:,oo 



NATURE 



[November 13, 1919 



and certainly* dominated the markets of the world, or 

 even in the resuscitation of other sections (e.g. the 

 so-called "flint " glass sections) of the industry, which, 

 though long established in this country, were rapidly 

 declining as the result of unfair foreign competition. 

 The feature even more significant than either of these, 

 and the ground of the future hope that a stable and 

 prosperous British glass industry will be firmly estab- 

 lished, is the shedding of the old spirit of isolation and 

 exclusiveness which possessed the manufacturers of 

 this country. Invariably in each works there existed 

 a policy of secrecy, together with an unwarranted 

 satisfaction with old-fashioned rule-of-thumb manu- 

 facturing ideas and an absence of scientific method. 

 This inevitably resulted in inability to organise for 

 production upon progressive modern lines. During the 

 w.ir there has been a wonderful awakening to the new 

 possibilities of glass production in this country, and 

 there is now happily evidenced among the manufac- 

 turers a new spirit of co-operation combined with an 

 enthusiasm for investigation and research, and a 

 desire to adopt new methods and equipment-involving 

 the scientific control of rrtanufacturing operations. 



The establishment of the Glass Research Associa- 

 tion, which after nearly twelve months' spade-work 

 by an earnest provisional committee was launched on 

 its career on October 14 at the first general meeting 

 held at the Institute of Chemistry, when the first 

 council of the association was elected, well illustrates 

 the changed aspect which the industry has assumed. 

 This association has been formed on the lines ap- 

 proved by the Department of Scientific and Industrial 

 Research for the encouragement of research. During 

 the next five years the association will expend .»t least 

 ioo,oooJ. upon investigations into the many problems 

 of glass and glassware manufacture. 



There is a vast and difficult field to cover, as will 

 appear from the consideration of the following groups 

 of main problems to be attacked : — Chemical and 

 physical properties of glasses ; fuels, refractories, fur- 

 naces, treatment of glass-making materials, glass- 

 founding, temperature measurement and control ; 

 glassware-forming operations (hand and mechanical), 

 glassware-making machinery ; annealing, lamp-blown 

 work, and other finishing operations ; design, lay- 

 out, and equipment of glass factories; and scientific 

 methods of storing, packing, and transit. These are but 

 the general problems. When they are considered in rela- 

 tion to the enormous varieties of types of glass articles, 

 from common bottles, food and beverage containers, 

 chemical and medical bottles, on one hand, to the 

 elaborate products of the lamp-blown glassware bench- 

 worker (e.g. condensers, gas-analysis apparatus, ther- 

 mometers, artificial eyes. X-ray tubes, syringes, etc.) 

 on the other; from window-glass and plate-glass to 

 beakers, flasks, and accurately calibrated and 

 graduated glassware ; from tumblers and the 

 numerous domestic and fancy articles of glassware in 

 common use to electric lamps, miners'-lamp glasses, 

 and a host of articles essential for illuminating pur- 

 poses ; and, in addition, the varieties of special glasses 

 required for scientific instruments, for decorative pur- 

 poses, for machinery, and for bui'ding, it is easy to 

 realise that the problems arc not lacking in number, 

 variety, or fascination. 



To consider onlv one problem for a moment : the 

 manufacture of glass tubing. All scientific workers 

 understand the essential importance of being able to 

 obtain varieties of glass tubing having definite 

 chemical and phvsical properties, and at the same time 

 satisfying stipulated decrees of dimensional accuracv 

 within narrow limits. Few realise the enormous diffi- 

 culties involved in the production of such tubing, the 

 wastage caused by the careful selection necessary to 



NO. 261 1, VOL. 104] 



obtain satisfactory quality, and how much depends 

 upon the high degree of individual skill in the worker 

 engaged in glass tube-drawing. The Glass Research 

 .Association will not rest satisfied until, bv securing 

 the concentration of engineering genius upon thi< 

 problem, glass tubing can be turned out with dimen- 

 sional accuracy comparable with that secured in pro- 

 ducing tubing of brass or other metals, and at the 

 same time possessing such specific chemical and 

 physical properties as are necessary for workabilitv in 

 the blow-lamp. This problem affects vitallv a whole 

 section of the industry- the lamp-blown scientific 

 glassware section — for glass tubing is the raw material 

 of this section, and the problems involved in making 

 many precise and important instruments (e.P. butvro- 

 meters, clinical and other thermometers, hydrometers, 

 etc.) are nearly all solved when the proper tubing can 

 be accurately and conslstentlv produced. 



There are at the present time approximatelv four 

 hundred firms engaged in class and glassware manu- 

 facture in the I'nlted Kint'dom, emoloving about 

 50,000 workers. It is anticipated that the research 

 work of the association will commence in earnest at 

 the beginning of next year. Hefore that date the 

 council of the association hopes that everv one of these 

 four hundred firms will have applied for membership. 



The report of the provisional committee to the 

 general meeting on October 14 showed that a member- 

 shin of 107 liad alreadv been reached : that a promise 

 hnd been secured from the Committee of the Privy 

 Council for Scientific and Industrial Research to pav 

 to the association a total grant not exceedincf ^c.roof. 

 within a period of five rears on condition that during 

 this period members of the association contribute an 

 as'freMte sum of not less than 5000J. per annum in 

 S'lbscriptlons. The financial statement also revealed 

 that towards this sum of 5000L per annum promises 

 from the ;n7 members had reached ^()<d\. to<t. (sub- 

 scriptions from members are on a voluntarv basis 

 from Tol. to 1000!. per annum, according to ahilitv to 

 pav), and, in addition to this, the association had 

 received a handsome donation of 1000?. from a wel!- 

 known firm of glass manufacturers. 



In addressing this first general meeting'nf the Glass' 

 Research .Association. Sir Frank Heath. Secrptarv (if 

 the Denartment of Scientific and Industrial Research, 

 who with his colleagues hns rendered invaluable assis:- 

 ance to the promoters of the associntion, congratulated 

 the members upon having brought together in this 

 scheme of co-operative research such diverse sections 

 of a complex indnsf-v. and also upon the parti-'ularly 

 high financial contribution secured from the Govern- 

 ment, due to the in'-luslon of unstable "key" indiistry 

 sections of the g'ass industry, and the recognition 

 that. In snite of the great things alreadv nccnmnllshed 

 In the production of these special tvpes of glassware, 

 an enormoi's amount of research and experimental 

 work Is still necessary to place these sections on a 

 firm foundation. 



Rpforring to various phases of the future activities 

 of the Glass Reseir<~h .Association, Sir Fmnk Heath 

 suggested that eyisting facilities such as those avail- 

 ahle at the National Phvsical Laboratorv and the 

 Sheffield Unlversltv Department of Glass Terhnology 

 should be used to the utmost, at anv rate in the initial 

 stages; that a bureau of information shon'd 1-ve estab- 

 lished : and that verv careful efforts shou'd be made 

 to obtain the right director of research. The irnoort- 

 ance of his beinf able to win the best from his re- 

 search workers bv "team-work" was mentioned. In 

 this connection the council of the association wishes 

 it to be widely known amongst scientific workers 

 that it is anxious to secure thnt the liest available 

 scientific brains and ability shall be devoted to the 



