Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/558

 448 1 he Architectural Review and American Builders Journal. [Jan. •> He next sprinkles both moulds with water, to cool them for the succeeding pair. In the whole process, he looks like a spirit, of the terrene realm of fire, engaged in some choice salamandrine cookery. These tiles cool with some tendency towards concavity, just within their edges on top ; but this is obviated by grinding them perfectly level, and finishing with a waxy lustre, that the}' may not be too smooth for the feet. The tiles being turned out upon an iron table, boys whisk them .off to the annealing furnace. A few steps further, and we reach a tall active man, with a press before him, similar to that of the lamp-stand moulder, but rather lighter in construc- tion. He is engaged in making tops for little, round, flat POMATTJM CUPS, or boxes ; the boxes themselves are formed in the same way. He has a little iron mould, with a separate iron collar, into which his assistant, from an iron rod, drops a small lump of molten glass, which the moulder cuts away from the glowing bottom of the rod, with a light pair of scissors, when the combined mould is pushed backward, on the press table, to its rest ; and instantly a plunger descends ; and drives the yielding glass into every part of the mould. Then the plunger rising, the mould is withdrawn ; and the workman stirs the square end of a little piece of board, say about an inch and a half wide, briskly around in the glass on the open mould, to keep the top of the new-formed cover well against the bottom of the mould, and this being opened, the cover is dropped out, and, as before, carried away by a boy to the annealing furnace. The cups or boxes, here described, would answer as well for shaving-cream, or any sub- stance of an unctuous nature. Moving around the spacious building ; and returning almost to the point where entered, we find a pair of sturdy work- men busy making conical Lamp or Gas-Shades. This pair, as in all the other cases, have several younger assistants. The assistant blower takes the molten glass out of the furnace upon his long iron blow-pipe ; puffs it out to the size of a large apple ; and partially shapes it, by means of a wooden mould, which he holds in one hand — with about two- fifths of one side cut away, so that its interior is of a very concave shape — by revolving within it the glass upon the rod, by means of which the mass is half formed and put back again into the in- candescent fluid in the furnace, for a fresh accretion. The tube — now taken by the principal workman — while the assistant returns to the former operation — is then blown into, swayed backward and forward — revolved, in order to obtain length and partial regularity in the combined mass — and the elongated flask rested revolvingly upon the bottom of a side-acting hinged wooden mould, oppor- tunely opened b}' an attendant boy, seated upon the pavement, with the mould between his legs, so that he can readily look into it, for the proper time of closing, which is when the whirling, flattening mass — becoming like an obtuse hollow cone, closed in at the bottom, nearly fills its mould, which being tightly closed, the workman blows and revolves his blow-pipe very briskl} r for a few seconds ; and, the mould being open, he takes his rod to the edge of a trough or dry vat ; and shaping the neck, or upper part, bjr revolving it within the blades of a pair of plyers ; and, giving the thin glass a little above, a smart tap, he detaches the shade, which is immediately taken up by a boy with a rod and hurried to the annealing furnaces. The glass bottom of the shade is cut out afterwards, hy running a hot slight iron rod around upon the edge of the shade. In all these processes, both the iron rods and the iron blow-pipes are guarded near their upper ends, or wher-