News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-02-26
TALKS WITH THE BOYS,
nj. QUAD GIVES THEM LESSON IN
GLASS MAKING.
Describing the Different Kinds of Glass-
How Glass is Ground and CoIored, Etc,


From the Detroit Free Press.1
"What's tbat?"
"Glass."
"Well, what is glass ?"
sits glass;"
$50 it is, but what are the ingredi-
ents9 Pudding is pudding, but it has
to be made first"
"Don't know"
'Have you dictionary in the house P'
eyes, two of EN-"
"Well, you take down Webster and
turn to page 572 and you will read: "A
hard, brittle, transparent substance,
formed by fusing sand with fixed alkalies. ;
Now you've got start, and we'll post
you up bit on glass"
Glass is nodded, blown and rolled.
The big sheets of plate glass you see in
the store windows are mostly of English
and French make. We have Just as
| good machinery and workmen in this
country, but it would seem that the ma
terials are not as good, for American
plate glass takes second rank. The
sheets are rolled on hot iron beds, with
red hot rollers. and it is a tidy bit of
work to turn out the big panes free from
flaws. 1t is said that there are only two
| localities in America where sand for the
manufacture of the best glass can be
had, and there are several countries in
Europe without grain.
1t isn't so many hundred years ago
that the houses of kings and emperors
were without pane of glass, and long
enough after the substance was known,
glass was made only for the nobility. In
building houses even fifty years ago
| glass was looked upon as one of the big
items of expense, and for this reason the
sashes were fashioned to receive small
| panes. Up to 1860 a store window
| which had pane 3Gx40 was looked upon
as a mammoth concern, and the glass
was only common at that. Nowadays
panes six feet by ten, and half an inch
thick, are plenty enough"
Blue, red and other colored glass are
simply the plain glass covered with a
! preparation and submitted to baking
until the color sets fast.
All the hand work on stained glass.
such as flowers, birds and borders, is put
on with the brush and the glass is then
| baked like the other. just what the
| preparations are the glass men will not
tell you, each manufacturer seeming to
| have some secret which he does not
want another to discover.
Efforts have been made for O good
many years past to render glass MALE
able in order that it might replace iron,
tin and earthenware to a great extent.
If this discovery could be made it would
be goodbye to the tin stores. All our
pans, basins, pals, kettles, spiders, pie
tins and SO on would be of glass, able to
stand any heat and warranted not to
break when flung across the house.
Do you know anything about ground
glass Did you ever wonder how the
hanging baskets and beautiful scrolls
displayed on the glass panels Of front
doors were placed there Come with
me into the works and we'll post up
about it.
In the first place all the glass received
is plain. The first move with ground
glass is to frost it. They were a good
many years finding out how to do this,
and very simple thing gave them the
clue. An English servant maid found
some paint ON window which would
not wash off, She took a smooth pebble
and some sand and secured away, and
she not only removed the paint but
frosted that portion of the glass. The
glass men soon had the correct idea. and
here it is before US. 1t is a tighG box
about five feet wide and ten feet long,
with depth of about foot. 1t is hung
on iron rods so that it rocks like cradle
as the steam power is applied to the ma
chinery. The glass is laid fiat in the
box, covered with wet sand and pebbles,
and the shaking begins. The pebbles
and sand shaking over the surface of the
glass scratch it and produce the frosting.
1t takes about an hour and a quarter to
complete the work, but this homely in
vention accompanies as much in that
time as diligent man could in two weeks
by hand.
Whom the glass has been frosted it is
ready for the artist. He takes it to his |
bench and draws the pattern in crayon,
thus making black and distinct lines |
which show through the glass.
When the grinder takes it in hand he
sits before a revolving grindstone which
has been turned to an edge hardly wider
than the blade of a table knife. One |
grindstone cuts straight lines, another
the curves and so on to the number of
five or six. The side on which the pat
tern is drawn is held ON the stone, and
he must have true eye and O steady
hand. If he deviates from the lines his
Work Is spoiled, for the eye can at once
detect the carelessness. An adept will
grind scrolls, bouquets and the finest
work as neatly and rapidly as an artist
can draw them,
Where colored glass is ground the
pattern is made by simply grinding out
the color, which leaves the ornamental
ton In white and the body of the glass
In color. There are only about twenty
five ground glass factories in the United
States, and the pay of an adept work
man averages So per day the year round.
All the grindstones are imported from
one quarry in Scotland, there being no
stone IN any other country so well fitted
for the work.
But for the common glass lamp Chin
neys what would our immense wealth of
kerosene oil amount to? 1t isn't so
long ago that the first chimneys were
made, and manufacturer says that it
was greater invention and prolific of
more hard study than any piece of COM
plicated machinery.
The first bottles made would sell now
Tor valuable relics. Even down to fifty
years ago they were rough and uncouth.
with no pretense to symmetry. 1t was
the same with the first tumblers aud
goblets. People bought them as orna-
ments and curiosities, and only visitors
were allowed to drink from them. Such
articles are now real gems of workman
ship, and wine glasses and cut-glass bot
Ties are so finely decorated that they
cost as much as if the material was of
silver.
About fifteen miles from Richmond.
Va, Is farm house with some of the
1rst window panes brought to America.
They are 1Oxl2 in size and were brought
here in the sash. At that tine the use
Of putty was not known for glazing and
he lights are held in place by strips of
wood tackled against them. The cost
If each light in England was about So.
md not one of them can compare with
he pane you can buy to-day for seven or
eight cents. They are full of air bubbles !
md crlnkles, and those difficulties both
cred glass makers for many years after
those panes were sent over One of the
1rst palaces erected in Russia was pro.
Jided with glass which would NOWADAYS
carcely pass muster for a horse barn
md some of the first public buildings in
America paid 81 per pane for glass {
which one could hardly see through and
which would not be put to any use at
ii in these times. ,
A New Set OF Charges. t
New charges are brought against Gen. ]