, 1889-08-07
MAKING FLINT GLASS.
THE VERY INTERESTING PROCESS
WILDLY DESCRIBED.


Place Where 1t Seems That All Is Con-
fusion, but 1t 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 q most enter
tanning medley of marvels. AS you
enter the great building that surrounds
the huge chimney he 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 a purgatorial chamber of in
dustrious demons. In the center the
openings in the gigantic furnace dazzle
you like glaring eyes from a 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 STAN still and watch
closely, and you will SEQ it is all a great
system Of human clockwork, each move
ment fitting nicely into the whole effect.
LOOKS Ii HE WAS PLAYING.
AAp AhA Nv VIZ AHAAA"@ts YIN III
Mt first to be devils thrusting pitchforks
into the blazing depths to toast their
victims, are only gathering metal on
their punties. When a sufficiently large
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 busting about
! him so necessarily. But follow him
carefully and you see him silently hand
the tube TO an older man, who blows the
glass into a large globe and sits down to
play with it at n bench, which has a
horizontal bar On each side of him to
roll the tube on. Back and forth he
rolls it like n toy, and the glass keeps
c~uriously changing its shape. He has
made n hole in the globe and enlarged 1t
into n symmetrical opening, N now the
glass is cooled so that he can do nothing
more. Will anybody in all that hurry
ing crowd help to help him? Instantly a
young man appears, N without a word
he holds up to the cool glass his long
tube with n disk of red hot glass on the
end, which fastens to it. The man at
the bench scratches the globe, jars it,
and 1t leaves his bar. OF the other man
runs with it to the "glory hole" where
the broken end is quickly heated again
into softness. Then he hurries zach with
1t to he bench man, who renews his
play. A couple of minutes moro and
suddenly you perceive hat he mas made
n perfect lamp shade, which n stroke
detaches from the iron rod into n small
bed of sand. A small boy carries it off
on a 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 n
smaller charge into n lamp chimney,
shaping the top by n mold. Here is a
man amusing himself with n small bunch
of soft glass on his rod. You are sure
he can have no serious purpose in turn
ing and bending 1t into those ridiculous
shapes. Quickly n boy seizes it from
him and you cannot trace him. 1t has
gone over to n fancy vase, where 1t 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 mani has his own
particular duties. He pops up always in
lit III dllh llAiSt W ~ III II llCthtbs
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 are grouped
into sets or ''shops' of three or four, who
work together and share profits together
on n well understood grade of division.
Generally four constitute n shop, the
most skilful workman (the blower at
the head, the gatherer "a young fellow
next, and two boys, one handling molds
or tools, and the other carrying the prod
ucts to h 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 a master
workman without the consent of the or
der. By this sever 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.
Tho 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 ANAL 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 hour at a 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 fattening. The work
is always by the piece, and in teams or
in SHOPS each composed of one mas
ter workman and several younger assist.
ants.
There are in operation about 100 fur
naces, at which there are employed
about four thousand blowers, gatherers,
fiatteners and cutters. They are bound
together by a union that dictates the
quantity zach workman may make, the
number of apprentices that may be taken
l(generally not more thar two to a fur
I .na,aN tlnN N-aItISV, 49, F.-s-, ,-.rl--