River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1889-07-11
ABOUT LAMP cHIMNEYs.
Millions of Them Broken Every Year
where they Come From.


Millions of Them Broken Every Year
where they Come From.
Nearly 5000. 600 Of lamp chimneys
are smashed every year in this city
and at least 80, 600, 600 bits of glass are
thrown into ash barrels, streets. alleys.
cutters. sewers, etc. Yet people vent
ure out in thin-soled shoes, children in
bare feet and horses withous any pro-
lection on their hoofs.
/ Stranger still, one seldom hears Of
an accident arising from the presence
of these bits OF glass.
The street sanitary regulations OF
the city fortunately do much toward
obviating such accidents, and most OF
tho broken and cracked chipneys are
deposited in ash barrels and find their
way to the dump, where they are gath
cred up by rag-pickers and sold to
junk dealers, who. in turn, sell the
scraps. which are known as "cullet,"
to the glass works at 40 cents per 100
pounds.
The dealers in chimneys dispose of
their broken stock. which is about
per cent. OF that carried, in the same
manner.
The breakage of lamp chimneys
represents the consumption of that
article. The lamp-chimney business,
therefore, is of considerable impor-
lance to the public.
There are innumerable STYLES of
lamp chimneys on the market--large,
small and medium sized; long, short,
round, fiat and twisted; thin, thick.
narrow, broad, square, globular, seal
loped. colored, spotted, etc, from the
baby chimney, 4 inches tall by inch
in diameter to the great big fellow. II
inches tall by Al inches in diameter,
used on the largest lamp in the market,
which throws a 360-candle power light
and costs from ID cents to 81 per dozen
wholesale. They even manufacture
combinations of chimney and globes,
while every year brings into the mar
ket half a dozen or more of new styles
of chimneys. Every now lamp requires
special chimney.
Niue-tenths of the chimneys made
in this country are manufactured in
Pittsburgh, while most of the balance
are made at Steubenville, o., while a
very few are made in the natural gas
regions.
The majority of small ones are inn
ported. Wherever the material In a
lamp chimney is of greater cost than
the labor the chimney is imported, and
vice versa.
All the shapes used in this country
are of American design, but are man.
ufactured abroad ard brought hero
and sold at much less than they could
be produced here. 1t is labor that fig
ures in the cost of manufacture more
than material.
The odd shapes are all nodded,
while the ordinary shapes are blown
and are made of lead glass and lime
glass, both in this and the old country.
There is feature that the casual OBJ
server would not notice in selecting a
lamp chimney with square top. Two
chimneys of almost identical appear
ance are placed side by side, one of
which commands a higher price, A
close observation shows that the top
and bottom of the one is rough, while
the other is polished and smooth.
The smooth one possesses double the
durability of the rough one. The
rough one is cut off and cooled, while
the other is polished. Only the best
quality of glass can be polished this
way.
People make a great mistake in inn
agining that a heavy chimney is more
durable than a thin one This is not
the fact. The thin chimney is far
more durable because of its expansion
and contraction being more regular.
The non-breakable chimney, which
is made chiefly in Illinois, is nom
breakable in name more so than in
reality, though it is much more dura-
BILE than the ordinary chimney. The
difference in the price however, does
not warrant its purchase on the score
of economy, hence very few are sold.
The best grade of chimney is known as
the pearl top, which is made like any
other chimney, but while hot has a
crimped ring welded to the top, while
the ordinary crimped top is merely
placed in a mold and shaped while hot.
These chimneys are much less liable
to break than the others, and are con-
sidered well worth the one-third more
in price. The great demand to-day is
for fancy tops.
There are also a great many Chin
neys now used on gas burners. On
the shelves of a first-class lamp store
can be found fifty separate and distinct
styles of lamp chimneys, while every
grocery in the country handles them.
mostly the common grades.
The life of a lamp chimney is as
uncertain as that of a man. An ex-
pensive one is as liable to break as
soon as a cheap one, as there are many
causes calculated to crack or shatter
them other than a fall or contact with
another body. A draught of air, a
damp chimney. splash of water or
high blaze will any of them terminate
a chimney's usefulness in short order.
Cincinnati Times-Star.