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tfSTRY AND IS CARRIED TO A HIGH DEGREE OF EXCELLENCE AT CORNING, N. Y.
RK OX CUT GLASS
IVING GLAFS FACTORY.
NEW- YORK TRIBUNE ILLUSTRATED SUPPLEMENT.
colorless. It Is pas Fed to the "gaffer." or fore
man. He blows Into the tube for a few seconds,
then lowers it into a mould and distends It until
it fits the mould perfectly. It is kept turning
continuously, that there may be do Beam. Touch
ing it with a cold iron breaks the glass evenly
at the top of the mould, and the result is v pi r
fect electric light bulb.
The next "shop" the group of men working
under a "gaffer" is always called a "simp" in a
glass town — was working on magnify lug I
This is a more complicated op< ration, in\
the use of red glass, whii b is taken f :
"monkey" crucible, a. small edition of the or
dinary melting pot. The glass i.s ire Bed and
cut into oval shapes 1 > a machine.
A more Interesting shop" is one that i.s work-
Ing on high grade glass, blowing various arti
cles fur the cutting and engraving shops. The
work must be done by !.a:.d to secure the i
sary quality. They were making va cs at this
particular shop.
The "gatherer" brought a bit of molten glass
on the end of a blowpipe and turned It over to
the "fwot maker." lie gave It a partial Bhape
by rubbing it in a woi : n ip. Then the "ser
vitor" put the pipe to his lips and blew it grad
ually Into shape. His cheeks distended until
they seemed about to burst, but before that
happened the vase wa_s shaped. These "ser
vitors" ac<iu.re wonderful lui.g power In time,
and some of them have remarkable voices. They
notice no bad effects fr.-.m their unusual exer
cise. Of course, consumption Is unknown
among them.
By this time the "gatherer" has returned with
n.ore molten glass, from which the foot is made.
ENGKAVEIIS AT WOBK.
TIIH SAND DOST n.im POX CUT GLASS.
It is placed on the "leg" of the vase and rubbed
into shape by holding a piece of cherry wood
against it while the workman turns the rod with
his other hand. The wood bums a little, mak
ing a charcoal, which gives a tire finish. At
iast it is ready for the "gaffer," who puts on
the finishing touches and ki\'-.s the vase its final
shape. Usually the half finished article has to
be "hi at< d in" i efore the "g ifl i ' i an begin tns
work. For this purpose the "shops" work
around a sn.aHer furnace, In which oil I
.;:• ,1 the "glory hole." The
while still in molten condition Is measured for
Bhape, and altered when it does not
the experienced ey< ot ihi foreman.
To r< duce the brl tl< ..■ ss the pie< •■ must be
. ed, and, accordini •
ried i" kiln or "le« r." In eithi ;
. i! d, pi ote< i'-'i from th" slightest di
of air. which would at on< c crack It, I
cooled gradually.
The smaller ; • • taken to the
- .. ■
extending \uri- i th< I t and fed
any i ommoo fuel. The
.•. hi( !i a.' c pull< d by an • n n from
the w arm end of the oven to thi . I The
trip Is made In i •■■. ■ i.' I
n- aling pro< ■ . s coi pi
The heavy pieces ai ted bj
hard wo d fii After twelv or Ml
the fires are drawn and th< oven sealed up.
The temperature gradually dec-n is s vi
the indof a we< k, tin •' i canln nm< ■ cd.
The long furnace room present) a plcturesiiue
scene. A ruddy glow from scoi a of furnace
doors and crucible bolea gives a pe<
effect. The heat is great, ana the men do not
burden themselves with clothes. The "gath
erers," most of whom are bo> s. dart here and
there, carrying blowing tubes, on the end of
each a glowing bit of glass. Air pipes hiss like
Berpents, for, Bince the Introduction of com
■ 1 air machines, the human lungs can be
relieved of some of the blowing.
It happens that a portion of tin- Corning Glass
Works has !•••' n rented to a glass cutting com
pany, and one can follow the glass through th«
cutting process without leaving the yard. Al
though the art of making glass Is most ancient
and the manm r of making has changed little in
the Intervening centuries, the cutting of r !
is relatively modern. Really deep cutting has
been practicable only since the invention oi
Bteam. At Corning they have reduced it to a
Bcience, and no d> .sign of the great New-York
jewellers is too intricate fur them to undertake.
