Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-20
Gold IS o Coloring Agent

70 make black glass. Oxide OF chromium
produces beautiful emerald green, which
can be modified by the use Of other oxides.
Gold IS Coloring Agen.
One of the most beautiful colors, rich
Transparent ruby, much priced by glass con.
noisseurs, is yariously produced by comb:
nations of gold with tin oxide. Often gold
is used alcne, and saw at the manufactory
referred to about s140 worth of the virgin
yellow metal thrown into crucible full oi
sand, lead and potash. Hence the extra
cost of genuine ruby glass, which is well
known to experienced buyers.
One of the oldest features in the process
is the construction of The .'pots" or cruel
bles in which the raw materials are fused
into glass ready for the blow pipe. These
pots, which are dome shaped, about four
feet tigh and half as much in diameter, arc
made of clay, which is principally imported
from Germany, although an article has
been discovered in the State of Missouri
which serves the purpose measurably well.
Men are at work constantly making these
pots, for q supply of well-seasoned ones
must be kept on hand ready for immediate
use.
One Of the workmen-and q very i'm
portant one-is constantly employed in
kneading the moistened clay to bring it
into q condition of requisite tenacity, and
this work oddly enough he does with his
bare feet, treading the yielding mass back
and forth with peculiar side-long steps all
day long for period of three weeks to
each ''bstch." No machinery has ever been
devised which can supplant this primitive
process of working the clay into proper
condition, and the old man / saw at work
will doubtless tread backward and forward
81 1F IL hov ,arfnrr
any earthly labor Another workman
much as the walls of rubble house are
built, making his circular wall of clay
few inches high and then awaiting the dry
ing process before carving it higher. 1t
takes about three weeks to build set of
eight, and they last but three months in the
intense heat of the furnace.
How the G'ass Is Cut.
The final step In the process is the grind
ing and polishing. The various objects
formed BY the glass blowers as decanters,
bottles, vases, bowls, wine glasses, goblets
and scores of other articles of ornamental or
table ware-after undergoing the gradual
cooling process in the glass house are taken
to the cutting department They have
form, but not the finish, grace of shape, but
not brilliancy, and are technically known a.
''blanks."
A hundred workmen are ready at their
wheels to put them through the process
which will develop luster and make them
flash and CLEAN with prismatic lig 1T like
titanic diamonds A hundred wheels
ranged in two rows down a long room, each
belted to a great central shaft, are swiftly
whirled BY great engine in the basement
below. In this department, as in the
one already described, the tools are
of the simplest order, and indeed there
appears to be no line of manufacture in
volving so much skill and productive of so
rich and artistic effects which employs such
primitive implements as does this. The
skillfulness of the workman is almost every
thing. Many of them are young, scarcely
more than boys, but young eyes are the best
for the kind of work done here, and then,
too, most of the operatives have been
brought up the trade" and have had
really more experience than their youthful
appearance suggests. The workman needs
perfect eyesight, steady nerves and deftness
Of hand, for the pattern must be cut with
seometric precision.
Carving the Hard Glass.
The glass cutters work in three divisions
md the various articles pass through three
Instinct grades of treatment First comes
he ''roughing," that is the deep cutting or
grinding of the pattern, of which the princi- |
,al points and lines have been first marked
lpon the glass with red paint For this |
work q thin iron wheel is employed,
lpon which, as it reVolves with the |
apidity of a buz zsaw, the operator |
rom time to time places little sand from |
he tank in front of him, while water drips |
constantly from an overhanging reservoir. |
Che wheel, with its gritty covering, eats its |
Eay slowly but surely into the thick glass,
ollowing various lines crossing each other
n many directions, some deep, some shall
ow, until finally the design, instead of pre-
enting the effect of lines cut into the mass,
ives one the impression of raised work
1t is still in the rough, the various sur
aces or facets being exactly in the condition
what is known as ground" glass. The
econd step is what is known as smooth
ng." 1t is accomplished by holding the
ish, or whatever the article may be, upon
ne stone wheels. Of these, as of the iron
mes first used, there are great variety for
iferent kinds of work. These take off
luch of the roughness created by the harsh
ouch Of the iron and sand, and bring the
sttern little nearer to perfection.
The Finishing Fine Touches.
And now the ware Is passed from the
smoothers" to the "polishers The men
q this division accomplish their work by I
entler means and their touch is soft and
lmost caressing compared with the previ-
us manipulations which the object has
Undergone. The polishers use wheel
rushes and wooden wheels of varying edge
to fit the different depressions,
nd these are kept constantly smeared with
hat looks like common yellow mud, but is
q reality a compound of finely ground
xide of zinc and lead, called in the trade
putty" These wheels with their thin
oating of peculiar polishing material, after
lightning-like revolutions,
ave the deep geometric lines and the cor
esponding facets of the glass as smooth as
iamonds and almost equaling them in
of glitter and purity Of light.
1t is found that the best lead obtainaple
" the polishing "putty" is that which
1mes as the lining of tea chests from China.
contains elements of great value to the
It-glass manufacturer, which are not pres
at in other kinds of lead. And so we find
/ this establishment side by side with sand
ON Massachusetts, and clay from Ger
any, lead from China, all lending aid to
lie production of the richest cut glass in
le world
The Various Styles OF Cutting.
In the showroom of the mandatory al
lded to j saw in comparatively small space
pward of $4,000 worth of this beautiful
are, and upon single table perhaps
1000 worth, embracing an almost be-
ildering array of articles and a wide
ariety of STYLES in cutting, each having a !
name. There are ice cream
I'D salad sets, fruit dishes and score of
.her articles in the cut known as the