The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-08-22
PRICE THREE CENTS.
MAKING FLINT GLASS.
THE VERY INTERESTING PROCESS
vlvlDLY DESCRIBED.

Lumps of Molten Glass Deity Turned Into
Things Of Ornament and Use-A Busy
Place Where II Seems That All Is Con-
fusion. but II Is Just the Other Thing.
Flint glass is either blown, nodded or
pressed, and frequently all three meth /
DDS may be seen together in the same
establishment.
A flint glass factory is a most enter
tanning medley of marvels AS you !
enter the great building that surrounds |
the huge chimney the first impression is |
that you are in a human ant hill rumbling
with inordinate activity. Or perhaps
the sensation is better described as a /,
plunge into purgatorial chamber of in. !
dustrious demons. In the center the |
openings in the gigantic furnace dazzle
you like glaring eyes from soul of fire;
but the glow comes really from molten |
glass in the dozen monkey pots" about |
the blaze. Scores of workers, boys, |
youths and men, throng in restless con-
fusion. 1t looks as if every one were
running about ON some impish deed of |
his own fancy, But stand still and watch |
closely, and you will see it is all great
system of human clockwork, each move
ment fitting nicely into the whoie effect,
LOOKS LIKE HE WAS PLAYING.
The men at the furnace, who seemed |
at first to be devils thrusting pitchforks
into the blazing depths to toast their
victims, are only gathering metal on
tho,, 10
lump has been collected the man wan
ders off with it. You think he will Ger.
tainly burn some one with that burning
ball Of fire, they are all bustling about
him SO incessantly. But follow him
carefully and you see him silently hand
the tube to an older man, who blows the
glass into large globe and sits down to
play with it at a bench, which has a
horizontal bar on each side of him to
roll the tube on. Back and forth he
rolls it like toy, and the glass keeps
curiously changing its shape He has
made hole in the globe and enlarged it
into symmetrical opening, and now the
more. viii anybody in all that hurry
ing crowd help to help him? Instantly
young man appears, and without word
he holds up to the cool glass his long
tube with disk of red hot glass on the
end, which fastens to it. The man at
the bench scratches the globe, jars it,
and it leaves his bar Off the other man
runs with it to the "glory hole" where
the broken end is quickly heated again
into softness. Then he hurries back with
it to the bench man, who renews his
play. A couple of minutes more and
suddenly you perceive that he has made
perfect lamp shade, which stroke
detaches from the iron rod into small
bed of sand. A small boy carries it off
ON stick to the annealing furnace, and
now the gatherer is on hand again with
a fresh lump of metal to begin the pro-
cess again.
Turn to the next man sitting at his
work and you notice him finishing
smaller charge into lamp chimney,
shaping the top by mold, Here is a
man amusing himself with small bunch
of soft glass on his rod. You are sure
he can have no serious purpose in turn
ing and bending it into those ridiculous
shapes. Quickly boy seizes it from
him and you cannot trace him. 1t has
gone over to fancy vase, where it was
needed to complete the ornament. So
each bench has its own little task of skill,
and keeps repeating it over and over,
and each boy of the multitude there are
two or more to every man) has his own
particular duties He pops up always in
the moment and place where he is needed.
WORKING IN TEAMS.
All the workers are busy as their wits
can make them, for they work by the
piece, and the number of things made
determine their wages They aregrouped
into sets or "shops" of three or four, who
work together and share profits together
on well understood grade of division.
Generally four constitute shop, the
most skilful workman (the blower at
the head, the gatherer Ia young fellow
next, and two boys, one handling molds
or tools, and the other carrying the prod
ucts to the annealing oven. The only
way to learn the glass trade is through
long apprenticeship in these four stages.
And no apprentice is permitted to enter
the full privilege and wages of master
workman without the consent of the or
der. By this severe means of apprentice
ship the glass workers keep the skill of
their trade in their own control, much |
like the old Venetian artisans, and prac-
tically dictate their own prices to en-
ployers.
The best wages in the glass industry
are received by the window glass blow
ers, sometimes reaching S12 per day
The master meters rank next, though
they seldom get more than half that
amount. From these earnings the prices
slope down to the small tending boys,
who are paid thirty cents for ten hours
work. The blowers occupation is labor
ious, but not unhealthful He works
eight or ten hours at stretch, finishing
one melt of glass. There are four or five
melts every week, each requiring six
teen hours to fuse, ten hours of blowing
and ten hours of flattening. The work
is always by the piece, and in teams or
in ''shops," each composed of one mas
J
ants.
There are in operation about 100 fur
naces, at which there are employed |
about four thousand blowers, gatherers,
fatteners and cutters. They are bound |
together by union that dictates the |
quantity each workman may make, the
number of apprentices that may be taken |
generally not more than two to fur |
nace), that prohibits any foreign work
man from getting a place in the factories,
or any glass from being made in the
months of July and August. The aver
age time they have worked in the last
four years has been less than eight |
months and half. Much of the time |
lost has been spent in strikes or disputes
with the manufacturers about wages