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THE MODE OF OPERATING. IGlas?, as is generally knuwn, is made from silica, lime and soda. Silica is to and chiefly in rock crystal, tsandstone, flint ana sand, especially the latter. For tthe making: of plate glass these three component' are used in nearly this proportion: silica 73, lime 13 1 and s»da 12. The sand used at this tactory is procured from a hill a short distance off, is brought down in j eait leads, is placed in an oven for the purpose j of drawing out ail moisture from the substance and making it perfectly dry, after which it is ready to be mixed with the other ingredients. Ail the soda used is imported, and the lime is found near the ' factory. With the mixture is sometimes placed a small per cent age of broken glass. Alter the mixture is reaoy it is placed in earthen pots and put into the furnace. One word as to these po% for they are the chief essential of glass manufacturing. They are : made of clay which is brought from Missouri, aud are composed of one half of old clay and one half new.It is thought that the pots are more durable and hence serviceable if made ip accordance with this rule. The old clay is obtained from the pots which have been used and discarded, and the new that is used is taken right from the bed. The clay is at first ground into a very fine, powder - like mass, is then taken into another portion of the pot factory, where it is mixed with water and made into beds, resting upon wooden floors and sides.1 These beds are worked over each day, the workman treading them over with his feet and bringing them into compact form with heavy blows from a largesized wooden instrument shaped like a ladle. The clay thus treated is not ready for use under two months, and the workmen say that the longer it is kept in bed the better. After it is ready to be made into pots it if® taken in small quantities into the manufacturing room. There a number of pore are begun at once and are built up gradually each day, great care being taken that each portion of the clay ' should adhere to the other and that no foreisrn sub-I stance sheuId get mixed with it, for if there is the least crack or blemish in any pot it is not fit for ase.It takes at the shortest a month to manufacture a pot, from the time that it is begun until it is baked and ready for use. These pote will hold about one-halt a ton of melted glass, and will last from one to t wo months, according to the nicety of their construction. The furnaces in whicn these pote are placed are large ovens built of brick and usually contain six or ekht pots. They serve for two purposes, fritting and fusion. By fritting is meant that process which consists of causing the vitro-
Newspaper Details
Boston Post
Boston, Massachusetts, US
Mon, Jan 22, 1872
Page 3
Full Page
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Lenox L.
MA, USA 20 Oct 2023
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