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Images
INTERIOR OF A CROWN-GLASS HOUSE Canton Glass Copany, 1908 Cooperative Flint Glass Company, undated
Interior of a Crown Glass House
Undated
Canton Glass Co
1908
Cooperative Flint Glass Co
Undated
Flint Tank No. 12 Making Drug Ware, Whitall Tatum Co. First fully automatic insulator machine, Whitall Tatum Co. Whitall Tatum Co factory interior showing glassblowers.
Whitall-Tatum Co
undated
Whitall-Tatum Co
ca 1920s
Whitall-Tatum Co
ca 1920s
Articles, Pamphlets, Books
Reminiscences of Glass-Making Reminiscences of Glass-Making by Deming Jarves was first published in 1854 "in the columns of a village newspaper", and updated in 1865 with the second edition transcribed here. It was very popular and copies are easily available today (as well as a 1968 reprint). At over 100 pages, it offers details of glass-making and its history not published elsewhere, including glass formulas. Alas, only a few cuts.
Lawrence's Adventures (Among the Glass-Makers) Among the Glass-Makers, Chapter 3 of Lawrence's Adventures Amoung the Ice-Cutters, Glass-Makers, Coal-Miners, Iron-Men, and Ship-Builders by J. T. Trowbridge (1870), is the story of a kid's tour of a glassworks. It has interesting details not usually bothered with in adult descriptions of glassmaking.
Great American Industries--A Piece of Glass This 1889 article in Harper's New Monthly Magazine called A Piece of Glass is #8 in a series on "Great American Industries". It's a great overview of glassmaking during that period, with numerous cuts, some history, and interesting speculation about the future.
Stories of Industry--A Visit to the Glass Works This 1891 kids' series-- Stories of Industry-- is a little too brief, just 11 small pages, and confusing too-- it mixes up crown and cylinder window glass; I'd still have plenty of questions after reading it. But it has the merit of an illustration on almost every page. Worth a nosh just for the "cunning little curly feet."
How It Is Made--The Manufacture of Glass Archibald Williams' undated (ca 1900) book How It Is Made describes in simple terms the manufacture of many common goods, including The Manufacture of Glass. Says he in the preface, "I have therefore been encouraged to make a tour of inspection among our industrial centres, and to record in these pages what I learnt from personal observation."
Experimental Glass Blowing For Boys This 1909 booklet-- Experimental Glass Blowing For Boys by Carleton J. Lynde, PH.D.-- was included with the Gilbert Glass Blowing set (then reprinted numerous times, most recently as ISBN 1410102726). A.C. Gilbert is He of Erector Set Fame; he also made model trains and various science experiment sets: all educational in nature. Glass Blowing tells how to blow glass tubing into various shapes using an open alcohol flame, gives a bit of background of glassmaking, and proposes 80 experiments. Please note, this book is FOR BOYS ONLY, NO GIRLS ALLOWED.
The Mentor--Glass and Glass-Making LEARN ONE THING EVERY DAY exhorts The Mentor, and they mean it! Volume 7, Number 5 (Serial No. 177) in this series is Glass and Glass-Making (1919), by Esther Singleton; a history of glass with several small photos of ancient glassware, and six large gravures. There are more in this series to come.
The Mentor--Stained Glass Volume 7, Number 20 of The Mentor continues educating about glass with Serial No. 192, Stained Glass, by Ida J. Burgess (1919). Ida's a bit wordy, and stuffy as well, but I learned something, so perhaps you will too. Includes the usual Mentor complement of six large gravures.
Flat Glass This little book, Flat Glass, was written in 1924 by Arthur E. Fowle of The Libbey-Owens Sheet Glass Co. of Toledo. It features many nice color illustrations of glassmaking, both hand and machine, but alas, the writing is atrocious. I am reminded of Mencken's "string of wet sponges". Was Fowle paid by the word? He never uses one word when ten will do. Still, I did pick up a few things from this quick read.
Royal Institution of Great Britain--The Making of a Sheet of Glass Transcription of a talk by Major R. M. Weeks of Pilkington Brothers, titled The Making of a Sheet of Glass, given to the Royal Institution of Great Britain in 1933. It's a bit more technical than most of the other material here, and has a few nice photos of cylinder sheet glass production (both manual and automatic).
How Glass Bottles are Made How Glass Bottles are Made by Elizabeth M. Bacon was produced in 1935 by Whitall Tatum Co. It gives a brief overview of glassmaking's origins, and describes fully automatic bottle production.
Coal Coal (1940) by Mary K. Chapin is a kid's booklet explaining about the types of coal, coal mining, how coal was formed, etc. Lots of nice photographs. Included here since coal was an important fuel for glass furnaces.