF the olden time. By means
of the improved processes it is now with
in the reach of the pockets of the poor
to become the possessors of a set of
elegant glassware. This new process,
which is known as pressing, is far in ad-
vance of the old method, as by it not
only forms, but patterns without limit,
can be produced, whereas by the old
style only plain glass of various shapes
could be produced. And even at the
present time only the same kind of work
can be procured by the old process, the
engravers art being brought into requisi-
ton to relieve the plainness of the pro-
duetion.
The results of the new process, en-
bracing as they do everything from plain
to the most delicate and intricate de-
signs in foliage and figures are pressed in
molds made Of IRON, the production of
which involves the expenditure of much
labor and money. The mold for the goblet,
straw-stem wine glass, or tumbler, that
may be procured for the merest trifie,
costs from $50 to $3.50. The cost of
molds for full set of glassware is some
times as much as $1,000 American in-
genuity has furnished us the means of dec
Grating our tables, at a trifiing outlay, with
articles the possession of single one of
which was looked upon by a Roman
Emperor as prize of far greater value
than gold. Robert Hewes, a citizen of
Boston, introduced the manufacture of
window glass into this country in 1880;
he built his factory in a forest of New
Hampshire close to the Massachusetts
line, but did not succeed, as the window
glass, his only production, was of poor
quality. In 1900 another factory for the
manufacture of crown window-glass was
started, but it, like its predecessor, was
unsuccessful. 1t was not until 1903,
when a German named Lint undertook
the manufacture, that it proved success
full, the State of Massachusetts paying a
bounty for every plate manufactured.
The tools in general use are very few,
and simple in construction. They con-
sist, in the main, of the blow-pipe, of
wroughtiron, four or five feet in length,
by which the molten mass is caught up
from the pots; punty, or rod of iron,
which receives the article on its end
when knocked from The pipe; spring
tongs, used to fashion ribbons of glass
into handles; pucellas, or heavy spring
shears, which are employed TO give shape
to the articles; the battledores of wood,
to assist In shaping; compasses, measur-
ing sticks and calipers. When piece
has been nearly finished on the pipe
little, red-hot lump of glass is dropped
on the end and the punty applied. A
slight blow on the pipe releases the YES
sci, and it is afterward handled by the
punty, until that in turn is no longer
necessary. When the various articles
are finished as to shape and size they
are put into the annealing ovens for
few hours, after which all the roughness
is filed or rubbed off When glassware
is TO be ground the articles are subject
either to the water or sand wheel, the
figures having been previously traced on
the surface.-Lestie's Weekly.