The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-03-28
THE MAKING OF GLASS
SOME EXCITING SCENES WITHIN A
REA FRENCH FACTORY.
One of the Oldest, as Well as One of
the Newest, Occupations-Glass
Dresses, Spun and Woven.
The Optician.

The Optician.
In a certain sense glassmaking is not only
one of the oldest, but also one of the new
est occupations. 1t is as old as the earliest
civilization, for in the most ancient ruins in
Egypt and Mesopotamia are to be found
articles of ornament and use made of glass.
The secret of their manufacture has never
been rediscovered, and none like them can
be made. Glass objects have been found
under circumstances and in places indicat-
ing that they were in use ere men had
learned to manufacture iron into useful
forms; and if glass is coeval with bronze,
why may it not also have existed in the
age of stone? Glassmaking is also one of
the newest arts, for, while known in the
most ancient times, its development was
arrested, and until a century and a half
ago little more skill was shown than was
probably displayed by the glassblowers of
Egypt four hundred years ago. AS the in
dustry now exists 1t is eminently of the
present, and to the nineteenth century
must be assigned nearly all the improve
ments which nave placed glassmaking so
high among the fine arts. This period has
been called the f~ruition of the age of iron,
but quite as appropriately could it be
termed the age of glass, for never before
III iht > oNo tiiAo ItoS
so important a part in the life of civilized
man. and so indispensable has it become
that it is difficult to understand how our
forefathers lived without it. Oiled paper
was a poor substitute for window glass,
and the dwellings. and even the palaces,
of three or four centuries ago must have
been, to modern ideas, very dark and
dreary places. Glass protects the flame in
lamp and gas jet; 1t furnishes us with
mirrors, compared with which the silver
and bronze hand glasses of ancient times
were but dull; it gives us a thousand kinds
of receptacles of all varieties and of almost
every size, and in the arts 1t is in~dispensa-
BILE, for without his glass apparatus what
could the chemist do TO penetrate the Sc
crets of organic and inorganic nature?
Without telescope and microscope the dis
coverieS of the astronomer and the micro
scopist would be unknown.
INSIDE A FACTORY.
To obtain entrance to d French glass fac
tory is no easy matter, for every glass
house has it's secrets. and the first thing
that occurs to the owner or superintendent
when a stranger applies for admission is a
strong suspicion that the would-be visitor
is a disguised agent from some other glass
house. and that his only business is to as
certain how some particular speciality is
made. then go away at once, begin its man
ufacture and rob the establishment of its
trade. Nor is Ii easy to disabuse the mind
of the proprietor or his agent of this Suspi-
cion, for he has previously detected such
spies, is on the lookout for work of this
kind, and is therefore disposed TO keep
strangers at a respectable distance. To OBJ
tain admission at all the stranger must
be introduced and identified by "A friend Of
the manufacturers, and even then, though
he may never learn the fact. he may as
sumo that the proprietor of the glass house,
before admitting him, applies to the police
to ascertain who he is and something OF his
antecedents. The suspicious proprietor and
superintendent being satisfied. a card of
admission is issued TO the visitor and he is
admitted to the establishment. and is no
sooner fairly in than he is seized with an
intense desire TO get out again. for of all
hot places upon this side of that region
where the fire is not Quenched a glass
house is the hottest. A foundry is an ice
house i'm comparison with il. a great room,
with limited ventilation for no current Of
air can be allowed to pass freely through
the factory where molten glass is being
handled). long rows of redhot furnaces. the
air seemingly on fire, great bursts of flame
from the opening and closing doors of the
kilns-the scene. especially at night. is psrid,
and also terror inspiring. An army of half
naked men, with long iron ~nstrumen
stirring the molten glass, Withdrawing the
bar. with a ball of redhot glass. and blow
ing. drawing. molding it into various
shapes-the sight is appropriate to the
superheated m These are the genii
OF the glass works. and their performances
are more wonderful thar those of the
Arabian Nights" for at their touch the
substance which is the very type and sym
boil OF fragility becomes plastic, malleable,
ductile. Ii is veritable magic. for. dipping
his came into the redhot liquid. the blower
quickly produces at the end a huge crystal
sphere, as transparent as the purest water.
and yet rejecting from its inner and outer
surfaces every hue seen IN the rainbow.
A pair OF workme simultaneously draw
from the molten mass their instruments.
with a glowing ball of double size. one
! walks away, carrying his came over his