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Chapter VIII.

THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS.


A story: how glass was discovered-- Constituents of glass- Glass-making-- A tank furnace-- Shaping glass-- Blowing bottles-- Window-glass-- Large sheets-- Rolling plate-glass-- Pressing glass-- A stopper-making machine.

According to a well-known story, glass was discovered by some Phœnician sailors as the result of lighting a big wood fire on the seashore. The wood-ash united with the sand under the influence of the heat, and much to the sailors' surprise, when they scattered the fire they found below it a clear, translucent substance, of which they at once recognized the value.
    From a purely chemical point of view the story is plausible enough, as sand supplies silicon, the foundation material of glass, and wood-ash contains an alkaline "base" necessary to give transparency; but the manufacturer, who knows that intense heat¹ is needed to fuse the materials that go to the


¹For some glasses 13,000° F.