November, 1905 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



309 



" The Needles " — The Dining-Room 



Glass for Building and Paving 



HE manufacture of bricks of glass for build- 

 ing and paving purposes is one of the newest 

 of European industries. The bricks are 

 made by patented processes, and their use, 

 as yet, has been somewhat limited. The in- 

 dications are, however, that a new and im- 

 portant industry has been opened up, and a new material 

 obtained which is probably destined to have great usefulness. 

 The most notable results have been achieved under the 

 Garchey patents, in which an artificial stone is made from 

 glass. 



It is manufactured in a variety of forms for paving 

 streets, sidewalks and gutters, and for the uses for which 

 porcelain and other tiles are employed, as tiling the walls 

 and floors of bathrooms, operating-rooms in hospitals, wait- 

 ing-rooms and staircases of railroad stations, etc. As the 

 stone has the chemical and physical qualities of glass it is not 

 readily attacked by chemical products, so that it can be used 

 in factories and laboratories where acids and other chemicals 

 are employed, and being impermeable to moisture can be 

 used in cellars and other places where there is much 

 humidity. The stone is also molded in ornamental forms 

 and can be made according to the drawings of architects and 

 interior designers for decorative purposes in drawing-rooms, 

 offices, etc. Owing to its cost, in comparison with other 



materials, this stone has not yet been used in the construction 

 of buildings. 



Tiles of the same material have also been used for walls 

 and floors. Owing to their extreme hardness these tiles 

 are not easy to cut, so it is difficult to place them in position 

 or to redress them when they are worn. The smooth tiles 

 become slippery, but with those that are roughened satisfac- 

 tory results have been obtained. As these tiles can neither 

 be cut nor drilled, except with great difficulty, it is not easy 

 to hang pictures or advertisements. For the staircases it 

 has been found that the tiles become polished rapidly, which 

 makes them slippery when wet. 



Up to the present time the paving, without having given 

 bad results, does not appear to be wearing as well as that 

 made of natural stone. It has been noticed that alongside 

 of the car tracks the paving shows signs of deterioration. 

 It is somewhat expensive to keep the streets in good repair. 

 The thinness of the bricks renders them fragile, and being 

 laid directly on a foundation of concrete they are more liable 

 to break, while their sonorousness is increased. It has been 

 suggested that, if the bricks were four inches thick and laid 

 like the natural stone blocks on a foundation of sand, they 

 would have given much better results. At the present time 

 the city of Paris has no intention of substituting artificial 

 paving blocks of glass for those made of natural stone. 



