The furnace built by Mr. Bakewell in 1808 contained only six pots,
twenty inches in diameter, which were replaced in 1810 by a ten-pot
furnace of a larger capacity, and in 1814 another furnace was added to
the works, of like capacity.
In 1809 another concern sprung up, and carried on the business on a
limited scale; in 1812 another succeeded, making three concerns
carrying on the business; and in 1810 another company was formed, but
failed in a few years.
There are now in Pittsburg nine concerns manufacturing flint-glass,
running thirteen furnaces and one hundred and five pots. There are also
three concerns at Wheeling, running five furnaces and forty-five pots.
There are also at Wellsville, Steubenville, and Cincinnati one or two
factories each, besides several manufactories for green glass jars, and
one for the making of porter bottles; one also for mineral-water
bottles.
The first glass-cutting works were opened in 1809 by a German of the
name of Echbaum, who had settled in Pittsburg some years previously.
Mr. Bakewell also carried on glass-cutting, and among his workmen was
an Englishman who had served as a soldier in Canada, being taken as a
prisoner in one of the battles on the Lakes in 1813. He proved not only
a good glass-cutter, but an excellent mechanic, in various branches;
but still a dissipated and idle man, and of course of but little
service in the manufactory.
One of the amusing incidents connected with the manufacture occurred
when General Clark (then Governor of Missouri) took a party of Osage
Chiefs to Washington. On their way they visited Bakewell's Glass-Works,
and their attention was greatly excited; they watched with great
curiosity the process of making various articles, and the mode of
affixing the handle to a glass pitcher quite disturbed the equanimity
of the head chief, who, after shaking hands with the workmen, said,
through the interpreter, "That man must have had some intercourse with
the Great Spirit."
The following, from Sigma's pen, shows a decanter-stopper can be made
to point a moral or illustrate a satire:--"Mr. Flint, in his 'Ten Years
in the Valley of the Mississippi,' tells a pleasant story of an Indian
who told him he had _big diamond_, for which he had given trader _much
beaver_. A time was appointed, and Mr. Flint visited the wigwam to
examine the diamond, which, after considerable mystery, was brought
forth from its place of concealment, and proved to be a broken glass
decanter-stopper. When an individual, eminent for his talents and
learning, has been justly decorated with the degree of LL.D., and finds
the same mark of distinction bestowed upon others who are remarkable
for neither, he cannot fail to perceive an amusing resemblance between
his diploma and Kunkerpot's diamond."
IMITATION OF MUSLIN-GLASS.
Here is a simple and ingenious means of giving to glass the appearance
of delicately wrought muslin:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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