Glass Working Bending and Blowing 81 



types that are supposed to do so many things j indeed, most 

 tools that combine various kinds of usefulness do so at the 

 expense of each. At the same time the professional glass- 

 blower's blowpipe is somewhat of a snare and delusion to the 

 beginner, for whose benefit this is written. Later, when the 

 student has acquired a thorough experimental knowledge of his 

 material, he will find many advantages in the double flame, 

 but the author's experience is that an ordinary blowpipe such 

 as that described below will be the most satisfactory one with 

 which to commence work. 



A blowpipe should have the following characteristics 



1. It should stand upon a firm base. 



2. It should be capable of being tilted at any angle. 



3. It should be under control from one hand only. 



4. It should be capable of giving a flame 4" or 5" long, 

 tapering gradually from |" wide at the blowpipe to a fine point, 

 yet with a single sudden movement give the brush flame upwards 

 of 10" long, and spreading towards the end instead of tapering. 



5. It should be free from the white flame-tip at the jet. 

 Several such tools are upon the market, perhaps the most 



successful one being that known as "Letcher's Triple jet" 

 blowpipe at 2$s. (Fig. 70). One equally good, save that the 

 stand is unnecessarily high, is 

 Messrs. Fletcher, Russell & 

 Co.'s "C 10 " at i2s. 6d. The 

 latter tool would be almost 

 preferable to the former, if, in- 

 stead of having the flame some 

 10" or 12" above the bench, it 

 were cut down to half this 

 height ; an exercise quite easily 



performed by any one who has FlG - 7a ~^f r ^ tri P le 'J et 

 worked through Section II. * 



Letcher's blowpipe has three differently sized jets at angles 



1 Since writing the above, Messrs. Fletcher, Russell & Co. have 

 placed upon the market a new blowpipe, C 10 B, modified in accordance 

 with the author's suggestion, and capable of giving a flame in any direction. 

 See Fig. 71. 



G 



