The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-22
GLASS AS BUILDING MATERIAL.


 wifi be living in glass houses instead of buildings of brick, stone or wood. The old saying that those who live in glass houses, should not throw stones will then be something more than an aphorism and crystal palaces will no longer be looked on as wonders.
 After all, why not? We are accus- toned to look on glass as compara- lively costly material. and the first thought would be that none but a mill lionaire could afford to use 1t for house building purposes, but such be- lief is erroneous. True, 1t is not as cheap as the ordinary building ma |. terial. but that is because no effort has been made and no plant constructed to turn it out in such form and quantity as would make 1t available. If we had never seen anything but jugs and other small articles made of clay we might not look on 1t as a material to build houses of If we had seen lime and cement used only as a mortar for lay ing bricks and stones in we would not think of it in the form of large blocks of which houses may be built. From experience and observation we know | that clay and sand and cement can be | fashioned Into blocks of almost any size and used for any purpose where durability and strength are required. So it is with glass. We have seen 1t in plates for windows, doors and mir TOTS all our lives. We have seen It as bottles and table ware. and in many ornamental forms, but we have not been accustomed to see houses built of 1t. That Is where we lack the experi- ence that is bound to come, and the suggestion that it will come should oc- casion no surprise. The finest quality of glass is expensive, of course, but | that is of no consequence in the pres- ent case The coarser quality Is com posed mostly of sand, and that Is one | of the most plentiful and universal constituents of the globe. The asser- tion Is made that building blocks can be made of glass which will be cheaper and lighter than either brick or stone
 and if this proves true it removes one of the chief obstacles to its use.
 Another objection which will present itself to the mind Is that glass Is not strong enough for building purposes As we see it ordinarily used 1t is one
 of the most fragile materials known.
 We know that a window pane, a bottle
 A tumbler, a dish or any other article
 made of glass Is easily broken and we
 think such brittle material would not
 do for the walls of houses. We should
 remember that a thin jug made of clay
 is easily cracked, but large brick or | block of the same material possesses
 great strength, and the same result
 would be obtained by forming the glass
 into large blocks. That is not all
 for we are assured that what is knowr
 as Structural glass" Is as tough al
 brick, if not tougher, and 1t is prac'
 tically indestructible. Time and thu
 elements will have no effect on 1t noi
 will any ordinary fire injure 1t.
 Then at first thought there will b.
 many who will think that the trans
 parency of glass will be an objection
 Who would want a house, they wil
 ask, that everybody could see though That objection. like the others. is i'm
 aginary. Glass can be made which will
 be as transparent as our window
 panes or 1t can be as thorough!
 opaoue as granite. It all depends or
 the processes and the materials, ana
 herein lies one of the strong argu
 ments in Its favor. It is well knowr
 that glass can be made which will
 admit a soft and subdued light, but will
 not permit one to see through 1t. Th'
 walls of a house could be made O
 blocks which would admit light enougl
 for all practical purposes, but whici
 would totally obstruct direct vision
 Or all the lower portion of the walt
 could be made of opaque glass and thu
 upper portion of transparent materia
 which would likht up the room whei
 all the doors and windows were closed
 and no artificial light would be re
 quired in the day time for ordinar!
 purposes. In these respects glas
 would be an almost perfect building material.
 Taking all the facts and possibflitie into consideration we cannot avoid tn , belief that glass will be the building material of the future.It Is well know that lumber for building is fast dis , appearing, and its total extinction , only a question of time, and limite time at that If extended experiment shall demonstrate that glass is lighter F cheaper and stronger than brick 0 concrete that will settle 1t. Its capa bilities for ornamentation are practi cally without limit. Both in form an r coloring the blocks can be made as or 3 namental as is desired. or as can b afforded. In short, we may soon wei 3 come the age of glass, and all of u ' may live in crystal palaces.
 t But the use of glass as a house
 building material does not exhaust 1t g possibilities, for 1t is also proposed t v use 1t for paving purposes. Thi r would, at first view, seem less probabl l than the other, but we are assured tha t streets of Grenoble, France, have bee a paved with bricks of pure crysta f glass" and the United States consu { there says the experiment Is a sue cess. We should think that such l pavement. even If the surface shoul , be made rough at the beginning, woul P soon wear so slick as to be dangerou f and difficult for horses. but perhap r provision has been made against tha f At any rate We imagine that this woul