Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-10
THE GLASS BOTTLE INDUSTRY
Early History of Making Of Recep-
tacles-Present Method.

From the London Globe.
Although the Oldest bottles known were
made of skins. glass bottles containing
wine are represented on Egyptian monu-
ments which are more than four thousand
years old, while as early as the Pharaoh
of the Exodus there were bottles made OF
bronze, silver, gold. porcelain and ala
baster. which from their superior work.
manship and elegant design go to prove
that even at that period the art Of bottle
making was by no means in its infancy.
The early history of the bottle is some
what meager, owing. no doubt, to the
fact that the true bottle has never been
thing of much beauty, except In few
rare instances. but rather humble yes
sci of no intrinsic value.
Bottles are made today In stupendous
quantities, and are of all sorts. sizes and
descriptions In the manufacture OF a
common bottle either sand, soap boilers
waste. brick clay or other materials, &C
cording to locality, are used. Having been
run down into molten mass, the metal 1!
skinned. and the first operator known as
the 'gatherer," takes little of the glass
on the end Of a heated pipe. When this
has cooled somewhat he again dips his
pipe into the glass. having gathered in
the two dips sufficient to make a bottle.
This he hands on to the blower" who, as
he blows through the tube, rolls the meta
on a stone, thereby fashioning the bottle
neck. The roughly shaped mass is then
placed in mold. and the operator con-
tinues to blow until he has brought it to
the required form.
After this the bottle is handed on to the
finisher, who, by touching the neck with a
small bit of iron. dipped in water. COM
pletely sewers it from the pipe. He at
taches the pontee, an iron instrument
tipped with molten glass. to the bottom Of
the bottle, and thus gives 1t the usual
rounded shape. This pontee may be used
for from twenty to twenty-four dozen
bottles. Then, warming the bottle at the
furnace, the finishcr takes 4 small guam
tity of the metal on what is known as a
ring iron. and, turning it round the
mouth, forms the ring seen at the top OF
the neck. Taking the shears, he trims
the neck. In the center of one blade OF
the shears Is a piece Of brass. tapering
like a cork, which forms the inner mouth.
while the other blade has a piece Of brass
fastened to 1t. for the purpose of shaping
the ring. A boy lifts the completed bot
tie on a fork, and 1t Is taken to the an
healing arch, which contains about ten
or twelve gross Of bottles placed in bins
one above the other.
These are the processes which even the
60 through. 80 1t can well be imagined
whet an mfinitude of care aid trouble IL
needed to produce a bottle of the finest
grade.
Bottles are rarely mentioned In fiction.
but one must not forget the story OF the
bottle sprite in Grimm's. nor that of the
broken bottle neck In the fairy tales OF
Hahs Andersen. which latter IS almost
more fascinating to older people than 20
children. owing to the clever way IN
which the bottle neck endows itself with
a personality. The graceful old hagons.
the demijohns and the quecr-shaped bot
ties which at one time used to contain q
certain renowned Dutch brew all recall tne
bygone drinking days. when 1t was consid.
cred no disgrace to be "two-bottle
man." and when the custom OF Joining
the ladies' was more honored In the
breach than In the observance; tine most
and his male guests have more commonly
Joined one another-undc- the table.
Many of the laboring class followed the
example Of their betters. and their idea
of pleasure Is get forth in the Immortal
lines:
Now my weeks work is at an end
My biggest bottles my best friend:
|. But the old, cobweb-covered bottle OF
port. which the host himself. escorted by
his dignifed butler, brings from the Gel
lar and decants with the solcmnity be-
fitting the occasion, 10 a bottle to De re-
spected above other bottles. For per-
haps half a dozen decades It has lain IN
the bin. growing yearly more begrimed
without and more refined within. until at
last on some occasion OF great impor-
lance it is gently removed from Its resting
place and borne to the oinln9 rooH'
where for moment the hum OF CONVEX
sation bushes at its coming. Next day.
as like as not, the bottle is cast empty
and useless upon the rubbish heap. but
no matter-it has had its hour!
The highest distinction to which bot.
ties can attain IL that of being favored
with a special chart of their own. known
as a bottle chart. This Is used to deter
mine the course that bottle containing
a message will take when thrown over
board. and Is in reality q chart OF the
currents by which 1t will probably be at
fected on it's journeyings.
The palm for being the largest OF their
kind must be given to the chemists bot
ties. No one seems quite certain az to
the origin of these huge bottles. with
their different colored fluids, but, II, as
memorial been the chemists sigE. then.
indeed, was 1t well chosen, for there Is
something peculiarly striking about these
bottles. especially at night. when their