The American citizen. [volume] (Topeka, Kan.) 1888-1909, 1889-07-19
SOME POSSIBILITIES.
Houses, Tapestries, Furniture and UtenSnS
Made of Glass.

/
Houses, Tapestries, Furniture and UteH1~
Made of Glass.
The future of the glass industry In tho
United States is encouraging, Tor IL -
onlv since the war that the manutacE
ure of polished plate has grown up
and there are now running, or oullo.
ing, enough furnaces to supply alA
that will be used in the country. tlS
within the last ten years that inc
manufacture of cathedral and rough
plate has been thoroughly estaollsneo'
at first disputing and now controlling |
the home market against England anu
Belgium. The Improvement IN |
window-glass has also been great anu
there are workmcn and manufacturers
who think they see the rising sun OF
much better days and much oetter
American glass. The concentration
of capital in powerful concerns mus'
certainly lead to changes in the system
of labor that are bound to insure d
more finished product. A new glass
recently invented in Germany Is salo
to add marvelously to the power OF
the microscope. A Yale professor
announces the invention OF a per1ect
acromatic telescope lens.
Legend tells of the lost invention OF
.malleable glass" Tiberius is SAID
to have discouraged a genius VINO
found the secret by beheadlng him.
fearing the innovation would reduce
the value of gold. 1t is also recorded
that Cardinal Richelieu was presented
with a bust of malleable glass by
chemist, who purposely let 1t fall into
FRAGMENTS, and mended it before his
ewes with a hammer. The inventor
was promptly rewarded by perpetual
Imprisonment. lest his ingenuity
should ruin the "vested interests" OF
French manufacturers. But II glass
NAV not ape the metals in malleaollty'
it NAV initiate them in another respect
lust as important. A more fortunate
Frenchman on. de la Bastie) has with
in few years introduced into Europe
a transmitted glass which, he claims,
may displace cast-iron. Ii 1t tulhls
his expectations it will make new
era in glass, and the old adage las
brittle as glass;" will be superseded
, bv a new one, "as tough as glass" BY
his process railway sleepers, fence
posts, drain pipes, tanks, ETC., are cas-
in molds, and so tOughened by batf
in oils as to be stronger than iron
, though much lighter, and costing one
? third as much. But it is questioned
i whether his results reach what /
, claimed for the process. These un
! developed toughening processes augu
Q astounding changes in the future @
: glass. "Glass houses" may becom
. the fashion, and we would have to re
Z verse our proverb about them, TO
- they would be bomb-prOof. Alread
! transparent glass bricks are made
i Extending the possibilities of glass
II little further, why may we not bull
=, the entire structure Of glass? Th
y walls might be cemented blocks cas-
- like hewn stone, but translucent, an
IF of any color. One could thus inhab
/. a huge pile of amber or of gigant
ID gems. The windows could be multi
N form, some of them telescope, bring
~ ing distant things near, some wit
il lenses or mirrors guiding the focusst
zh suns heat for culinary and comfortab
lg purposes. others straining out tn
Dill light or chemic rays. Tapestrie
81 furniture and utensils might be MAD
IN of the universal material. The who
r. would be more endurable than grant
No fire could harm it; lightning wOu
shun it. Such a dream, blOssomir
u from this miraculous substance, m;
81 be realized by an Aladdin whose Ian
a. is of glass. -IIarper's Magazine.