Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1886-02-10
THE AGE OF GLASS.
An Important Discovery Which May Rcvo'
Iutionizc Architecture.

An Important Discovery Which May Rcvo-
lutionize Architecture.
An important discovery has recently
been made in the manufacture of glass
which bids fair to revolutionize that art
rs completely as the character of the
iron trade has been changed in its meth
DDS by the introduction of processes for
making steel cheaply on a large scale.
1t is in effect that any desired degree OF
hardness, within rather wide range,
may be communicated to glass, and that
by very simple means. 1t is nothing
more than the equable distribution OF
heat through the mass and then an
equable cooling. The discovery is credi-
ted TO Frederic Siemens, and u full ac-
count OF the process appears in the
SCI, nee.
The difficulty of heating and cooling
glass at an equal rate throughout is the
great stumbling block that has stood in
the way of success. Withhold this the
material was liable TO crack or explode,
a familiar illustration of which is furn-
ished in the breaking of a tumbler when
hot water is poured into it, the danger
of fracture increasing with the thick
ness of the glass. The application of
radiant heat overcomes the first half of
the difficulty, and the second is obviated
by surrounding the edges with q material
that prevents the heat from leaving
them more rapidly than that from other
portions. BY placing the glass between
plates of suitably-prepared metal the
softened substance can be embossed with
any wished-for design, and after leaving
the mold it is four or more times rs hard
rs ordinary glass, being in fact so "lirm"
in its substance that the diamond fails
even to scratch il. Hence it must be
made to exactly the size and shape
wanted, but after having been so
made it is at least thee times as
strong as ordinary glass of the same
thickness, and appears to be even less
liable to give way on account of flaws
than Is cast-steel. Castings have al
ready been made of floor plates, grind
stones, pulleys, railroad-sleepers, etc,
and it is believed that Its use can be in
definitely extended to many of the uses
of wood and metal in the arts, and es-
pecially in the building trades.
Nothing is said of the cost of the new
glass, which is most important point
in determining the extent to which it
will be employed for the purposes above
noted. But at the first blush it would
appear to be capable of being produced
much more cheaply than its equivalent
in iron or steel. 1t consists of about
fifteen per cent. of potash, seventy-iive
per cent. of slick (sand), smaller guam
titles of lime and alumina, and traces of
other material All of the articles
named except the first are literally "as
cheap as dirt" and potash is not very
costly; while the quantity of fuel re-
quired is probably less than that needed
to reduce the ores of iron to the metal
lie form. Hence it is not impossible
that many of those now living will sec
the time when people will reside in
glass-houses, and not be more afraid of
throwing stones than if they tenanted
structures made of ordinary bricks and
mortar. 1t needs no great stretch of
the imagination to look forward in fancy
to a new era directly resulting from this
discovery. Man has successfully passed
through the stone age, the bronze period,
the iron age, the golden age, more re-
Gently the age of steel has dawned upon
us, and it has been proposed to name
this the age of paper. Next in order
may come the age of glass and thcnp-
Chicago Tribune.