THE GLASS INDUSTRY. 593 



made in glass-making for a long period of time. The tank fur- 

 nace is rapidly superseding the old-fashioned pot furnaces, and in 

 a very few years I do not think a pot furnace will be in operation 

 in the entire country. The manufacture of bottles by machinery 

 is comparatively new here, and, although it has been attempted a 

 number of times, it has never been a pronounced success until 

 recently. It is still in its infancy, but next year I think will see a 

 large portion of the commoner kinds of bottles made in this way. 

 I have no doubt that ultimately all articles of blown glassware 

 will be made by machinery." 



Although the attempt to establish glass-making in New Eng- 

 land never met with great or permanent success, it is to Yankee 

 inventive skill that we owe much of the means of success else- 

 where. In these attempts Massachusetts took the lead in the 

 nineteenth century, as she had in earlier days. In addition to the 

 Boston works, established in 1792, a successful window-glass fac- 

 tory was started at Middlesex village in 1802. This gave employ- 

 ment to one hundred persons in all and turned out annually about 

 eight acres of glass. It continued in operation a full quarter of 

 a century, when it was shut down on account of the failure of 

 the proprietors. The works were burned, but were soon after 

 rebuilt, and in 1829 a company undertook to manage an indus- 

 try which had failed in individual hands. They continued to 

 make glass there for about ten years, when they removed to New 

 Hampshire, attracted probably by greater abundance of fuel. 

 Works were also established at Cheshire in 1812, and others in 

 1853 at Lenox. The latter was devoted to the production of 

 window glass, and proved the most successful and enduring of 

 the number. Several flint-glass houses were started in and around 

 Boston, and were very successful during the early part of the 

 century. The works at East Cambridge, built about 1812, have 

 been particularly productive. Six years after they were started 

 they are reported to have been " one of the most extensive flint- 

 glass manufactories in the country." They had at that time two 

 furnaces and twenty-four cutting wheels. The plant also included 

 a furnace capable of turning out two tons of red lead a week, and 

 was in other ways well equipped for the production of the finer 

 wares. In 1823 22,400 pounds of glassware represented the weekly 

 product. In 1865 the number of furnaces had been increased to 

 five, the number of people employed being five hundred, and the 

 value of the yearly product not far from $500,000. This, however, 

 represented high- water mark, and was soon followed by a consid- 

 erable decrease in activity. More significant was the flint-glass 

 house established at Sandwich in 1825, for it has the reputation of 

 having made the most important of American contributions to the 

 technique of glass-working, and that is the glass-press used in the 



