The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-05-08
GLASS.

There has perhaps been more
individual effort made in these
valleys to manufacture glass than
any other article of useful manufac-
ture, simply because there IS no
difficulty IN making it in the small
way, and there is a certain amount
of qualification connected with the
exhibition of pretty specimens
of flint glass that one has
made of Utah sand and soda.
But there has been no combined
| effort, not even to utilize the
broken glass, which, in the aggregate,
amounts to many tons in weight, and
is entirely wasted at present. AT
the beginning of 1880 some rough
statistics were prepared by which
the possibility of glass manufacture
on the large scale could be seen.
There were glass workers in every
branch of that business to be found
in the territory, and men competent
TO erect furnaces of any dimensions.
The OILY doubt was as to the pro-
duction of suitable "pots" for melting
in, and these could be obtained,
in the first instance, and used until
material could be found in our
mountains for that purpose. Silica,
sand, soda, wood ashes. lime, sui
phate of soda, salt Chloride of
sOdium), arsenic, lead, infusible
clay, broken glass, "cullet" man
ganese for decolorizing), glass
quartz, perhaps everything but
nitrate of potash, could be found
here in abundance, as raw ma
terials for glass making. One
of the most sensible things done
in actual glass making was in
using sand and common salt,
articles that are very cheap here
This kind OF glass would be de
sideratum on that account, as it
could be largely used for Ursula
tors" when mixed with "cullet,"
waste broken bottles, etc., A pale
yellow bottle-glass was also made
from SILICA sand and sulphate of
soda, substances very abundant
here, and at present worthless. An
other kind of glass made by gen.
tleman in the Seventeenth Ward, of
this city, was composed of sand,
lime and common salt. All of these
constituents are found here in I'M
limited quantities. Other varieties
of glass have been made of
silica, soda, potash, salt,
lead, nitre, and very bril-
liant kinds of glass, but chiefly |
made of imported constituents. |
These kinds could not be made here |
at present.
1t would be a difficult matter to |
get correct statistics of the importa-
ton of glass, so numerous are the |
articles brought into the territory |
in bottles of various kinds. The |
bottle moulding would be at once a
most profitable industry. There
would be no difficulty in cutting,
casting and finishing bottle mOulds,
and there are men well ac-
quainted with the glass casting,
and annealing processes.
All the "insulators" used for our |
could be made here, too.
of the cOmmOner kinds
could, at a comparatively small out
lay. be manufactured, and event
ually window glass could be made.
We have glaSs-blowers, flatteners
and cutters, mOulders and polishers;
there are also those who know the
mixing" processes by which the
ingredients for glass-mak-
ing are brought together. Every
hing seems opportune, to use the
words of the circular of lions
Board of Trade, for utilizing for
the benefit of all, some, at least, of
5he many natural resources of our
rich and growing territory"