

[ 9 i8] 



NATURE 



265 



SCIENTIFIC GL ISSW [RE. 



T"*HE manufacture of scientific glasswan must 

 1 be regarded as .1 single industry ratlin- from 

 the point of view of its markets than from thi 

 the processes employed. Ii includes, in the first 

 place, several branches ol the glass trade. Lighl 

 hollow ware, such .is beakers and flasks, are blown 

 in tin- glasshouse, the mass ol glass on the blowing 

 iron being rotated during the process ol blowing 

 in the mould, so that no mould marks appear on 

 the finished article. In this respect the processes 

 dentical with those employed in the manu- 

 ligbting ware, and differ essentially 

 from those of common bottle-blowing. Mechanical 

 methods arc largely employed in the finishing pro- 

 •, ssi's. The manufacture of heavy goods, such as 

 desiccators, which ma\ be pressed, blown in 

 moulds, or partly or entirely made by hand, 

 belongs to other branches of the trade. Tube 

 drawing is .in entirely different branch of the in- 

 dustry, important in itself and furnishing the raw- 

 material for the manufacture of light and delicate 

 es oi apparatus at the hands of the lamp- 

 worker. Finally, we have the accessory trades of 

 grinding, polishing, and graduating, and others of 

 minor importance. 



Prior to the outbreak of the war the blowing of 

 light hollow ware in this country was practically con- 

 fined to the manufacture of electric-lighting bulbs 

 and gas globes, of which vast quantities, including 

 the whole ol the resistance lighting ware, were 

 aPso imported. Beakers, flasks, and similar articles 

 were entirely imported. Though the British ^lass- 

 worker is probably the most highly skilled handi- 

 craftsman in the world, the whole of our hca\ \ 

 chemical hollow- ware came from Germany and 

 \ustiia, an occasional piece only, to a special pat- 

 tern, being made in an English glasshouse. Tube 

 drawing, principally for gauge glasses, was prac- 



ised tO a certain extent; but the whole ol the 



high-grade glass for the lamp-worker came from 

 1 iermany. Finally, our means of production of 

 glass instruments, graduated or otherwise, stop- 

 ., were insignificant compared with our 

 requirements, even in peace-time. 



It is probable that in the month of August, 

 H114, and for main months later, no Government 

 Department appreciated the fact that the successful 

 carrying on of the war depended in a large 

 nn asure oh the maintenam e of the supply of scien- 

 tific glassware. In this case, as in the case of 

 other essential goods or materials which had 

 previously been imported from enemy countries, 

 no attempt was made to organise production, 

 which was left to private enterprise. 



The manufacture of such goods as beakers and 

 tlasks was not an attractive enterprise, particu- 

 larly as a four-year war appeared to be Outside 

 the bounds of possibility, and there seemed little 

 prospect of retaining the industry after the con- 

 clusion ol peai e. However, not main- weeks had 

 Messrs. Baird and I atkx k (Lon- 

 don), Ltd., Messrs. Moncrieff, of Perth, and 

 Missis. Wood Bros., of Barnsley, decided inde- 

 2562, VOL. I02] 



pendently to venture in the national interest, 

 nst-named by building a new- glassworks 

 (Duroglass, Ltd.), the others by extending their 

 ng glassworks. Within a year of the 

 declaration of war British flasks and beakers were 

 on the market. 



Those of us who arc interested in chemical 

 hollow ware must have a painful recollection of 

 the exhibition held in the rooms of the Chemical 

 Society in November, 1915. It showed that 

 beakers, flasks, etc., ware being made in this 

 itry, and from resistance glasses, and gave 

 hope for the future ; but the goods exhibited can 

 scarcely have been said to show either the 

 regularity in thickness or the finish to which 

 chemists had been accustomed. The exhibit of 

 the British Chemical Ware Manufacturers' Asso- 

 ciation at the British Science Guild's Exhibition at 

 King's College in August last will, we hope, wipe 

 out the memory of the earlier days. 



While scientific literature contains scant in- 

 formation on the subject of glass, a good deal of 

 information was available to those who knew 

 where to look for it. The dealers in glassware 

 possessed extensive information as to the varieties 

 of German and Austrian glass which had been 

 imported. Samples of the glasses were easily 

 acquired, and when these were analysed informa- 

 tion was obtained which, combined with a working 

 knowledge of commercial materials, was sufficient 

 to enable a chemist to work out formula; for the 

 glasses. The formula; might be slightly modified 

 after trial in the glasshouse, but the actual pro- 

 duction of glasses identical with, or even superior 

 to, those which had previously been imported 

 presented no particular difficulties. 



At every stage in the manufacture of light 

 hollow ware new processes and methods of work- 

 ing had to be devised, and old prejudices of the 

 British glass trade fought down. The design of 

 moulds, the working of the glass on the iron, and 

 the blowing- in the mould had to be studied 

 carefully so as to ensure uniformity of production. 

 The annealing- of the glass, which differed in its 

 behaviour from the usual British glasses, required 

 particular attention. The finishing of the goods 

 was at first carried out by skilled men in the glass- 

 house, but it soon became necessary to replace 

 the man by the girl and the machine. 



Success in every trade depends largely upon 

 organisation. In the English glass trade the 

 furnace has been used as a means of melting glass 

 during- the week-end, and of keeping it hot during 

 the week while the goods are being made. In 

 modern glassworks practice a furnace is looked 

 upon as a machine for melting glass, the pots 

 being worked out as fast as possible, any reheat- 

 ing of articles during working being performed in 

 subsidiary furnaces, called glory holes. In the 

 most modern type of furnace the glass is melted 

 by night, and the pots are worked out every day 

 and filled again, so as to be ready for the next 

 day. This is probably the best kind of furnace 

 for working light scientific and lighting hollow 

 and in working other classes of goods the 



