The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-01-04
GLASS BLOWING
Is NOT FATAL
How the Worker in 1t Rises
From an Apprentice.
BEAUTIFUL COLORS IN IT
Change rom Gold TO Green
and Into Silver White.
BEAUTIFUL C0LORS IN IT

| Glassblowing, more than almost any
other modern trade. brings TO mind the
esprit du corps and craftsmans pride
/ which banded together the old-time
guilds From boyhood to old age a glass
! blower may advance steadily TO finer work
and better wages and in any factory where
| the output is OF finer grades of glass the
Faster workman are usually gray-haired
! sturdy men they are, broad chest and
strong of lung in spite Of the popular
superstition that the life of Il glassblower
/ lasts only seven times seven and in
| many eases man spends his entire term
OF service in one factory
/ Glass factory sounds prosaic enough
and from the outside it looks prosaic.
/ once penetrate. though. TO the regions OF
] the heavy walls and one finds ones self in
3 picturesque inferno worthy of the pen
o. Dante or the brush of Rembrandt. In
great dim dungeon. whose boundaries
! are lost in darkness. massive towers OF
brick and fire-clay, pierced with points of
white-hot light. rise from the stone floor
and vanish among the shadows of the
/ roof. Here and there among them are
structures like gigantic bee-hives. bathed
in shafts of orange radiance In and out.
back and forth. through velvet-black
| gloom and intolerable glare, fit demons
great and small. carrying long black rods
and strange forks and shovels, some tipped
with balls of living flame. some holding
strange and brilliant vessels which CLINT
| like jewels in the furnace flames.
That furnace flame, Writers in the
| Scriptures knew the glory of white heat
and exhausted the gorgeous possibilities
of the Hebrew tongue in its DESCRIPTION.
And surely there is no white glow so pure
as that of the molten glass. Through the
great eyes of the furnace glimmers
lake of liquid fire. White fire. in the sense
that white is the sum of all the colorS
known TO man. for over. and under. and
through it. like the flame in the heart of
an opal. plays an evanescent rainbow
gieam. 1t is the ghost of iridescence. the
spirit of color purified in the fervent heat.
Suddenly a long black rod is thrust into
| the flaming pool The stalwart young fell
low who carries it holds and twirls ii
for moment and then withdraws it, At
the end is a small glowing sphere that
might be a bit of the elemental world
stuff White at first it changes swiftly
to gold and then to orange as il is rolled
TO a cone on a smooth slab of hot iron and
handed to a gray-haired man. who sits
oil low wooden chair with long. straight
iron arms. preliminary puff at one end
of the rod shows il to be an iron blowpipe
instead of a rod. and rounds out the cone
into a globe Then sturdy urchn squats
or his heels beside the chair and his red
cheeks puff out like those of a trumpet
biowing cherub. Another moment. while
the blowpipe is rolled rapidly up and down
the iron track made by the arms of the
chair and then the lips OF the master
workman are at the end of the pipe, and
the sphere grows into a long oval. II IS
green as an emerald now. with melting
hues of gold rose and violet breathing
over it's surface. II is cooling rapidly.
hut a plunge into the fame of the lesser
furnace silvers it once more with great
heat. Then the end of the oval is pressed
firmly against a wooden block. which
rounds it again into n globe that grows
from the mighty lungs of the blower. \
helper stands ready with lump of red
rot glass on the end OF n slender rod OF
iron. This is pressed against the globe
just opposite the bIow-pipe. where IL
adheres touch from the globe as clean
" as though sheared OFF with a razor.
Then another bath in the lire. and the
globe is ready for the finishing touches.
The master workman once more takes
his seat and the rod is rolled swiftly up
and down the long iron chair arms, while
the workers hollow ont the opening with
shears and smooth the globe into perfect
shape with wooden paddle. Sparks
tail thickly over the surface which is
beginning 10 take a red glow under the
silver-green once more and for the last
time, il is thrust into the furnace and "a
Yidly twirled. Now the color changes.
From green II neits into silver then geld.
tLea orange. Gradually the red tinge
deepens and spreads until the beautiful
thing burns like great ruby against
the background Of fame out again and
z slender impish-looiing fork hooks into
the opening. The rod is taken OF with
another touch II cold iron and an active
small boy is racing over to the auneal-
ing ovens with a suufptuous ruby globe
for a banquet lamp. Time not more than
TWO MINUTES from the taking out Of the
o, snal lump OF glass from the furnace.
All glassblowers begin as attending boys
IN the old days boy could be admitted
10 the factory at the age Of ten. but now
earliest legal age for apprenticeship j.
fourteen Even then a boy must have
certificate OF good health and sound con-
iition. for glsssblowiug is an adurous
trade The belief concerning the seven
wear limit 20 a glasshlowers life for active
service probably arises from the fact that
many a careless young fellow winds I'D
his career as a giassbIowef IN con-
sumptives grave. This - not due 10 the
work but 10 the Tremendous heat % the
Z glasshouse with the fsrnsc. IN ftfii
hast the temperature II apt 90 b. consi-
Gerably over hundred. even IN r1idHinter
ard great care must De taken when the
men 20 from IL into the outer air. IN
summer tho heat i % in;oierable that the
( factories close during the months q July
anI August. Isfe in the giasshouse IN mid
sumner world be veii-iRh impossible
+ When q boz enters glass szctory he
E nrst made = carrying boy Ills work
+ is &c earn the article. finished h. the
master workman % his particular shop
Z r. the znnsaiinz furnace cr Ter" These
furnaces occupy one side % the gIass-
house and are usually se-srty-6~e feet
long At the e-d opening into re fsnsee
: room the heat = net many degrees blow
rat q ths ressezEin< Furnace co8cqui-
ally called ~E30-- hole II 'hs bot giszs-
ssre 70 10 s8ideais eooieyi II would ~
Erfc a Thousand Eieoe-- - {; = plzc~sf
eu a tray IN ire hottest ers - The 'f<r-
! Furnaces u-der the ores graduate ne
= az fru-n IRE point .E-s t<iS- 1zsiifa<
l. moderate warmth - that - The trzT
! Z pu=Ae6 zio-r fhe lie ~ IRE s1ccer-
sfve trays place.. a. TIRE safra7ce- tie
/ class - cooled <rzssziss uniEl AZ 49,
.rse- ed = c1a be removed vish The