The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-01-27

] bubbles are left IN the cay Tor ne hi-osf9
/ that in that case the pot viii surely break
ans r~obablv will waste half a ton OF
more Of metal as the molten grass Is
called.
When the pot is three feet high and
about four wide-large enough 10 hold
ton OF ''metal"-it is placed in a warm,
dry room and allowed TO remain there LOT
two months or more When the expert
I thinks that 1t is sufficiently dry 1t IS re-
moved to the annealing-room, where the
J temperature is gradually raised TO that OF
( the furnace. great care being taken TO pre-
| vent any cold drafts from cracking the
I pot When baked 1t is bricked into the
main furnace with its yaWning mouth 70
/ the little doorway and its bottom extend
/ ing far into the heat below. Ihe Irst
I charge Of glass serves TO glaze the INSIDE
of the pot. Open pots are used for netting
! ordinary windOwglass metal, but Win
I fint-glass, where greater purity is reqClr-
/ ed, they are a-ched with fre-clay, wlth
I a hole left in one side.
The pots being placed in the furnace,
where they will last about two months,
/ the worlCmen are ready to begin making
metal" For ordinary window glass
I which is a silicate of lime or potash,
I about. 80 per cent. Of lime, 40 per cent OF
| suIphate of soda, and per cent. Of pull
/ verified charcoal are used with every lOO
l parts Of ordinary glass sand. These in
/ gradients, including usually a few shovel
/ fuls of broken glass, are mixed together
/ and the heat in the furnace is raised TO
/ very high temperature. When the mass
/ CLOVIS red and becomes as fluid as water
the fire is allowed to subside trite and
| the metal is ready for use.
Then the "gatherer," who is the first in
I the series of workmen, seiZes a little
mask in his teeth, so that the heat will
/ not scortch his face, and with a blOw-pipe,
long, hollow tube, fiared at the end col
/ lects a big lump of the molten glass,
| which he turns dexterously over and
| over til it assumes an oval shape. Some
/ times he takes the dip out and shapes
| In mold. When he has fixed" about
twenty-five pounds of glass to the pipe
! he whisks the glowing ball out and runs
with it to the blower. who is the larg-
est, strongest workman in the shop.
The blower. whose skill is something
marvellous, takes the pipe and blows
bubble of air into it. Then he swings
| it, at full arms length down into a long,
narrow pit, by the side of which he
stands. The glass stretches out Of its
own weight, assuming the shape of
pear. Then he blows again and again,
| swinging it deity back and forth, and
when the glass begins TO grow cool he
softens it by thrusting the growing cylin-
| der into q "glory-hole." At last, when
| the glass is thick enough and the bright,
1 glowing cylinder has assumed about the
| size and shape of a kitchen reservoir, it
| is placed on a wooden horse and the blow
er sits back to perspire and get his
| breath To see him work any one will
! admit that he earns The $40 a day which
he usually receives.
The blowers pipe. having been severed
/ from the hot glass cylinder by touching it
| with a cold piece of IRON an assistant
takes charge of the work. He first cuts
| off the round lower cap of the cylinder by
] IL IL &c HNtfa
| cylinder from end to end with hot iron.
/ 1t is placed on a flattening stone Of FIRE
/ clay, warmed a little, and then work
/ man opens it and smooths it off with
| block of wood much as a washerwoman
would iron a shirt-bosom. When suffi-
| GENTLY hard 1t is dragged upon great
/ truck and wheeled into the annealng
room, where the heat is gradually de-
i creased, so that the glass may not be made
/ brittle by a sudden cooling. It is now
4 ready for the cutters, who separate 1t into
certain fixed sizes for window glass, and
in this shape It goes to the market.
Flint glass, a sihcate of lead, is uniVer-
! sally used for small articles, such as lamp
| chimneys, bottles, goblets, dishes and
thousand other things, for the reason that
it is much more brilliant, tough and beau
| tiful than window glass. 1t derives its
name from the fact that in olden times the
sand from WHICH it was made was derived
wholly from ground fiints. 1t is melted
in the fiint-glass inonkey-pot already de-
scribed, and either blown, nodded or
pressed.
The scene in a flint-glass mandatory
is very animated, the worlsnen all hurry
ing at the top of their speed and boys run
ming bither and thither with glowing metal
or finished articles. Most of the work is
done by a workman sitting in chair
| with long horizontal arms. on which the
bIow-pipe can be rolled back and forth.
Few tools are used, most Of the fashion
ing being done by slIillful manipulation of
the blow-pipe. A lamp chimney, for in
stance is blown and rolled to the proper
shape, and the top is provided with its
crimped crown in an iron mold. So rapid
ly and deftly do the men work that it
looks as if they were only playing. For
nodded articles like tumblers and bottles
the blower blows a. small bubble On the
end Of his pipe, then quickly incloses it in
an iron mold held by boy and blows II
out until it entirely fills the space An ex-
pert workmen can make as many as 400
dozen small bottles in a day, and, as he is
paid by the piece. his wages are often
very high.
Pressing glass consists in shaping a piece
of the molten metal in a simple mold by
means of lever arm, and it is used only
where solid articles of glass, are wanted.
Glass tubes are made by Workmen who
blow bubbles of air into Jumps of molten
metal which they have attached to their
pipes, and then they draw the humps
quickly out until they assume the proper
shape.
Plate glass; the double silicate of lime
and soda potash, is manufactured in
great quantities in this country but the
| quality is not so good as that made in Bel
| GUM and France-notably in St. Gobelain
in the latter country. 1t is melted in large
| open kettles, and when the proper consis-
! tency has been reached the whole mass is
! swung out by means of cranes and poured
+ upon huge, smooth iron casting table.
! heavy Iron roller, Is feet long by 3 feet
! in diameter, passes over the mass and
| rolls it even. When it cools it looks like
Unlisted" or ground glass, and can be
used at once for skylights or floors But
| for windows and mirrors it must be
ground and polished, and it is the labor
involved in these processes which makes
| it expensive. The plate is fastened to a
revolving table by means of plaster of
paris and the general roughness is re-
moved by grinding engine using ordi-
! nary sand. 1t is then treated with emery
and finally with rouge. When these oper-
! ations are completed the glass has lost 40
| PEI cent. of its thickness and has assumed
fEear 81 oil eto,,5 ,-l--