The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-11-10

windows to its accounts. Rockets and
| stray bullets are chief of these destructive
agents. Where bullet enters glass the
| person Who fired it seldom is seen, and
often he IS so far away that net even the
hot is heard. Many glasses are BROKEN by
fire getting into curbstone stock of fire.
works
The settling of a building is one of lie
common causes OF broken plate glass
fronts. In a certain building on Adams
| street few weeks ago three OF four
big plate windows cracked across the
lower right hand corners, due to the set
! Ting of the building. The breakase was
| sucn as to cause only minimum of 1am-
! age to the place
Runaway horses break their fun share
1 Of plate glass windows, and IN recent
years the autor1obile has become n kin
dred menace, with many possibilities.
| When a horse has crashed through
piece OF plate glass he is usually injured
50 badly that he has TO De killed, but
there are two automobiles in Chicago
which have Plate glass records and which
are vet il service. almost unscathed.
Falling signs are a menace to plate glass
always. The WINDOW clearer, with his
ladder. is another. Wind. hail, lightning,
are equally destructive. A heavy wind
blowing dead into a plate glass window
frequently smashes it in. Hailstones
must he unusually large to break in such
a WINDOW. but not infrequently they ID it.
A heavy door slammed shut in a draft
may crack a glass. A manhole cover
blown Oft iE 5he street may shiver a
glass front, or burglar. when the police
man isn't looking may dash a stone
through the crystal and help himself to
a window display Even the sharp con-
traction caused by a heavy frost may
break a piece of glass that cost $500.
In the breaking of a plate glass window
a good deal depends upon how and where
It is done The most frequent damage
comes from the stone thrower. Such a
Dreakage NAV i1hiot the least actual dam
age. Most frequently a missile makes
only a small hole in the plate, but crack
ing Il for several inches on each side
Of the opening. The first thing necessa-
~ after such a break is TO have glass
cutter circle a diamond al around the
break and outside of the radiating cracks.
After cutting, the central piece is tapped
with a hammer until the glass breaks
through, leaving the hole virtually cut out
of the plate. The nearer this break is to
the center OF the glass the worse the dam
age. as it reduces the size of the panes
that may be cut from it.
plate glass is one of the most brittle
substances in the world" said an insur-
ance agent. Its thickness Is no guaran-
tee of its strength. Often plate may be
so heavy that It's weight helps to break
it, This comes from the fact that a thin
plate viii ben6 n a wind or against
the weight of a heavy body falling into it; |
the thick plate won't.
The average thickness Of a plate glass /
is one-quparter of an inch. There is no !
certainty in this thickness, for the reason |
that the plate IS always cast three-qdar- !
ters Of an inncE thick and ground on hith |
sides I'LL all flaws and blemishes are pol |
shed out Of it. When a glass which we !
have insured is bro ken, we simply notify /
the glass company to replace it. hey do /
50, taxing the broken glass for what it 1
is worth as salvage and then settling with /
us. As rule we lose about two-thirds /
of the value of a glass when it is broken. /
paying also for the time and trouble of .
putting the new plate in 50
OF all the damages that threaten the |
plate glass front none is more irsidious
or more trying to the temper of all con-
cerned thar is the owner of a fiashy dia-
mond ring. Walking along the street,
trailing the knuckles of a hand behind /
him, he may work $500 damages inside of
q block. Several years ago half a dozen
plate windows on the west side of State
street, between Randolph and Adams.
were badly marked by one OF these rings
The liability Of a glass to crack along such
q cut IS not the least of the damages: the
mark itself is flaw that will continue
IS long as The plate is left in place.