American Plate Glass Manufactory. — We are happy to learn, as we do from the fol- 

 lowing notice which appeared in the i^. Y. Courier & Enquirer of the 12th ult., that the 

 manufacturing of Plate Glass has bean commenced in this country with fair prospects of 

 success. As soon as it can be had at reasonable prices, we have no doubt but that it will 

 be used largely, in a rough state, in the construction of horticultural buildings. It is a mat- 

 ter of no little importance to all branches of architecture, and we shall watch its progress 

 with interest. 



" Triumph of Peace, — It 13 pleasant in these days — when men read and talk so largely of 

 armies and fleets, sieges and bombardments, sorties and repidses, trenches and parallels — it is 

 pleasant, we say, to record a peaceful triumph of American skill and industry, which is destined 

 to do much to promote the manufacturing interests of the country. One of the few applianoes 01 

 taste and luxury for which we have been entirely dependent upon foreign production has been 

 Plate Glass. For this article we have paid tribute to the manufacturers of France, England, and 

 Germany, to the amount of many millions of dollars, and every attempt to establish the manu- 

 facture in the United States has hitherto resulted in disappointment and loss. The more than 

 French taste of our people for display in mirrors and huge window fronts, which has been so 

 largely developed within the last few years, has offered a rich prize to the Company that should 

 succeed in accomplishing the manufacture of an American article which would compete in quality 

 aad price with that imported. 



" The American Plate Glass Company have achieved success, and on Thursday, in the presence 

 of a large number of gentlemen who take an interest in every progressive step of American 

 mechanical skill, several plates of glass three-eighths of an inch in thickness, and measuring sixty 

 by one hundred and twenty inches on the surface, were cast. The establishment is situated at 

 the foot of North Sixth street, Williamsburgh, and occupies a building of brick two hundred feet 

 by one hundred feet square, the whole being covered by an iron roof Here are fabricated from 

 the raw material the fire-brick, melting-pots, and furnaces. The capacious annealing ovens or 

 kilns, the huge casting tables, and cranes, railways, moveable tables and carriages occujiy the im- 

 mense area. The process of manufacture may be briefly described, thus: 



"The melting-pots, of a capacity to hold six hundred pounds of material, are made of fire-clay 

 prepared in a peculiar manner and placed in the furnace, and when sufliciently hot are filled with 

 the alkali and silex, and the doors closed upon them. In ten or twelve hours the mass is ready 

 for casting. Near the furnace is an iron table a little more than five feet by ten, under which a 

 slow fire is placed so that it is moderately heated. At the head of the table is an iron roller some 

 two feet in diameter, and near that a swinging crane. The surface of the table is flush, but upon 

 its edges are placed bars of iron corresponding in thickness to the thickness it is desired to cast 

 the plate. These bars serve as bearers for the roller. The material being ready, the first step is 

 to remove the furnace door, which is accomplished by means of long levers and tongs. By simi- 

 lar means a pot is extracted from the furnace and placed on a carriage or truck. From the out- 

 side of the vessel all adhering substances from the coal is scraped off, and the Surface of the 

 matter is also skimmed by ladles of all impurities. A collar, with two long handles, is then 

 lowered by the crane, and encloses the pot just under the projections or shoulders upon it, and by 

 a windlass, it is raised some six feet and swung directly over the table. The projecting handles 

 are then seized by two men, and in a moment the six hundred pounds of melted glass flows like 

 a sea of lava over the iron surface. Two other men instantly send this ponderous roller on its 

 way from the head of the table, reducing the mass to the thickness of which the iron bearers are 

 the guage. In fifty seconds the mass is sufficiently solidified to permit it to be pushed rapidly 

 upon a table having a wooden surface, resting upon rollers, which is at once pushed blazing and 

 g to the mouth of a kiln, into which the glass is passed, there to remain from three 

 when it emerges, annealed and ready to be trimmed. Tlie edges, even if the glass 



