The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1889-07-27
A MEDLEY OF MARvELs.
Tho Processes Err pioyed in tho Making OF
Flint Glass.


Flint Glass.
Flint-glass is the general term for oil
the multifJrm utensils and ornaments
(apart from windows and dark bottles)
which make glass an omnipresent bless
ing in modern life. The distinctive Pc
culiarity OF flint-glass is the presence in
It oflead. which imparts brilliancy un-
like that Of most other glass. The
lacs-luster surface of all the old objects
of glass made before the English inven-
tion OF lead formula is noticeable.
Lead oxide was originally used only in
most expensive glass prepared from
calcined hints. But gradually 1t has
crept into many grades, down to the
most common materials for household
and fancy wares, and for all transpar-
ent bottles, giving them all a finer lus-
ter than was otherwise obtained until
the recent invention of lime glass. And
the costliest of all glass, that used for
optical lenses and imitation gems, still
gains its extraordinary weight and re-
fractive power from lead. The honors
of skill in flint-glass production are
broadly divided among the nations,
England taking the lead in the crystal
or purest flint-glass used for cutting;
Italy (Venice) in colored designs more
brilliant than any made in the days of
the republic, when hint-glass was not
known; Switzerland in imitation gems;
Germany in cheap vases; France in lens
disks; and America in pressed glass
fnh Low Rnpnnt1u "a
cheaper fiint-glass has been introduced
into American pressed ware, in which
lime is substituted for lead, yet which
retains much of the luster and clear.
ness of lead flint.
Flint-glass is either blown, nodded
or pressed, and frequently all three
methods may be seen together in the
same establishment.
A hint-glass factory is q 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 de-
scribed as plunge into purgatorial
chamber of Industrious 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 g!as3 in the dozen
''monkey-pots" about the blaze. Scores
of workers, boys, youths and men.
throng in restless confusion. II 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 clock-work, each movement fit
ting nicely into the whole effect. 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
their punties. When sufficiently
large lump has been collected the man
wanders off with it. You think he will
certainly burn some one with that
burning ball of fire, they are all bust
ling 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 bench
which has IL horizontal iron 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
it's shape. He has made u hole in the
globe and has enlarged it into SYM
metrical opening, and now the glass is
cooled so that he can do nothing more.
VIII anybody in all that hurrying
crowd help him? Instantly a young
man appears. and without word he
holds up to the cool glass his long tube
with a 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 a
stroke detaches from the iron rod into
a small bed of sand. A small boy car
ries it off on stick to the annealing
furnace, and now the gatherer is on
hand again with fresh lump of metal
to begin the process again. Turn to
the next man sitting at his work. and
you notice him finishing smaller
charge into a lamp chimney, shaping
the top by mold. Here is a man
amusing himself with II 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 ridicu-
lous shapes Quickly boy seizes it
from him, and you can not trace him.
1t has gone over to a fancy vase, where
it was needed to complete the orna-
ment. So each bench has its own lit
tie 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 mo-
ment and place where he is needed.
All the workers are busy as their wits
can make them, for they work by the
piece, and the number of things made
determines their wages. They are
grouped into sets or "shops" of three