The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-08-01
The aahita Daily gaoe zsridau lorrimg august l. 1890
THE WATCH CRYSTAL.
CHANGES SINCE THE DAYS OF
GRANoFATHER's BULLS EYE.
Some of the Details of Their Manufact-
ure-First Factory In the United States.
The Price Drops from . Dollar Apiece
to n Dollar a Gross.

to q Dollar q Gross
"Ah, there goes another crystal"
"Why don't you get hunting casef"
Because prefer the open face, even il
they are more expensive"
This conversation was overheard the
other day between two gentlemen who
were playing billiards IN fremont street
hotel
| Here, thought the writer, is a subject of
| interest to readers, and straightforward he
visited the rooms of one of the oldest, il
not the Oldest, dealers in watch crystals in
the city He was found on Court street,
/ up one fight, in room which was YER
table curiosity shop.
| On one side of the room was line Of
| grandfather clocks whose voices had not
| been heard for half a century. The dust
| lay ON them in ridges, and their old yellow
faces looked solemn and sad. Some were
without hands, while others were in cases
warped and scanned by age.
'Oan l see the proprietor of this estab-
hshmentS" inquired the newspaper man.
| One of the bent figures arose from his
bench in response. A snow white beard
| flowed down his chin, and a pair of steel
bowed spectacles rested on the tip of his
nose
81 conduct this shop" said he. What is
wantedy"
81 came to ask you few questions -
hating to watch crystals" responded the
scribe.
"Oh, yes. Well, you will find me pretty
well acquainted with the business"
''What style of crystal was sold in 1854.
| or about the days when you first went into
| business?"
1.-THE principal one was the Lunette for
both open faced and hunting cases. The
watches were known as bulls eyes. The
Lunette was invented by Frenchman OF
! that name, and he must have done an enor-
NOUS business, as the whole watch wear
| ing world was customer Of his. These
old fashioned timepieces had detachable
, cases, and when your grandfather perform
ed the important duty of winding up his
| old ticker, Just as the sun was sinking in
the west, he would remove the outer cover
ing, hang it OF his thumb, adjust the key,
and then solemnly and slowly tighten the
spring for another twenty-four hours ser
vice. The crystals Of the bulls eye had to
be very high in the center because the post
to which the hands were adjusted stood up
nearly quarter of an inch"
Twill you give me the process of manu-
facture'"
with pleasure It should be under
stood, in the first place, that the finest
quality of glass is necessary, and, in order
TO make the business profitable, the factory
must be located contiguous TO q rich bed
OF silica or pulverized flint l am now
speaking more particularly of the present
time. The glass is taken from the ovens
on the blow pipe, and large globe, the
size ola half barrel, formed.
when cool this is taken by the operator
and, with a heated piece of thin iron, he
traces line around the globe and then
quickly lifts it above his head The sudden
change of temperature causes the glass to
separate where the heated metal has been
in contact. This is continued until the
entire sphere has been made into hoops or
bands. These are then cat into squares
the size of the crystal it Is designed TO pro-
duce.
~The process is to place these squares on
a wheel covered with buckskin, which is
made to revolve under a stationary rod, in
the end of which is a diamond. This oper
alton produces the disk. These are then
placed on blocks of soapstOne, with round
ed tops, and put into a little oven at
white heat, where they remain about .
minute This softens the glass, and it set
ties down upon the soapstone, conforming
itself exactly to the mold. The crystals
are now ready for the grinders, who bring
them down to sharp edge so that they
shall fit snugly into the bezel."
How are the various STYLES Of crystals
of the present time designstedY
First we have the Geneva, which is
slightly crowned and quite thin. Then the
patent Geneva, made in the same form, but
with small polished space in the center.
The bulls eye is high crowned, also with
polished center. Then there Is the thick
parallel This is fat on top and very
thick They have been in vogue for about
twelve years, and were brought out / BE-
lieve in answer to demands made necessary
by the great popularity Of the open face
watch. The edges are ground down so az
to fit the chrononeter bezel They are very
strong, and will stand great deal Of hard
usage before breaking. The mdconcave has
a very slight swell, and is used mostly in
ladies' watches. Tho thick miconcave il
for gentlemsn's open faced timers. The
thick concave is made heavy and ground
out on the under side and has fiat top.
Then there is also the thin conczve, which
is almost fat. The Lunette II oval or
crowned, running in height from l 70 s.
The Verge glass was used largely in the
old bulls eyo."
"What are the diameters OF the various
crystals"
They run from to ~, 0 bang about
the size Of ten cent pieos and a ms&Sur-
ihg 2 SIC inches
hare m drz~er m
cabinet and hshed out a dusty package,
and upon opening il showed the writer
crystal almost large enough for a town
clock
81 manufactured these myself" said he
as he held one Of them up to the hight.
They are made Of the finest glass possible
to obtain"
you were then in the manufacturing
business"
YES. In 1874 opened = small factory
in Williamsburg. n. Z, and these glasses
am now showing you we're = part Of my
product In those days crystal was wort
about dollar. and / eorcluded they could
be produced in TINS country st = much
lower figure bToanLsd the mater of
starting factory hare, bat 81 rny friends
spoke very disparagingly Of toe rogect.
saying It was impossible % make q saIablc
crysSal on this side 81 the AtlAAcie- ] Ess
not discouraged, hove71r, by thsne peszi
mistic visrS and went right along aao
carried out my proposition % a successful
conclusion, but kept what waS doEnx .
myself.
In soon began 20 BE- noissd about that ]
wzs undertaking. the raArket. ard one q
the g7esaeSs vos5sTs 81 the tine wa 70
know how I managed 20 dc business a.
such rui1pus dgHres, p" and the old white
hufrnH AaslSv Htkio NNrek a.