Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1892-04-08
MAKING CUT GLASS.
THE VARIOUS PROCESSES THROUGH
WHICH FINE WARE PASSES.

THE VARIOUS PROCESSES THROUGH
WHICH FINE WARE PASSES.
The Touches of Magic by Which Dull
Sand and Lead Are Changed to Spar
Plays in the Manufacture of Glass.
| The glassmaker's trade, practical, ever
lrosaic and stolidly scientific as it is il
reality, seems, however, to the average OBJ
server to be an exquisite art assisted b.
something very like sorcery. Take for in
stance the very first step in the process Of
making glass and we have something sug
gestive, even to the unimaginative, of nee
romancy of alchemy-something akin tt
the tabled evolution of the phssosopher's
stone. In what is known as the linking
room" we have huge pile of sand, an
other of oxide of lead and a third of pear
ash-all dull, sodden, coarse materials con
tanning not the slightest promise of the
cleaning, glittering, crystal pure glas:
which will presently fash in show win
dows, in sumptuous boudoirs and parlors
and on banquet boards.
r 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 sane
and thoroughly mixes with it 400 pound:
of oxide of lead and half as much pear
ash. To this compound he adds very small
proportions of saltpeter, arsenic and man
ganese, and the whole well stirred to
gether goes into one of the great crucibles
or "pots," as they are technically called
which hold from 800 to 5000 pounds.
In the furnace which contains eight Of
these pots the mass is subjected to the
terrific heat Of 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 OF
blowers pipes" manipulating it in a 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, pitcher, 6
punch bowl, a 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 it's tip to the proper size
rolls it upon polished iron plate, revolves
the rod while he holds tool against the
plant mass to give it FORM heats it agar
and repeats the process, or delicately anG
rapidly touches it with two or three othel
tools, perhaps being assisted by a s'helper'
in some of these maneuvers, and lol the
shapeless mass has become wine ocean
ter or a salad dish or something else O.
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 it's strong
lights and heavy shadows, the circles Of
| light carved in the darkness by the SWEEP
of the cleaning, ruddy tipped wands may
be to the orilooker, it is stern, stiff labor
for the operatives Their tools are fewer
and more primitive than those of any othel
class Of skilled artisans. They use a few
rude iron implements, stick, much like 6
narrow roofing single, heavy, uncoutl
pair of iron shears and the all important
blowpipe, and with these they perforx-
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 a 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, as 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 theil
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 long room
each belted to a great central shaft, are
swiftly whirled by a 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 ap
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
s1illfulness of the workman is almost
everything.
CARVING THE 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. Fol
this work a thin iron wheel is employed
upon which, as it revolves with the rapid
| ity of a buzz saw, the operator from time
to time places little sand from the tank
in front of him, while water drips con
staptly from an oyerhanging reservoir.
And now the ware is passed from tn;
''smoothers'' to the "polishers." The mel
in this division accomplish their work by
gentler means, and their touch is soft ant
almost caressing compared with the previ
Gus manipulations which the object ha!
undergone. The polishers use whee
brushes and wooden wheels of varying edg.
formation to fit the different depressions
and these are kept constantly smeared will
what looks like common yellow mud, bu
is in reality a compound Of finely GROUND
oxide of zinc and lead, called in the trade
putty" These Wheels with their thir
coating of peculiar polishing material
after innumerable ightninglike revo
lutions have the deep geometric lines ant
the corresponding facets Of the glass a
smooth as diamonds and almost eeualine
them in brilliancy Of glitter and purity o
ight.-Alfred Mathews in Pittsburg Dis
patch.
Germany, like England, has high emf
grafton rate, but in spite of that she add
more than twice as much to her popula
ton in one year as France adds in fiv
years. The population Of the German EN-
pire is now greater by ten millions thai
the population of France.