Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-05-27
HOW PLATE GLASS is BEvELED.
Process Requires the Greatest Skill on
the Part of the Workmen.

Process Requires the Greatest Skill on
the Part of the Workmen.
Beveled glass is not new, but it IS
now far more extensively used than
formerly Twenty years ago bevelei
mirrors were comparatively rare; now
they are common and are seen IN
many shapes and sizes. Beveled
plates, large and small, and both
straight and bent, are used for various
other purposes. The process. of glass
beveling is very simple, but the work
calls for skill on the part of the
operators.
The plate to be beveled goes first to
the roughing mill, which is solid,
heavy steel wheel about two feet and
half in diameter, set horizontally
and turned at a high rate OF speed.
The upper face, or top, of this wheel
is slightly roughened. Suspended
over the wheel is a big hopper con-
tanning sand, which is fed down
through a spout in such quantity as
may be required upon the top of the
rough faced steel wheel. The grinder
holds the plate to be ground in his
hands, with the edge to be ground
off upon the face of the roughing mill;
he shifts the plate along as the glass
is ground away. The expert grinder,
holding sheet of glass against the
roughing wheel in this manner, will
grind a true bevel, with perfectly
straight line along it's inner edge, and
he brings the side bevels together
with a perfectly true angle at the
corners.
In the roughing mill the bevel is
wrought to shape, but its face is rough
looking and feeling, in fact, like what
it is, ground glass. The plate goes
then to the emery wheel, also of steel
and set horizontally. Suspended over
this wheel is a little hopper filledewith
emery. Upon this wheel the rough
face of the bevel as it comes from the
roughing mill is again ground, the
plate being held in the same manner
by a grinder, and the surface is
brought nearer to smoothness.I
From the emery wheel the plate
goes to the smoothing stone, which is
also set to turn horizontally. The
smoothing stone, which is of an ex-
tremely fine sandstone, is made with
it's upper surface, that against which
the glass is brought, very slightly con-
vex This stone is finished perfectly
smooth, and it is so fine grained thar
to the touch it seems almost to be
polished A tiny stream of wat9",
enough to keep the face of the stone
wet, is made to trickle down upon it
and the glass is held to this wheel
just as it was to the others, and here
the beveled edge is brought down to a
smooth surface, but not polished.
The plate goes then to a polishing
wheel made of wood and set to turn
vertically; the bevel edge of the glass
is held against the edge, or face, Of
this wooden wheel as it rapidly re-
wolves. The face of the wheel is kept
wet and constantly supplied with pull
verified stone. Upon this wheel the
beyeled edge gets its first polish.
The glass then takes the final step IN
the beveling process. 1t goes to
another wheel, also of wood, and also
turned vertically, whose face is of felt.
The face of this wheel also is kept
wet and IS supplied with a fine polish
ing material called from it's color,
rouge. Here, as at the first polishing
wheel, the glass is held with the bevel
against the edge, or face of the wheel.
On the rouge wheel the bevel gets its
final polish and finish and the surface
of the beveled edge, which after the
first operation was rough like ground
glass, is now as smooth and as polish
ed as the at surface of the plate.
Great plates that are too big to be
held by hand are locked into frame
that can be so moved as to brin the
edges to be beveled against wheels
adjusted for the purpose.-New York
Sun.