Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-04-13

this molten glass at the other end OF
the furnace that the blowers take out
on their blowpipes to- use The Bel
CLAN wears smoked glasses to protect
his eyes from the fiery light.
Passing to the other end OF the fac
tory where the blowers are, you feel al
IL approx ching a great stage prepared
for some highly spectacular scene.
The dozen terrible furnaces throw Il
brilliant light across the floor, but cast
strange bobbing and crouching shad-
ows up among the dark rafters. There
Is no talk. Breath Is precious where 1t
Is used to make window glass. Scan
tily dressed men hurry here and there,
carrying great wads Of soft glass so
white as to throw out q slight violet
glow.
Each man is clear cut, rosy silhou-
cite against q dark background IL you
see the furnace side of him or. a sharp,
black silhouette against a light back.
ground If he stands between you and
the furnace.
Possibly the most picturesque part Of
1t all Is the place where the blower
takes the lump of glass with its cavity
possibly eighteen inches long and skill
fully increases that cavity by further
Initiating It with his breath until 1t hi
fully as large as himself.
He stands before the open door OF a
furnace. A swinging screen is be-
tween him and the FIRE. The screen Is
notched, on which he may rest his
blowpipe with its long glass weight at
the end. ,s5
Resting the cylinder SO, he may push
1t into the fiery furnace IL 1t has grown
slightly hard or by a movement draw
1t out again. Is$,
The melted glass is taken by a man
called q "gatherer" on the end OF q
blowpipe that Is, q hollow croWbar-
like instrument. The mass Of soft
glass to, be worked weighs perhaps
fifty or sixty pounds. The blower In.
jects air by blowing through his pipe
Into the middle Of 1t to initiate 1T like
q balloon, except that the hollow glass
Is much longer than wide and looks
like a monstrus bottle Ave feet long
dangling by its neck from the end Of
the blowpipe.
In manipulating the glass the blower
must keep the huge bottle suspended
and moving almost constantly, and for
this long opening into the basement
Is made In the floor before him. Here
he swings back and forth his great
six foot blowpipe with six feet more OF
glass at the end. Now and then he
twirls 1t gayly upward and, resting nc
on the screen, swings 1t lightly into the
IRE, blows little perhaps and before
you know 1t has 1t back down III the
opening in the floor, swinging it skill
fully back and forth, twirling 1t light
", as though it did not weigh, blow
pipe and all, something like seventy
pounds.
| Just before the glass becomes too
hard to manage the blower, by one. OF
those simple twists which he Is paid
good wages for knowing how to do,
manages to cause hole to appear ID
the bottom Of the bottle, and 1t Wfdens
And widens for a minute until there Ii
no bottom to the bottle. A helper then
takes the bloWpipe with the now hard
bottomless bottle and carefully breaks
of the one from the other.
Along comes the snapper who
winds d little string OF soft redhot
glass around our big bottle at just the
point where the sides begin to narrow
toward the neck. a little rap on the
glass, and the neck drops off, cleavfng
way II perfect line Just whore tho
redhot glass touched. We now have