The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-01-09

heating furnace. COllOquially called the
| glory hole" If the hot glass We're to
be suddenly cooled it would fly into a
thousand pieces. so it is placed on a
array in the hottest end of the leer,
Furnaces. under the oven graduate the
| geat from the point just below melting
to moderate warmth, so that as the
| tray is pushed along the line by the
successive trays placed at the entrance,
the glass is cooled gradually until at
the other end it can be removed with
| the naked hands.
| AS the boy advances, he is allowed to
open the glass for the master blower
| by sending the first puffs through the
tube into the solid lump of molten glass
at the end. This requires some knack
and a great deal of care, as one inhala-
| ton from the white-hot lump at the
other end Of the blowpipe would prob
ably put a period to the earthly career
of the youthful glassblower. The next
step makes him a "knocker." and his
duty is to separate the glass from the
| blOWpipe. with a light tap from an in
| strument of cold iron. If his 'shop"
| uses moulds. he holds the mould while
| the glass is blown into it. and takes it
off from the finished article The next
grade is sticking up" when the ap-
prentice learns to shape and heat to
| the required temperature the little cup
of glass that sticks to the article being
made, and serves to hold it on the rod
of iron that takes the place of the
| blOwpipe. after the latter is severed
| from the globe or bottle, or whatever it
| may be. In this stage of his develop
lnent, he also reheats the glass as it
cools under the manipulations of the
blower and finisher.
After he has thoroughly learned the
business of gathering glass on the
blowpipe, the apprentice is put to the
real work of glass blowing, first into
moulds and then off-1and. This is the
acme of the craft, for the last touch of
skill which makes man a "gaffer'' or
| finisher is acquired almost at the same
time, and the master workman uses
both the blowpipe and the shares and
paddle.
LAST STAGES OF APPRENTICE
SHIP.
From this time until his working
days are over it is only matter of ac-
quiring more and more skill and eXpe-
rience If a man goes into bottle fac
tory, where swiftness and quantity are
the first things to be considered his
years of service are fewer for the
young and brisk men are always pre-
ferred as being presumably able to turn
out more work than their elders. This
work is done entirely by the piece, and
mans daily wage depends not only
upon his speed, but upon the size of the
articles made. With small bottles. it is
difficult to make more than five dollars
a day, but with larger ware it is quite
possible to double that amount. In
finer work it is customary to pay sal
airy, and older men are in demand, on
account of their greater experience. 1t
is always necessary to work swiftly
with glass, but such great speed is not
demanded in a place which makes
speciality of fine off-hand work.
A glass factory is divided into
"shops," as many as the output de-
mands. Each shop has a pot in the
great melting furnace, or crucible, a
place in the relocating furnaCa-the
glory hole and in the leer, or an
healing oven. The men that make up
the shop are the gaffer, the blower, the
gatherer, the sticker-up, the knocker,
and the carrying boy Other workmen
there are whose business it is to make
the metal" This is made largely Of
- ~ on6 hrnken
glass, which is bought by the ton for
remelting and combination with fresh
materials. Each towering crucible
holds circle of melting pots, construc-
ted of a carefully prepared fire clay.
The raw material is shoveled into these
melting pots and the opening sealed
with clay. 1t stays there thirty hours
or more, and then is skinned, puri-
fed and made ready for use. The fur
naces never go out. The factory runs
day and night shifts, in order that
there may be no waste of material o
heat, and any necessary repairs to the
furnace or melting pots are made by
blocking out the part to be repaired
OTHER GRADES OF THE WORK.
Entirely aside from the business of
glassblowing are the other branches of
work In glass. The cutting, etching
and other characterization is all done on
upper floors of the factory, and by
different set Of workmen. If the ruby
glass globe for the banquet lamp that
was so wonderful in the making should
require ornamentation other than the
beauty of the glass itself, it is sent to
the cutting or the etching rooms. If 1t
is to be cut, the design is drawn on the
surface. and it is sent to the cutters
These are of three grades-the rough
ers, the smoothers and the polishers.
All the work is done with wheels
trimmed with cutting-stones Of different
grades and shapes, except that of pol
shing. The polishing wheel has a stiff
brush rim, and is kept moistened with
pulverized pumice stone and water,
which is gathered up by the revolving
brush in a thick, slow stream. The
wheels are all fixed in frames and run
by machinery, the workman holding
the glass against the sharp edge of the
rim of cutting stone.
When an article is to be etched, it is
first given to the girls who cut and
transfer the designs. These designs are
printed on tissue paper by an ordinary
hand press, on which special prepara-
ton of printers ink is used. While the
ink is still moist, the paper is cut into
convenient sizes for applying, and Is
then laid on the glass, linked side in,