Omaha daily bee., 1895-09-29
THE ART OF GLASS MAKING
Wonderful Progress Displayed in Recent
Inventions and Productions.
GLASS HOUSES BUILT OF GLASS BRICKS
Everything from n Mousctrap TO n
billiard Table. from n Giistcning
Pcnrl 10 mn Iridcsccnt Gown of
Piinnt Threads, Made of Glass.

There Is an inventor who Is known at the
Patent office in Washington as the glass man.
His name is c. w. Mclean of New Berne,
~ c., and during the last few years he has
obtained patents for surprising number
OF devices In glass, writes a correspondent
of the St. Louis Globe Democrat. Among
these is a glass coffin, which is guaranteed
proof against decay and rats. So long as no
deliberate attempt is made to smash 1t 1t
ought to last forever Another contrvance
is staircase made wholly of glass, steps.
landings and newel-post being all Of that
material Yet another is a glass barrel,
But perhaps the most remarkable invention
OF the glass man Is a billiard table Of glass.
The day may yet arrive when people will
live IN glass houses. patent has been Sc
cured by another inventor for glass bricks
of peculiar pattern. The material of which
they are composed being a first-rate non
conductor, these bricks will keep the cold out
of dwelling built of them, while admitting
the light It is claimed that they will eX-
clude noise, being hollow. Furthermore,
the inmates Of glass house need not be
afraid of being under too close observation by
neighborS, inasmuch as 1t is not requisite
that the bricks shall be transparent. They
may be Of opaque ground glass, or of any
color that may be suitable for decorative eff
feet.
Thus before many years have passed It
will be considered the height OF luxury, per-
bricks, of course, are expensive. People who
live in glass houses will be able to afford to
wear clothes of glass. That sounds like
nonsense, but the fact is that beautiful and
most delicate fabrics are made out of spun
glass Nearly twenty years ago there was
shown at the Centennial exposition in Phila-
delphia bonnet composed entirely of glass
1t was love Of a bonnet. The fowers on
1t were glass, and so were the ribbons, which
looked like the finest satin. The patentee of
this process describes it as suitable for the
manufacture of neckties, shawls, table covers
etc.
In fabrics Of this kind a very fine quality
of glass is used. 1t is spun in threads of
exceeding delicacy and of these several col
ors may be produced at the same time They
are woven in a loom of ordinary pattern.
Anybody may observe that a thin sheet of
glass is somewhat elastic. The threads en-
ployed in weaving are of such fineness as to
be perfectly piabe and not at all brittle.
With gown of glass would naturally go a
pair of glass slippers. Not like Cinderelas.
Oh, no! Cinderella did not wear glass slip
pers. Her slippers in the original French
story were of "vair," which means fur
Vair and "verre," meaning glass, are pro-
nounced exactly alike. Hence the corrup-
tion.
NODDED GLASS SLIPPERS.
Pittsburg man named Smith has in
vented a process for making glass slippers
in molds. They would not do very well for
dancing. There is no reason why a glass |
gown should not be woven of iridescent |
glass so that the wearer would look like an |
animated rainbow on a ball room floor |
one dazzling simmer of ever-changing hues |
Until recently the manufacture of iridescent |
glass was set down in the list of the lost |
arts. But in 1878 it was rediscovered, and |
now 1t is a common commercial article. 1t |
is made by exposing the melted glass to |
the vapors of salts of sodium. At the Met
ropolitan Museum of Art in New York City
are exhibited great numbers of bottles, plates
and other articles of glass, which were
made and used long before Christ was born.
They were dug up in Cyprus and elsewhere.
Many Of them have beautiful iridescence |
but 1t is the result of decay. Glass will rot
like anything else, and decay has split the
structure OF this ancient glass into laminae
or flakes, which interrupt the light so as to
produce brilliant red, green, purple and
other rainbow colors.
The window-binds of the glass house of
the future will be of glass, of course That
is another patent, and the inventor suggests
that such blinds may be made Of whatever
colors are desired. Baby in the nursery |
perhaps Will play with glass building blocks |
and at suitable age he will receive a
Christmas gift Of a pair of roller skates
with glass rollers Both of these ideas have
been patented When he is old enough to
go fishing he will not dig worms in the
garden, but will be provided with artificial
bait in the shape of hollow minnow of
glass, coated on the inside partly with
solution of gold or silver and partly with
a luminous paint. The originator of this min
now says that 1t is brilliant object in the
water and calculated to compel the atten-
tion of any fish that has a particle of appe-
tite.
Glass bedsteads may be proof against
lightning and bugs, but it is hardly to be ex-
pected that glass houses should be free
from mice. The inmates could hardly do
better than to employ glass traps for the
capture of such vermn. The great ad-
vantage of the glass mousetrap, according
to the statement Of the inventor, is that "if
one mouse has entered the trap, he may be
seen by others who chance to go that way
and they will be inclined to join the one
inside. especially when they observe that he
Is nibbling a choice morsel." Up to date
the glass mousetrap has not made itself pop
ular, notwithstanding the important argu-
ments in its favor, and of most of the other
devices described 1t is unfortunately true
that they have not proved profitable to the