sheared, it is re-heated and softened: this is done by rotating
it with rapidity in the pot-hole, occasionally withdrawing it, to take
into the bowl comparatively cool atmospheric air; again bringing it near
the mouth of the pot, so that the expansion of the air within the bowl,
the centrifugal force of rapid rotation, technically called
flashing,* and the final skilful throw,
may give the finished form. A little help may be required from the tools,
the use of which, however, should if possible be avoided. The charred
wooden tool only must be used, in case the flashing of the bowl should
throw the glass out of form. To make a number of wine-glasses free
from tool marks, and exactly of one uniform size, &c., requires the
workman, or chief, to be of superior tact and skill, supported by an
excellent servitor and footmaker.
MODE OF PAYMENT, DIVISION OF LABOUR, ETC.
Before entering into further details of
Manipulation, a few explanations relative to the system of paying the
workmen, their customs, &c., may be requisite.
The productions of Flint Glass works,
in their varieties and divisions of labour, are somewhat like that of
a well-conducted farm, on the four-course system, yielding its due
proportion of cereal and leguminous crops alternately. Flint Glass works,
to be profitable, cannot yield the whole of the product of
* This is but a modification of the
flashing process, fully described and illustrated by G. R. Porter, Esq.,
of the Board of Trade, author of Treatises upon Flint, Crown, and Plate
Glass, "Lardner's Encyclopædia." (See Crown Glass, page 185.)
Much valuable information may be gathered from the perusal of the
whole of the articles on Flint, Crown, and Plate Glass, particularly
bead-making, and many other topics not referred to in this work.
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