New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-07-06

as of An inch In thickness and perhaps two
inches in width, and on top OF these straps is an
immense iron roller reaching clear across the table
and resting on the iron straps. As this roller
is crowded across the table, il drives the noI'eh
glass before IT, and flls the entire space between
the iron straps solid with the hot melted glass
AS soon as the plates are cool enough, they are
run by machinery into the annealing or temper
ing ovens and heated to the proper color Ihcy
arc left in those ovens for about three days, whe
undergoing the cooling process. lhey are 'heh
taken from the ovens and Undecided in plaster
paris on the surface Of the large grinding ma
chimes
The grinding machines have surface oil l'o
square feet and they weigh $4,000 POUNDS each'
There are seven grinders, each run by separate
pair of engines. When the surface Is hlled WIN
plate glass the grinders are set revolving; the
glass is ground of with pure sand at first ana
completed with fine emery. The plates are ground
on both sides, taking about Is of an inch rom
each side, leaving the glass S-s of an inch
thick From the grinding machines the plates
are taken to the polishing machines,
In these polishing machines there are ne"
improvements, made by the companys own lore
man, which are the result of long years OF
experience. There are ffty-siX polishing discs
TO each machine The discs are covered with
felt cloth made in the United States; and the
machine Is so adjusted that every particle oil the
entire surface of each plate of glass is operated
20 precisely the same extent. The grinding
machines take out of the glass all the waves and
unevenness of the surface but leave the plate
Opaque like ground glass; and while they
remove two-ffths of the entire plate, yet So
fine is the glass-dust that none of it is ever
again seen. The foreman claims that Ill hNe
houIs, with one of these improved machines one
side Of each plate can be polished 50 as to make
it perfect enough for the most elegant mirror
The factory contains, twelve polishing machines,
each worked by separate pair of uprlght
engines, the same as the grinders. There are
in ALL for the purpose of these works, nineteen OF
these double upright engines.
The entire power for running this immense
machinery will be supplied by l,2OO nominal
horsepower water tube boiler. The works are
so located that, should the natural gas give
out. an abundance # coal can be found night
at their door, the slack Of which can be delivered
in the factory for 35 cents per ton, from which
gas can be manufactured as a very cheap fuel
The cost of this entire plant will be $s5O,OOo,
which will leave them $l50,0OO for working
capital, the company having capital stock OF
81 900, 900
Plate glass. as has been before stated, is com
posed of silica, lime and soda-ash. all OF whlch
are produced in the United States. The company
has already found one enormous bed OF sand
In the State of Pennsylvania the ANALYSIS OF which
shows that it is the purest of any on record III
the world. The analysis showed 1904 per cent
of pure Silica and .0034 per cent moisture, With
out the least trace of iron. No better sand than
this has ever been known, not even that III Berk-
shire county, Mass. Most excellent lime is found
at Tyrone, PENN and the best Of sOda.ash can he
procured from Syracuse. n. Y.
A BENEFIT TO LABOR AND THE COUNTRY.
The Irwin works will start up about the 9th
Of July. When in full operation they will work
900 men, all told, paying wages from 81 Az per
dav up to 1925 per month. The great majority
of the people who work in this factory Will be
American born This concern intends to make
speciality of producing as good plate glass lor 'ho
making of mirrors as is known to the trade; pro-
poses TO provide for all sizes, and expects 10 DC
able to furnish such glass at so low price as
will shut the foreign product ont from this
country.
When one takes into account the labor which
ooes into digging and freighting the sand; into
mining and freighting the lime into making ana
freighting the soda-aSh, then into the manu-
featuring of these ingredients into plate glass IL
will be seen that about 80 pep cent OF plate glass
is labor. They have in the factory man by the
name of Joseph Smith, who has worked al thls
business twenty-six years i'll all, seventeen III
England and nine in the United States lie Is
one Of the meters. He said thai while In Eng
land he was paid from Sl2 to SIS per week lor
his work he receives in the United States for the
same grade of work from 81 to S@5 per week.
He also stated that funacemen, taolemen ana
kilnmen receive in England not to exceed $40
per week while the same men In the United
States receive from Sl5 to SIS per week. and
that the unskilled laborers about such factory
in England receive not to exceed So per week,
while the same kind of men in the United States
receive from SO to $40 per week. Michael
Schober stated that he had worked four years in
the United States and ninc in France He is
a skilled packer. He said: IL receive in this
country for my work SO 80 per day; for pre-
ciselv the same kind Of work in France | could
never get over 81 90 per day" He also stated
that the men who in such works receive from
50 to 81 so and SO per day in the United States
could get in France only s. cents, 90 cents, and
81 20 per day. lie said Il know about this
because | have worked In both places"
This new factory is the direct result of the
provisions of the Mckinley bill. That wise meas
ure advanced the rate of duty on this kind OF
glass so as to provide for the enormous difference
in wages here in the United States and the wages
paid for the same kind of work in the old world
Only few years ago, when manufacturers
first proposed to make plate glass in the United
States the Free-Traders of this country claimed
that no good plate glass could ever be made here !;
that the materials furnished by nature were not
good enough TO produce first class goods of that
kind; and that to puta tariff on such goods would
simply enhance the price and rob every man who
purchased plate glass for use in the United States
Since our plate glass factories began work
in the United States they have constantly been
driving the price of plate glass down, 50 that now
purchaser can buy better plate glass, made in the
United States, for 10 cents per square foot than
could have been bought when the manufacture
Of il began in this country for 81 20 per
square foot The managers of the company at
Irwin prt pose 20 supply the demand in this coun-
try for all the fine mirrors anC the most elegant
window fronts known to the trade. II is con-
hdenty predicted by the writer Of this article