Evening star., 1923-11-26
FORD IDEAS CHANGE
GLASS INDUSTRY
Output Greatly Increased by
New MethodS-432 More
Sales Agencies.
BY j. L. ROYLE.

special Dispatch to The star.
NEW YORK, November 26.-Meth-
obs of continuous production. which
nave made the development and sale
OF the Ford car possible, have been
adapted by the Ford company to the
glass industry. Plate glass now is
being turned out at the River Rouge
plant in the third largest glass pro-
ducing unit Of the company The
latter is thus brought one step far
ther in its program of controlling the
manufacture of almost everything used
i'll its operation.
Two of the four new furnaces now
are working and the remaining two
will be fired shortly after January !.
At that time the factory Will have an
annual capacity of 10 0OO,00 square
feet of plate glass. The GlaSSmere,
Pa, plant of the comnany turns out
1000 feet the Highland Park fac
tory turns out about $500 feet daily.
The annual requirements Of the COM
pany amount TO 20, 100000 square feet.
Output IL Enormous.
The new plant presents an indus
trial accomplishment of Importance
70 manufacturers in many lines
Every fifteen minutes. day and night
$50 pounds Of mixture is fed into the
furnace, permitting an endless flow
Of molten glass at the mouth of the
furnace. As it comes out of the fur
mace the mass is caught up under
roller, spread out and sent on solid
ribbon 400 feet long which moves at
the rate of sixty-four inches min
perature of 2.150 degrees Fahrenheit,
cools to 1000 degrees as it passes
under the roller and then runs
through long oven or lehr under
constantly leSSening heat until it
tAmerReS iS
into lengths.
Glass "Waves" Eliminated.
The roller method, Ford engineers
claim, gives uniform thickness to the
product. eliminates waves" and saves
about 20 per cent in materials as
which great pots of molten glass are
lifted from the furnace and poured
out on tables. The polishing of the
product is also performed under the
Ford system of continuous movement.
The grinding and polishing machines
were developed by Ford engineers
and Ford products were utilized in
their construction. For example.
Ford steering wheel, connected with
Ford driving rod, which extends to
a Ford rear axle gear, regulates the
polishing disks. which turned by
a FordSon tractor worm drive.
Economy Is Watchword.
The ramifications of the Ford sys
tenn were eXcellently indicated by the
experience of a Pennsylvania manu-
facturer who had been given the con-
tract for supplying the rubber wealth
er strips between the leaves of the
Ford Windshield. The first shipment
of weather strips was refused. when
the manufacturer went to Detroit to
ask why he was told that the strips
were all right in every respect, but
the consignment was not packed ac-
cording to specifications and must
therefore be refused, as the boards
from the crates could not be used for
floor boards in Ford cars.
The care exercised can be readily
estimated when il is realized that "A
saving of one cent on car may mean
a potential profit of $4,000 ii year.
Changes in minor details are con-
Stantly being made. The steering
wheel of the Ford car formerly was
of wood, and cost 81 cents. Engineers
who developed the wheel of aSphal-
tum composition now used. which is
Of far greater strength, saved the
company hundreds of thousands of
dollars.
During the year there has been a
remarkable development of the Ford
sales and service organizations. Four
hundred and thirty-two new dealers
have been added since January /.
bringing the total in the United
States to 9.44S. Service stations mum
Der about $1,000 and there are $500
authorized dealers and 1000 service
stations in foreign countries.