The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1877-02-01
From tie NesO York World.
GLASS THAT WONT SMASH,
Nails Driven With Lamp chimneys
And Tumblers.
How The De La Bastie Process Has
Been Developed in Brooklyn.

drawn in America 20 the TACT that MONS.
A. de la Bastie was producing toughened
glass at his glass foundry, near Paris, by
means of a process, the details OF which
he did not at first make public. A mum
Der of specimens were brought to this
country and experiments were made with
them.
The genuineness of the specimens was
at FIRST doubted, so incredible did the re-
suits Of these experiments seem to many.
1t was thought that they were OF some
substance resembling glass, which could
be thrown around the room, dashed
against the floor, jumped on and knocked
about generally. It was argued that IN
the nature of things, and in the light OF
the experience of many generations OF
mankind when you cropped chunk OF
iron, weighing two or three pounds, on
sheet Of glass quarter OF an inch thick the
glass would break, and that, therefore, when
you dropped such chunk on such sheet
of what NJ. de la Bastie offered as glass
and it did not break, you were justified IN
thinking that it was not glass. NO hypo'
thesis of what the substance might be
was offered by the sceptics, but the exls-
tence of some plausible scheme for the
conversion Of dollars into francs was sus-
pected, and the general public looked With
some little curiosity for the time when
propositions for the embarkation OF
American capital should be made.
Scientists, however, were a number OF
them convinced that a valuable process
had been discovered Among others,
Professor Egleston and Professor Chand-
Ter experimental carefully with the De La
Bastie glass, and found that while it was
~. 70 nj
and hammers, it was really very different
from ordinary glass. Still the number OF
specimens &C command was so small that
they were forced to wait before formulat-
ing the difference, or deciding to remodel
the SMILES of the world.
In December, 1875, the first patent on
the process was taken out in France, and
it was then found that the process consist
ed in annealing the glass by plunging it
into bath of oil or oily substance. A re-
issue of the patent was obtained in 1876,
and care was taken to obtain patents not
only in France, but in England, Germany,
Austria, France Belgium, Russia, Spain,
Italy, Portugal and the United States.
No proposltin to American capitalists
was made, but. on the contrary, NJ. Ernest
de la Chapele, a cousin of the patentee,
came to this country, and in January, 1876,
started foundry in Brooklyn, in which he
began the manufacture of glassware IN
der the patent The works were I'M
fortunately destroyed by fire in June last,
and much of the result of his labor was
lost. Iu the latter part of September,
however, he was again under way, aud
although he lost one season By the fire he
now has the business of manufacturing in
full operation.
A visit to the foundry, which is in Delvan
street, Brooklyn, showed that the glassware
produced there is manufactured in exactly
the same manner as all glassware, and Is
subjected to the toughening process after
wards. This process Is apparently d
simple one. AS only one kind OF goods
is as yet manufactured for sale, that is,
lamp chimneys, there is no variety in the
process, A workman, having in his hand
pole about eight feet long, with knob
on the end of the size of lamp burner,
fits a chimney on the knob and plunges il
into the flame of furnace He withdraws
il twice or thrice that it may not heat toe
quickly, turning the pole rapidly the while,
and when the glass reaches red heat
quickly shoots il into one OF dozen small
baths fixed ON a revolving table, and seizes
another chimney.
A boy keeps the revolving table always
in position, and as the chimneys come
around to him, having been the proper
time in the bath he takes them out TO be
dried, sorted, cleaned and packed,
THE bath has to be just the right
temperature" explained the foreman
when we first began making chimneys il
was found that they were very liable to ex
plode, and after experimenting for 4 con
siderable time we found that it was because
the bath was too hot or cold 10 either
case the process of annealing is imperfect
Now we find that by working these table.
at lust the rate at which they are now
running the baths are kept at the right
temperature by the immersion of the red
hot glass.
lis the explosion dangerous?
'Ohl no. The glass simply skaters
There is no force to make missiles of the
particles But we have obviated that now
What is in the bath2'
''Oil or tallow Any greasy substance
will do. The proportions of material tha
we use we have determined by experiment
At first we used insed oil Then W,
mixed in muttOn-tallow, and found that i
was an improvement, and we used for
while equal proportions of each. Then
one day we happened to be short of oil
and we used more of the tallow than o
oil, and found that it was just as good
Then we tried all tallow, and found i
equally good.
NJ. de la Chapelle is very confident tba
he is engaged in a business that has
great future before it. He applied severa
tests to his goods to show the reporte
their quality, and smiled complacently a
the triumphant manner in which the,
babe defiance to the rules of natural phil
osophy.
This" said he. taking haudsom,
chimney in his hand. - is as good chim
ney as is made anywhere in the Unite,
States - excepting here. You see tn
material and workmanship are both beau
tiful And this, taking up another pre-
cisey similar in appearance, lis one o
the same kind that has been treated b.
our process"
Placing them on burning lamps, side b.
side, he waited until thev were thoroughly
heated, and taking we, brush he sprink
led water on each. That which he ha,
treated by the De La Bastie process wa
not affected. but the other cracked instant
ly.
THAT is the great test of chimney,
he explained. Mine out of ten tina
break, break by the sudden change o
temperature, produced either by drafts @
cold air or by moisture. And that ties
my chimneys stand perfectly. AS t
knocking them around, this is not so niue
of test'-dashing one on the hoor-"be
cause chimneys don't get knocked aroun
so much.
Still, that might be considered sever