GLASS GG5 



carquaise would cause breakage of the glass. The casting-bible is then rolled towards 

 the front door or throat, by means of levers, and its surface is brought exactly to the 

 level of the sole of the oven. 



The table t, t, t, fig. 1 102, is a mass of bronze, or now preferably cast iron, about 10 

 feet long, 5 feet broad, and from C to 7 inches thick, supported by a frame of carpentry, 

 which rests on three cast-iron wheels. At the end of the table, opposite to that next 

 to the front of the oven, is a very strong frame of timber-work, called the puppet or 

 standard, upon which the bronze roller which spreads the glass is laid, before and 

 after the casting. This is 5 feet long by 1 foot in diameter ; it is thick in the metal, 

 but hollow in the axis. The same roller can serve only for two plates at one casting, 

 when another is put in its place, and the first is laid aside to cool ; for otherwise the 

 hot roller would, at a third casting, make the plate expand unequally, and cause it to 

 crack. When the rollers are not in action they are laid aside in strong wooden trestles, 

 like those employed by sawyers. On the two sides of the table, in the line of its 

 length, are two parallel bars of bronze, t, t, destined to support the roller during its 

 passage from end to end ; the thickness of these bars determines that of the plate. 

 The table being thus arranged, a crane is had recourse to for lifting the cuvette, and 

 keeping it suspended, till it be emptied upon the table. This raising and suspension 

 are effected by means of an iron gib, furnished with pulleys, held horizontally, and 

 which turns with them. 



The tongs, i,fig. 1102, are made of four iron bars, bent into a square frame in their 

 middle, for embracing the bucket. Four chains, proceeding from the corners of the 



1102 



frame v, are united at their other ends into a ring, which fits into the hook of the 

 crane. Things being thus arranged, all the workmen of the foundry co-operate in 

 the manipulations of the casting. Two of them fetch, and place quickly in front of 

 one of the lower openings, the small cww^e-carriage, which bears a forked bar of 

 iron, having two prongs corresponding to the two holes left in the fire-tile door. This 

 fork, mounted on the axle of two cast-iron wheels, extends at its other end into two 

 branches terminated by handles, by which the workmen move the fork, lift out the 

 tile stopper, and set it down against the outer wall of the furnace. 



The instant these men retire, two others push forward into the opening the ex- 

 tremity of the tongs-carriage, so as to seize the bucket by the girdle, or rather to 

 clamp it. At the same time a third workman is busy with an iron pinch or long 

 chisel, detaching the bucket from its seat, to which it often adheres by some spilt 

 glass ; whenever it is free, he withdraws it from the furnace. Two powerful branches 

 of iron united by a bolt, like two scissor-blades, which open, come together, and join 

 by a quadrant near the other end, form the tongs-carriage, which is mounted upon 

 two wheels like a truck. 



The same description will apply almost wholly to the iron-plate carriage, on which 

 the bucket is laid the moment it is taken out of the furnace ; the only difference in its 

 construction is, that on the bent iron bars which form the tail or lower steps of this 

 carriage (in place of the tongs) is permanently fastened an iron plate, on which the 

 bucket is placed and carried for the casting. 



Whenever the cuvette is set upon its carriage, it must be rapidly wheeled to its 

 station near the crane. The tongs T, above described, are now applied to the girdle, 

 and are^ then hooked upon the crane by the suspension-chains. In this position the 

 .bucket is skimmed by means of a copper tool called a sabre, because it has nearly the 



