i6 4 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



rejected for this cause. The bottle of approved avoirdupois is 

 placed in a closely fitting case of wrought iron mounted on a long 

 handle. Only the neck of the bottlers allowed to project. Thus 

 blanketed and mounted, the hot glass is easily handled. 



It goes now to the gaffer, to have its neck properly shaped. 

 He is found at no great distance, sitting before a little side furnace 

 which affords three openings "glory-holes'' large enough to 

 admit the necks of the bottles, and a heated atmosphere of suffi- 

 cient intensity to make the glass necks plastic and workable. 



Pig. 5. Blowing a Flask in the Air. 



Crude petroleum is the fuel used. It is stored in a tank to one 

 side of the furnace, and trickles down, drop by drop, into a tube 

 which brings a strong blast of air from a distant fan. In this 

 way the oil is vaporized, and mixed with such proportions 

 of air that the mixture is highly combustible, and in burning 

 produces an intense heat. Three tongues of yellow flame thrust 

 themselves out of the glory-holes and leap toward the gaffer sit- 

 ting before them. In England this member of the shop is known 

 as the chairman, a term which refers to his bodily rather than to 



