The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1892-05-20
miscellaneous.
MAKING MARBLES.

What becomes of all the marbles?
| There are 1000, 900 marbles
brought from Germany and sold to
the boys and girls of this country
| every wear, and yet in spite of this a
| marble two seasons old is not common,
| and one that dates back four years is
| old enough to pass as an antique and
| is kept by it's owner ''fnr luck, like
continental dimes, Peter Barlow knives
| and relies of by-gone days.
No one can tell you what becomes of
| the marbles, but / can tell you how
marbles are made.
| They are all made in Germany, and
marble grinding, moulding, glazing
and painting form one of the chief in
| dustries in large part of the Thur
ingen woods. The work is largely
done by the peasant woodlanders IN
| their homes.
The commonest of all marbles are
| the brownies About six hundred
| million of them are imported every
| wear. They are not made from clay,
as most people suppose, but from a
| peculiar sort of sandstone which is
found in these German woods.
| Throughout the district there are
large numbers of quarries and mills.
These are owned by the marble capt.
| talists. The stone is cut into small
squares by machinery. These are
| then distributed by the miller to the
| workmen, who take them by the cart
load to their homes.
The process of grinding is primltlVe
| in the extreme. Each workman has a
machine about as large as a sewing
| machine. A treadle which is worked
| bv the foot furnishes the power. The
| machine consists of two disks, one of
| which rests ON top of the other like
| nancakes on plate. The lower disk
is made of iron and is grooved with u
shaped burrows, which start at the
| centre and 60 out to the edge as the
| smokes of a wheel extend from the hubs
70 the rim. These burrows are wider
at the rim than at the centre. In the
centre there is round hole precisely
fine size of the marble which is made
| from the square piece OF stone:
These grooves are filled with small
sonares of stone. Then the upper disk,
which is made of wood, is pressed
hard down upon the lower and the
treadle begins to work. At each pres
sure of the foot the wooden disk re-
| wolves. With each revolution the
| edoes of the stones wear off until the
so1ares become round, and at length
the finished marble drops through the
hole into the box below. The stones
are kept wet during the grinding by a
flow of water into the projected edge
of the iron disk. There are different
disks for different sized marbles.
China marbles are nodded from clay
in factories where they are baked ano
glazed Just as china is nodded, baked
and glazed in the New Jersey factories:
These factories, however, are smail
affairs for the most part, and the WORK
is done by hand and foot power. Inc
clay is nodded in a foot-power press
which looks very much like a grlnd,
mo machine. and has two wooden
disks which come together, but do not
ravoIve. Each disk is filled with
semi-round holes like that in one-hall
of a bullet mold When the disks
come together the halves OF the holes
At tightly. forming perfectly round
mold The clay is fitted into the holes
Of the lower disk. The upper one is
drawn down, and when the pressure
;s removed the marbles are found ~
inc in the cup on the lower disk ready
for the baking. The pressure is sc
nra,t that the clay which does moi
and room in the molds is squeezed out
Of the sides, where it may be scrapee
, together and used over again.
After the marbles are dried, baked
and Glazed, they are sent to the pea
SAINT painters. Painting, like marble
Grinding, is done at the homes OF thu
workmen. The painters machine II
n foOt-power continuance which look!
like a turner's lathe set on end. III
the end is small cup into which the
marble fits. When the treadle i
pressed this cup revolves. The paint
or dips his fine brush in paint ant
holds it to the marble. One revolution
paints a blue equator on the Ittl'
Globe. Another brush and secont
revolution paint a red tropic OF capri
corn Other intermediate latitudina
lines are traced both north and soutl
of the equator. Then the marble i
turned half way around and the pro
!. cass il repeated. When it is finished
the lines run at right angles IN TN
/. stvle familiar to all boys. Then TIN
marbles are sent back TO the factor.
: TO be glazed for a second time, afte
which they are ready for the market
Imitation agates are painted b.
hand and are dried in the open all
The Daint is daubed on without mucl
:, method.
Glass alleys are made entirely il
factories. The transparent glass
drawn out and pulled into stran'
MANY feet long by two workmen, YER
much as molaSses candy is pulled
The longer the strand is pulled, tn
thinner it becomes. When it is al
> inch and a half or two inches thick
is allowed to cool, and it is the
broken into pieces about two feet i
length. On the sides of this strand
of red, blue, yellow and green glass, a
S thick as wheat straw, are fastened
and the whole is then returned to tn
furnaces to be heated over agar
D When it is sufficiently hot to be twiste
the strand is taken out. The colore
J. and the transparent glass now adhe1
together.
tongs by each end and begin twistin
and stretching it until it is of tn
thickness of the marble. One ma
twists to the right and the other
: fine left. This is continued until til
small strands from q vari-colored roI
i'm the centre Of the big Transporter
strand. like a twisted piece of wire ru
through the centre of a twig of eide
The glass is then heated for the thir
7 time and when it reaches the meltin
y point it is dropped into a series {
molds like those used for bullets, jul
q as bit of melting sealing wax migl
be dropped into hole.
j. As the colored strands form the Gel
e, ter of the transparent strand, so in I'll
ce finished marble they make a con
in shaped axis running from side to sic
us as pin is run through pea.
he Some glass marbles contain sma
rs china figures. In making these, tt