The plain glassware, after careful Inspection
for Haws and other imperfections, is given over
to a rougher, w ho sketches the main outlines
of the desired design on the outside of the glass
with a gummy red Quid. Then the pattern la
roughed In with iron disks kept moist with a
constant dripping of sand ami water, which
coiiiiH from a canister suspended above the
roughing wheel. The wheels differ in diameter,
thickness ami shape of their edges according
to the pattern to l>e cut, and often half a dozen
whf.is are used in one pattern.
Across the room is a long row of smoothers
bending over swiftly revolving wheels of craig
leith, or blue mitre, on which water is continu
ally dropping. One of these takes the pi< i c
which the rougher has smoothed and goes over
each line. The smaller parts of the aesign, such
as the silver diamonds and tops of stars, are
worked out by stone wheels without previous
roughing.
"We can't have any •bummers 1 about a cut-
ting shop," sa»i the foreman as the visitor
marvelled at the steadiness of hand and ac
curacy of eye which the workmen displayed.
"A man must be steady to cut glass. The
slightest slip of a stone is fatal, and accidents
are only t>o frequent with the steudi> st work.
A pebble in the sand will drive a ■tone through
Ihe glass, ruining it beyond repair. He must
sense of toucb so keen that be can feel
the exact depth to which his whe< l pi netrates,
whethei it be a full half Incb Into some ht-avy
or .1 hair's bn adth Into the aide of a cham
pagne glass."
From the smoother's stone the glass goes to
.of pop ar w t, which is fed
from .i tin . . suspi n ' '1 overhead with
i n Ixl ■■ of ••■ it< r ; umli •• and rotten stone.
Then bru h wheels are used, and a final polish
i .i ."i k fth< 1 moistened with putty
- oi .i -v b< ■ 1 ol felt •>n oth< r lathes men
ppei into bottles, for every cut
ttli ha its own stopper, just as each
:. .. it, and lio Otbl r will fit It
tly.
The ;:■ tl poll h la se< ured bj f add
.-■ greatly superior to the old
hand method ol pol h •-:. A workman with
rubber [loves dipt) the piece into a bath of hot
• wai hes it. When the
en r< pc ited thn <> times all of the
• nail particles of plu have disappeared, and
. ■ h irp and tru>\
In another ; :t <■{ the shop engrav- rs are at
w>rk on ela eces. <>n a set of twenty
five dozen pieces for E. T. Gerry's new yacht
the work resembles the ancient Intaglio and
;• ■ -I crystals. The glass
■ r is not compelled to follow geometric
tines as is his fellow worker, the glass cutter.
Often he works out the design as he go.-s, with
out preliminary tracing, ami elaborates It as an
artist does a painting. He uses copper disks of
diameters fr< m the ■■■■ of a pinhead up to six
. and as thin as a hair • i a quarter of
an Inch thi< k.
There is har tly anj mit 1 : mt of
work thai can :•• p*it on cul or engraved glass
ware, and the • oi i the work.
pieces have cost .is much as $5(H>, and
one of the Vanderbilts haa champagne glasses
cut in Corning at i cosl of >.'.<h> a dozen.
Many persons are puzzled to distinguish good
cut glass from the inferior article. One good
rule is that if it Is i heap it must i»- inferior, f"r
it costs to make good ■vi glass. Here are some
directions which Corning manufacturers give
by which on< can t ■ ii the real article :
A pie* •■ of fine cut glass transmits liuht color
less as a crystal. Inferior glass usually shows
a tint, yellowish or ;reenish and Its surfaces
are ipt to i ■•-. sm iky as you hold the pie< c be
tween your eye and the light. Then you will
notice that In fine glass the ; Lttern is not only
btttei designed, but truer in execution, that the
cuttings are sharp and polished with perfect
evenness. In the Inferior glass v>u will ii!.«l by
comparison all sorts of irregularities. Until you
1,,,,, mastered these differences you will not be
a connoisseur of fine cut glass and will not
understand why the collector is willing to pay
the necessary difference in price between o-"d
glass, artistically designed and cut, and inferior
glass made cheaply for competition.
WASTED A l/t.V SATURDAY.
Robinson Crusoe had just named his man Fri
,l.i >• when he was ready to kick himself all over
the island.
"What a fool!" he exclaimed. "If I had called
him .Saturday I'd have had a pay day every day
of the week."
Subsequently, however, the royaltiea on his
book more than covered his loss.
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