The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-01-19
How Window Glass Is Made.

How Window Glass Is Made.
the uninitiated, sitting by the win
dow, tapping the pane idly as you look
through it, it would seem almost an i'm
possibility to say that the window glass
was blown. and vet it is all simple
enough when we have seen the process.
Having seen bottles. ETC., blown. my
steps naturally took the direction OF the
largest of the window-glass factories.
and having obtained permission from
the Superintendent, we were soon in
what is known as the furnace room,"
where the main work of glass making,
including the blowing process, is done.
1t is novel sight. and one | shall no;
forget soon. The lurid light of the
Elany glowing furnaces, the quietly but
quickly moving forms of the workmen
gliding around in and among the shad-
owS, made sight that would require
only q weak Imagination to seem all but
demoniacaL | am hardly we'll enough
acquainted with the art to describe the
process infinitely, and should any '.bos:
blower" happen to see this article he
will please t. crit else me lightly.
To continue. First, lie it known that
the glass OF commerce is composed prin.
pally of white sand, though arsenic,
lime, soda ash of some kind and some
minor chemicals in small quantities are
essential. The first step is to free the
sand from all impurities. This is done
by washing it in huge watts. After be-
ing washed and the compounds com
pleied, consisting of the various articles
already mentioned. the mixture is put
into huge crucible called .the pot"
You have all seen those little burned
clay crucibles jewellers use. Well, this
is quite similar. only it is as large as
hogshead. This huge pot is lifted by
device quite similar to hook and lad
der truck. except that it has long iron
arms. The whole device being on
wheels, It's rolled into the furnace room,
and the pot placed in one of the ten
huge furnaces. This operation is called
placing the pot
Under the intense heat of the furnace,
so many degrees that am afraid to tell
you, the fires never go out from Septem-
Der 1st to July 3lst, the mixture grad
ually melts, looking like molten iron,
only of more whitish color. The men
called gatherers, as their name implies,
g iher ball OF this liquid stand by
dipping the pipe into the crucible and
Withdrawing it, allow NC what clings to
the end to partially cool by slight con-
tact with warm water.
This process is continued until ball
is gathered as large as a WATERFALL.
This is then rolled around and arc md
in an iron bowl until it assumes a pear
shape. Then the blower takes it,
and now comes the hardest task in
glass-blowing. In starting this solid,
half-molten mass to expand
and assume shape something like our
common glass, so great are his efforts
that his cheeks expand to an enormous
size and the sweat starts out in huge
drops. But closely watching the half
transparent. glowing mass, you see
little blubber start in the center. and
thus it rapidly assumes a regular demi-
john shape, say, two feet long by one
in diameter. All this time it has been
rapidly revolved by the operator. par
taking share from this iron bowl. and
having become sufficiently cool and hard
enough to bear lifting. it is by a nice
swung upon a crane AMI
thrust into the furnace. where, by the
exact nicety of long experience. it is
kept in the intense heat until half melt
ell. 1t is then withdrawn and swung
by the operator from an elevated plat
form. round AMI round his head. much
as professional swings an Indian club,
forcing air into It and SUBJ
iecting it to the heat when necessary,
until he has a red-hot cylinder of per
feet glass, exact in proportions. and of
uniform thickness. five feet in length
and about fifteen inches in diameter.
These are then allowed to cool, and
are cut to one exact length. by stretch
ing small cord OF molten glass around
the cylinder, allowing it to harden. and
then touching it with 4 cold iron, which
causes the warm crystals TO contract so
quick that it cracks right off as smooth
and even as a carpenter could saw
board. These cylinders are then cut
in the same manner. and
are then subjected to heated furnace,
intense enough to cause them to wilt
down perfectly flat. This is called the
.'iiattening process. The sheets are
then revolved around on an endless
moving platform, something ike a
straw-carrier of threshing machine,
until cooled and tempered. They are
carried to the butting and packing room
where they are made into various sized
sheets, or more properly panes, to suit
the demand, and packed in the manner
familiar to all and sent to all parts of
the world. To conclude, it might not
be out of the way to add that the fac
tory l visited had twelve blowers.
They all belong to 1.-The Glass Blowers
Union and are permi;tei to blow only |
so many cylinders day ninety being |
The number. believe. They earn from |
1925 to $3.50 month, according to the |
number of DAYS they work. But it is a
fatal trade. The poisonous gases, etc,
hat they inhale, more or less, renders
ong life in the glass-blowing business
IN impossibility. 1t is rarity to meet !
|, glass blower over thirty five years old.
Cor. Rochester Democrat.