The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1895-04-04

Inc blower, whose skill is sometime
marvellous, takes the pipe and blows
bubble of air into it. Then he swine.
it at full arms length down into
long. narrow pit, by the side of which
he stands. The glass stretches ont 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 70
grow cool he softens it by thrusting the
growing Cylinder into "gloryhole. y
At last, when the glass is thick enough
and the bright, glowing cylinder has
assumed about the size and shape of a
kitchen reservoir, it is placed ON a
wooden horse and the blower sits back
to perspire and get his breath. To sea
him work any one will admit that he
earns the $40 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
as assistant takes charge of the work,
He first cuts off the round lower can Of
the cylinder by means of cold iron
and then splits the cylinder from end
to end with hot iron. 1t is placed
on tiattening stone of freclay.
warmed little, and then workman
opens it and smooths it off with block
of wood much as washerwoman
would iorn shirt bosom. When suffi.
GENTLY hard it is dragged upon great
truck and wheeled into the annealine
room, where the heat is gradually de.
creased so that the glass may not be
made brittle by sudden cooling. 1t
is now ready for the cutters, who sepa.
rate it into certain fixed sizes for win.
dow glass, and in this shape it goes to
the market.
Flint glass, silicate Of lead, is uni
versally used for small articles, such
as lamp chimneys, bottles, goblets,
dishes and thousand other things for
the reason that it is much more brill
liant, tough and beautiful than window
glass. 1t derives its name from the
fact that III olden times the sand from
which it was made was derived wholly
from ground fiints. 1t is melted in
the fiint-glass monkey-pot already de-
scribed, and either blown, nodded or
pressed
The scene in a flint glass manufac-
tory is very animated. the workmen all
hurrying at the top of theirssspeed and
boys running hither 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 blow-pipe can be
rolled back and forth. Few tools are
used, most of the fashioning being
done by skillful manipulation of the
blowpipe. A lamp chimney, for in.
stance, is blown and rolled to the proper
shape, and the top is provided with its
crimped crown i'll an iron mold. So
rapidly and deftly do the men work
that it looks as if they We're only play.
ing. 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 it until it entirely
fills the space. An expert workman
can make as many as 400 dozen small
bottles i'll day. and, as he is paid by
the piece, his wages are often very
high.
Pressing glass consists in shaping
piece of the molten metal in 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
, Jumps quickly out until they assume
the proper shape.
Plate glass, the double silicate of lime
g and soda OF potash, is manufactured
i'll great quantities in this country, but
. the quality is not so good as that made
: i'll Belgium and France-notably in st.
:, Gobelain, in the latter country. 1t is
. melted in large open kettles. and when
: the proper consistency has been reached
! the whole mass is swung out by means
p, of cranes and poured upon huge,
smooth iron casting table. A heavy
iron roller, / 5 feet long by feet il
u diameter. passes over the mass and
rolls it even. When it cools it look
like "misted," Or ground glass, an(
IL can be used at once for skylights o.
IL floors. But for windows and mirrors
y it must be ground and polished, and i
II is the labor involved in these processes
y which makes it expensive. The plat
J. is fastened to a revolving table by
Il means of plaster of paris and the gen
II eral roughness is removed by a grind
: ing engine using ordinary sand. 1t i
then treated with emery and finall.
Z with rouge. When these operation
VI are completed the glass has lost 40 pc
l. cent of its thickness and has assumel
i the clear, glistening appearance 81
VI much priced in glass for windows.
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