JOHN A. WILLIAMS. 267 



pans, which are about 2^ ft. long and a trifle less in 

 width than the leer. The pans are provided with 

 wheels which run on tracks extending the length of the 

 leer. They are attached to each other, and the whole train 

 of twenty to forty pans is propelled by means of a winch 

 located at the exit end. As a pan is filled with ware, 

 the whole train is pulled down about 2^ ft. so as to 

 make room for another pan, which in turn is loaded and 

 and the train again moved toward the exit end. Thus 

 the contents of each pan are gradually removed to a 

 locality of less temperature, thereby effecting the cool- 

 ing in a gradual manner. The results obtained by this 

 process of annealing are fully equal in most cases to 

 those obtained by the longer process. However, where 

 some of the ware is very heavy and some of much less 

 weight, the heat employed is liable to be either too little 

 for the one or too great for the other. 



The moulds generally employed, in which the glass is 

 shaped, are made of a fine grade of cast iron. They 

 usually are made in halves, which work on a hinge, and 

 are so arranged that they may be opened or closed by 

 the blower at will. Such lettering or designs as are to 

 appear on the glass bottle are cut into the mould. Con- 

 siderable skill and dexterity are shown in the operation 

 of shaping and manipulating the liquid glass into the 

 required forms. 



The general process in bottle making is as follows : 

 The glass is gathered from the furnace on an iron tube, 

 which is 4 to 6 ft. long, the amount of glass gathered 

 depending on the required weight of the article to be 

 blown. It is then rolled on a stone slab or an iron plate, 

 the workman giving the pipe a rotary motion with his 

 hands. This rolling is accompanied by occasional blow- 

 ing on the part of the workman, these operations regu- 

 lating the distribution of the glass in the article about 

 to be blown, and also fashions it into a shape resembling 



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