The sun., 1905-09-10
washtubs, basins and bathtubs or course,
the floors and stairs will be OF glass. Aho
window sh,,tters and doors could be made

window shutters and doors could be made
of the came material If desired.
-If after seeing the success of his ex-
pertinent in building a, glass bouse, our
further and have many articles Of furniture
made of this material such as tables, beds
bookcases, shelves Of various kinds. cup
boards, and 80 on. and toughened glass
ware could replace all crockery. -,
The old idea that glass is necessarily
the most brittle of all substances will In
time be modified as the knowledge becomes
widespread that in masses 1t is really
kind of rock, and is, indeed harder than
most of the hardest rocks. When put
through certain tougheningI processes glass
Il will not deny that the builder OF such
a glass house would have to be a rich man.
for while all or nearly all OF the things
| have enumerated as entering into the
construction and furnishing of such house
in the way suggested, 1t Is true that they
are most Of them good bit more expen-
sive than similar things made OF other
material. But believe the time is at hand
when it will not be so very much more ex-
of glass than to build it Of brick or stone. :,
when they were first manufactured
few years ago glass bricks were made
solid, as they still are for .paving,a glass
bricks for paving are being used to con-
siderable extent in Paris and some other
cities in Europe to-day; they have heen
found to be superior to asphalt or Belgian
blocks for such Use, as they make no dirt
whatever and hold less than any other
known kind Of pavement, being easily
washed clean; and Furthermore they are
more durable than either of the substances
named But for building purposes solid
glass bricks we're not success.
"By making them hollow. all difficulties
have now been overcome, There is grow
ing use for them in bui ding green
houses, for which they are admirable be-
cause Of their qualities of not conducting
heat Tall chimneys have also been con-
strlcted of these glass bricks, and they
have given satisfaction thus used
when the builder Of the first glass house,
such as | have been telling you OF, comes
to die he can be buried in a glass coffin
some people have been buried in them al
ready; he can have his grave marked with
a glass tombstone or have an elaborate
monument or mausoleum built OF glass
to mark his fn,h final resting resting Place sdd
for this wonderful material"
The agent of another manufacturing COM
pany. to whom the reporter went Tor con-
firmation Tor deniaD OF the predictions
OF this enthusiastic prophet OF an age OF
glass, was inclined to laugh at the idea Of n
house built entirely Of glass, not because 1t
was impossible, but chiefly because Of it's
great cost.
so far as I know he said. nobody has
ever attempted to build house OF glass
bricks. 1t would be possible, Of course,
for such bricks are made and sold to-day,
but they are vastly more expensive than or
binary bricks, and fear always will be.
"Yet the time is not far distant when some
buildings will be wholly constructed OF glass.
I have right here in my Office now set Of
soon to re erected in Des Mones. Iowa,
which will probably be the first structure
Of tie size and i'm portanc, t. | built mostly
OF glass in the Unite States.
This is to be two or three stories high
and about eighty feet square as ] rememh her
it. RE plans call for a steel frame con-
str,ction, using as little steel as possible
in the frame. and making all sides of wire
glass; that is, glass made on wire mesh.
such as You may see used IL all the kiosks
and in many Of the newer buildings for GER
tain windows on interior shafts, for elevator
castings and many other purposes.
This wire glass is made in a variety of
STYLES and finishes. The Des Moines bank
building is to have double walls of wire glass,
in winter. 1t would be possible to Great e
q weird effect in such building; and yet
where plenty Of light was desideratum
one might do far worse than to build the
walls of wire glass.
"The great advantage Of this wire glass
is that it is practically impossible to shatter
piece of it so suddenly or so violently as to
throw off fragments of sufficient size to
do personal damage. The wire prevents
the broken pieces from falling. 1t can he
cracked. but it cannot be scattered. If
fractured it retains its place.
And furthermore it is freproof. Chief
Croker of the New York Fire Department,
in paper read before the 1nterna tional
Association of Fire Engineers a short time
ago. said that in his opinion wire glass
set in metal frames was the best known
fire to, for windows and skyl ght.
Wire glass is now being used extensively
for the skvlights Of trainsheds. shops and
other buildings of large area; for windows,
ings of all kinds: in automobiles, locomotive
cabs and for end construction in railroad
cars, in fact In all sorts of places where
glass is needed and where it is desirable
to guard against damage or injury from
falling or flying fragments if the glass is
bookcases, post Office boxes. ballot boxes
and other places requiring security with
out obstruction to vision.
Il don't know much about glass bricks
In several Western towns, and l believe
have been found successful for that Use"
Visitors to the Columbian Exposition in
Chicago in 1893 may remember the display
of spun and woven glass, brilliant colored
neckties and other small fabrics resembling
firm presented to the Spanish Princess
Eulalie a gown woven of glass. Such fab
RIGS are made chiefly for exhibition pur-
poses, and will probably never become
either feasible or cheap enough to be popu-
lar: though it is reported that ono Venetian
manufacturer has recently gone into the
business Of making glass bonnets on
commercial scale.
New household utensils OF glass are con-
stantly being put on the market. Among
the latest Of these are handles for carving
knives and forks made OF pressed glass.
they are both pretty and servicoable.
American manufacturers of glass admit
that in the making Of fine rrisms and other
glass parts and adjustments for scientific
Instruments and of fine stemmed vases
and tableware the Europeans are far
in the lead. The chief al m of the Ameri-
can glass manufacturer seems to be quantity
rather than quality, and he is pushing
his wares into all the markets of the world
where cheap glassware was never known
iefoH.
The European makers do not make any
quantity Of the cheaper tableware known
- pressed glass, and 80 even in the glass