588 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



40,000 square feet, or nearly an acre of plate glass. The demand 

 for the glass increased so rapidly that two years later, in 1885, a 

 second plant was built at Tarentum. Meanwhile the methods of 

 manufacture at Creighton had been so far improved that the 

 joint output of the two factories was 280,000 feet per month, or 

 between six and seven acres of polished plate. In another two 

 years the same company built a third factory at Ford City, with a 

 capacity of 200,000 feet per month. At the present time these 

 works are being still further enlarged, and will soon have more 

 than twice their original capacity. The growth of the enterprise 

 has been remarkable. It is doubtful whether any other industry 

 could show a parallel development. At the present time the 

 annual output is in the neighborhood of a third of a square mile 

 of polished plate. That means a great deal of sunshine for some- 

 body. 



These American plate-glass works compare very favorably in 

 equipment and management with the more historic establish- 

 ments of Saint Gobain and Ravenshead. The native product, we 

 believe, is now quite equal to the foreign, and promises sooner or 

 later to so far discourage importation as to be itself exported. 

 It is pleasant, too, to record that, after so many disasters, 

 this branch of glass-making is at the present moment the most 

 flourishing of all departments of the industry. It is the one in 

 which the American genius for mechanics has had the greatest 

 scope. Few of the operations are performed by hand. These are 

 precisely the conditions under which America can compete most 

 successfully with the Old World, and feel the least disadvantage 

 from her more expensive labor market. This thoroughness of 

 organization has had its effect upon the price. Plate glass is to- 

 day so cheap that, as some one has said, it may be used in farm- 

 houses, though it should perhaps be added that in this case the 

 farm itself must in times past have been rather profitable. It is, 

 at any rate, no longer exclusively the window glass of the rich. 

 This widening of the market has made possible the present suc- 

 cess of the industry. When the price becomes so low that we can 

 afford to use twice as many acres of plate glass as we now allow 

 ourselves we may expect a still greater success. At the present 

 time the tendency is decidedly toward largely increased produc- 

 tion. There are now eight plants in full operation, and four more 

 in course of construction, which will probably be under way dur- 

 ing the early part of the year. The market is large enough for 

 all, though there is naturally a considerable rivalry between the 

 different factories. This shows itself, among other ways, in the 

 effort to outdo one another in the size of the plate produced. The 

 largest yet turned out is one, we believe, made by the Diamond 

 Glass Company at Kokomo, Ind., which measures 153 by 212 



