British Manufacturing Industries: Pottery, Glass and Silicates, Furniture and Woodwork.Arnoux, Léon
History
British Manufacturing Industries: Pottery, Glass and Silicates, Furniture and Woodwork.
Arnoux, Léon
Manufacturing industries -- Great Britain
nitrate, when gently warmed; but the mixtures must not be made too
hot. In silvering plates of glass, they are first well cleaned, then
placed in a perfectly level position, and the silvering liquid is
poured over the surface, the room in which the operation is performed
being kept sufficiently warm to assist the deposition. When enough
silver has been deposited on the glass, the liquid is poured off and
the plate dried, while the silver film is protected by being coated
with a suitable hard varnish. The composition of the mixtures used by
different persons is generally kept secret, though the chemical
principle of the reduction of the silver salt is the same. Glasses
silvered by this process sometimes lose their brilliancy, by becoming
covered on their silvered side with small spots. It is however stated
that this results either from a bad system of deposition, or from the
film of silver not being sufficiently thick and solid.
_Flint Glass_, although called by this name, is not made from flint,
but from the best sand, of pure and dazzling whiteness, obtained from
Alum Bay, in the Isle of Wight, and from Fontainebleau, in France. The
cost per ton is from 1_l._ to 1_l._ 15_s._, whereas the price of
the sand used for making plate glass is about one-eighth of that
amount. The alkali employed is generally extremely good carbonate of
potash, whereas soda is used in the manufacture of the other kinds of
glass which have been described. The addition of a small quantity of
black oxide of manganese is sometimes necessary to correct the slight
tint imparted by iron, which seems to be always present in minute
quantities, even in the purest samples of sand. Oxide of lead in the
form of red lead, in this sort of glass, takes the place of lime. The
advantages derived from using the oxide are, that it makes the mixture
more fusible, and also imparts that particular brilliancy and lustre
so peculiarly characteristic of well-made flint glass. In different
works, various mixtures are made for the composition of the glass; but
to give an idea of the proportions in which the materials are mixed,
it will be well to quote the statement of M. Payen, who says that of
the finest crystal flint glass, the following is the composition:
sand, 3; red lead 2 to 2-1/4; carbonate of potash, 1-1/2 to 1-2/3. A
little nitre or saltpetre is used as an oxidizing agent. The
glass-pots employed in this branch of the manufacture are covered, so
that the flames of the furnace do not come in contact with the
materials, the object in thus isolating them from direct contact with
the flame being to prevent the entrance of impurities, by which the
colour might be injured. On account of the pots being covered, the
materials take a much longer time to get hot, and require quite double
the time in founding that sheet or plate glass does; the presence of
oxide of lead materially assisting the rapidity of the fusion. When
flint glass is ready for working, the time required to work off a pot
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