Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-05-05
MAKING WINDOW GLASS.
Poison Contained in Windows Of One
House Would Kill a Regiment.
IalIa,axll; -Nrax.-e = -

House Would Kill a Regiment.
Indianapolis News.]
People who have glass windows in
their homes do not know that the glass
contains enough arsenic to make it a
deadly poison. Glassmakers say that
the windows of an ordinary home con-
tain enough Of this poison to kill a reg
iment of men. The popular SUPPOSE
ton that glass is made of sand is a cor
rect one, but q quantity of other artf-
cleS enters into it's composition. Win
dow glass factories are divided INFO de-
partments-a tank house and a pot
house. The process of giassmaking in
one of these departments is practically
the same as in the other. In n tank
house the glass is all melted in I'M
e tanks, which will hold thousands
of tons. In the pot house the glass is
made in pots. After the fires are lighted
and a tank is heated the glass mixture
is shoveled in. 1t includes glass left ov-
err from former season., glass refuse,
sand and salt cake. Arsenic is not used
in the tank house, for the reason that
the heat is so intense that the drug is
votalized and escapes into the air with
Oul. clllellIIS III l4ilAluAC. <Ao OAiS III
ture melts and flows to one end of a
tank fresh supplies are shoveled in at
the other end.
The molten mass seethes and
works" in a manner similar to that of
q mash in a distillery. From the salt
cake comes a salt water that has to be
separated from the mass and the cas-
lest way to remove it is to burn it out.
This is lone by throwing stove wood
into the tank on top of the molten
mass. The water is converted into
steam, which is destroyed by the in
tense heal from the glass. The melted
glass is then skinned by an automatic
SKINNER and it is ready for the gath
erer. A gatherer thrusts a long steel
blowpipe into one of h rings at the
lower enc of the tank. He twists and
turns it until a small ball OF grass gath
ers on the end. This ball is partially
cooled polished by being turned in a box
of sawdust and then passed on to the
blower, who heats it again until it be-
comes like taffy. The blower swings
the pail over a pit that is twelve feet
deep and rapidly blows it into an elon-
gated pearshape. When a blower is
threw the melted glass becomes a per-
feet cylinder about five feet long and
two feet across. 1t then passes to a
snapper" who takes it to a rack and
breaks the rolled loose from the blow
pipe.
The snapper gathers a small lump of
melted glass on the end of a rod and
dexterously run a narrow ribbon
of the stuff around the ends of the roll
Ter, both at the blowpipe end and the
closed end. The little ribbons of melted
glass cool in a few seconds, when they
are removed, leaving a narrow zone of
almost red hot glass around the rollers
at each end. Then, taking a tool that
resembles a soldering iron, the snapper
rubs it for a moment on his forehead,
and when the point Of it is mcistened
with perspiration he run the iron
around the rollers at the heated spot.
The glass cracks and separates as
clearly as if cut with a diamond, the
blowpipe is removed and h closed
cylinder has become a roller-a sheet
resembling in appearance a roll of mu-
sic, only in a continuous roll, without
edges. The roller is then ready to go
to the fiattener.
The fattener works in another part
Of the building, where are located the
fattening ovens. These ovens are
heated to a temperature sufficient to
soften the glass so hat it may be rolled
out into sheets. A series of fire-clay
tables, placed in a circle, like the
spokes of a wheel, revolve in the ovens,
and on these tables the rollers are fiat
tened. They are placed inside, allowed
to become hot n then a cold iron is
run along the inside from end to end.
The contact of the iron cuts the glass,
which is then Strengthened out upon
the table.
The flattener has a number of billets
handles, and with these billets, which
are shaped in such a manner as to do
the work expected Of them, he irons"
the softened sheet of glass until 1t is
perfectly fiat and smooth. The tables
inside the over revolve, the f1attened
sheet is carried away and another roller
is brought into position before the
flattener. AS the flattened sheets cool
they are lifted to a place ION a long,
travelling rack, on which they are, by
stages, removed from the ovens, being
allowed to cool as they go. This is done
in order that the glass may not be
shattered by too quick an exposure to
the air.
When the sheets are taken from the
fattening ovens they are covered with
a greasy. d~iruy-looking coat of chemi-
cals-soda, potash, siJicates of the diff
ferent salts, etc.-whJch must be re-
moved, and for this purpose the rough
sheets are placed in an acid bath, COM
posed of hydrochloric and sulphuric
acids, more or less diluted. After their
immersion in this bath the sheets are
taken to the cutting room, where work.
men cut them into sizes and make them
ready for the packers. Hardly a scrap
Of the glass, except the rough edges, is
wasted-in fact, none is wasted, as ali
refuse goes back to be melted. After
the cutters ave finished their work the
glass is packed in boxes and is then
ready for the market.
Reveals a Great Secret.
It is often asked how such startling
cures, that puzzle the best physicians,
are effected by DR.. Kings New Discov-
cry for consumption. Here's the Sc
cret. IT cuts out he phlegm and germ.