Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-03
THE GLASS INDUSTRY,
By Frederic J. Haskin.

The recent discovery Of an enormous
lew bed of glass sand In Arkansas, be-
.ieved TO be practically inexhaustible in
extent, has given considerable impetus to
the already thriving glass industries OF
mat state. This sand vein, which is said
to have a uniform thickness OF at least
| twenty-five feet. has been submitted to
severest tests and it's quality proves to
De 30 per cent pure silicon. so that the
production of glass Of the highest grade
Is assured. The location is upon one of
the highest points between st. Louis and
the Gulf OF Mexico. and plans for the
utilization of this newly discovered re-
source are already well under way. Ex-
tensive new sand fields also have been
opened up during the last year In Ten
nessee. which, it is claimed. will give to
that state nearly a million acres of glass
sand fields, most of which is of eXcep-
tional quality.
Such discoveries as these, together
with the new mechanical methods which
Yankee ingenuity Is using to supply many
of the old processes, bids fair to make
industries of this country within a few
years Each year increases the demand
for American glass in foreign countries
and lessons the need Of importing foreign
glass products for American use. There
is no finer art glass produced in the
world than now can be manufactured in
the United States. The secrets so care
fully guarded by the old glass makers
seem to have been rediscOvered, or else
better formulas have been substituted for
them. SO that American glass factories
can turn out vases, bottles and other
articles having the characteristics of the
ancient Saracen. Persian, Syrian or
Phoenician glasses or the more modern
Bohemian glassware.
4
Glass-making is believed to have been
discovered by the Egyptians as early as
$500 years before Christ
An Ancient 1t was first used as q
r14 glaze for decorating tiles,
figurines and other arti-
cles. 1t was used as a substance about
1900 B. c., and was plentiful in the time
of the Romans, who used it extensively
for. making toilet articles as well as for
objects of personal adornment. They
carried it into all of the countries which
were visited by their soldiers. Pliny,
writing before his death, in A. d. 20,
says of the contemporary artists: s'They
carve glass more exquisitely than sill
YER" The Romans used glass. not only
Ioi HOuSeHOlu uteISliS ana OfIldIHeHtS, DCI
also incorporated it into their mural
mosaics and in the tasselated payements
OF their floors
Glass-making was one of the earliest
Industries In America. One of the first
glass factories was established at Man.
helm, Lancaster county. Pa. and be-
tween the years 1861 and 1774 1t was
under the direction of Baron William
Henry Siesel of Germany. The products
of this factory We're of recognized merit
ell, .l,,.. -
priced by collectors. Among the most
frequent specimens now found are small
footed. goblet-shaped salt cups in white
or dark blue glass. aud cologne bottles
with shoppers of blue or purple glass.
These have been much copied by modern
glassmakers within the last two or
three years. but the imitation can be
told from the real by their perfect SYM
metry The old glass pieces were fash
toned entirely by hand tools and were
more or less crooked and irregular in
shape. The old shoppers for bottles We're
crude. while the modern ones are per-
fectly formed and are usually ground
at the base Stiegel glass was shipped
from Philadelphia to Boston in large
quantities. which accounts for the num-
Der of pieces to be found in New England
by the antique collectors of the present.
Glass was extensively manufactured at
Pittsburgh at very early date. The
sand was gathered in the river valleys,
| hauled to the rivers, loaded on fiat
boats and fioated in to Pittsburgh. Win
dow glass was made extensively here
| The slabs for packing the 6rst vwindow
glass were split from the timber with o
broad ak. Boxes OF window glass float
ed when dropped into the water, because
of the thickness OF the boards and the
thinness of the glass. Sandwich. Mas
sachusetts also was the seat of early
glass industries, and one of the articles
produced at Sandwich was the glass cur
| tain knob which is SO popular with the
| lover Of antiques. and which is now
j initiated by the glass forger.