The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-03-05

romancy of MISUNDERSTANDING akin tc
the tabled evolution of the philosophers
stone. In what is known as the mixing
room" we have huge pile of sand, an
other of oxide of lead and a third of pearl
ash-all dull, sodden, coarse materials con-
tanning not the slightest promise of the
cleaning, glittering, crystal pure glass
which will presently fash in show win
dows, in sumptuous boudoirs and parlors
and on banquet boards.
The amount of glass manufactured va
ries at different times, but the proportion
| of the ingredients is never changed A
trusted and careful workman weighs out,
for example, 600 pounds of Berkshire sand
and thoroughly mixes with it 400 pounds
of oxide Of lead and half as much pearl
ash. To this compound he adds very small
| proportions of saltpeter, arsenic and man.
| ganese, and the whole we'll stirred to-
gether goes into one of the great crucibles
or 'pots," as they are technically called,
| which hold from 500 to 1000 pounds
In the furnace which contains eight of
| these pots the mass is subjected to the
terrific heat of a roaring fire for forty
| hours, and then the metal, as it is called,
is ready for the deft manipulations of the
| skilled glassblowers, who hover about the
| furnace and at intervals remove small
| portions OF the white, hot semiliquid sub
stance upon the ends of their long tubes or
blowers pipes" manipulating it in way
| familiar to every Pittsburger. The grace
| full sweeps and agile twirlings of the rod
are not made for the sake of appearance,
but for practical effect in giving the glow
ing bit of molten glass the peculiar shape
which may be desired dependent upon
whether it is to be bottle, a pitcher, a
punch bowl, wineglass, or any one of |
hundred other things
BLOWING INTO SHAPE
He swings the tube with varying force, |
blows through it carefully, expanding the |
red hot bubble at its tip to the proper size, |
| rolls it upon polished iron plate, revolves |
the rod while ne holds tool against the |
plant mass to give it form, heats it again |
and repeats the process, or delicately and |
rapidly touches it with two or three other |
tools perhaps being assisted by "helper"
in some of these maneuvers, and loI the |
shapeless mes has become a wine decan-
ter or a salad dish or something else of |
most graceful form, and is almost ready |
for the cutting room, whence it will emerge
with hundreds of companion pieces of
flashing, chased and beautiful ware.
But first it must pass through the an
healing furnace, where, with the other ar
ticles of the days output it is very gradu-
ally cooled by being slowly drawn away
from the fire through brick arched tun-
mel about sixty feet long.
However picturesque and fascinating the
scene around the furnace with its strong
lights and heavy shadows, the circles of
light carved in the darkness by the sweep
of the cleaning, rudy tipped wands may
be to the onlooker, it is stern, stiff labor
for the operatives. Their tools are fewer
and more primitive than those of any other
class of skilled artisans. They use few
rude iron implements, a stick, much like
narrow roofing shingle, a heavy, uncouth
pair of iron shears and the all important
blowpipe, and with these they perform
wonders. The work must be done while
the glass is hot, and so there is intense
activity, only relieved by the occasional
waiting for the relocating of partly formed
object.
HOW THE GLASS IS CUT.
The final step in the process is the grind
ing and polishing. The various objects
formed by the glassblowers, IS decanters,
bottles, vases bowls, wineglasses, goblets
and scores of other articles of ornamental
or table ware-after undergoing the grad
ual cooling process in the glass house-are
taken to the cutting department. They
have form, but not the finish, grace of
shape nor brilliancy, and are technically
known as 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 light like
titanic diamonds, A hundred wheels
ranged in two rows down a long room,
each belted to great central shaft, are
swiftly whirled by great engine in the
basement below. In this department, as
m the one already described, the tools are
of the simplest order, and indeed there APP
pears to be no line of manufacture involv-
ing 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
everything.
CARVING HE HARD GLASS.
The glass cutters work in three divisions
and the various articles pass through three
distinct grades of treatment First comes
the ''roughing," that is the deep cutting
or grinding of the pattern, of which the
principal points and lines have been first
marked upon the glass with red paint. For
this work a thin iron wheel is employed, !
upon which, as it revolves with the rapid
ity of buzz saw, the operator from time
TO time places a little sand from the tank
in front of him, while water drips con-
stantly from an overhanging reservoir.
And now the ware is passed from the
"smoothers" to the ''polishers." The men
in this division accomplish their work by
gentler means, and their touch is soft and
almost caressing compared with the previ
Gus manipulations which the object has
undergone. The polishers use wheel
brushes and wooden wheels of varying edge
formation to 1T the different depressions,
and these are kept constantly smeared with
what looks like common yellow mud, but
is in reality compound of finely ground
oxide of zinc and lead. called in the trade
putty" These wheels, with their thin
coating of peculiar polishing material
after innumerable hghtninglike revo.
buttons, have the deep geometric lines and
the corresponding facets of the glass as
smooth as diamonds and almost equaling
them in brilhancy of glitter and purity Of
hght.-Alfred Mathews in Pittsburg Dis
patch
Coiors from Coal Tar.
Coal tar, formerly considered waste
la