Drawing No. 2[2] represents the plan adopted in the French flint-glass
furnaces. These at one period were worked by noblemen only,--the labor
of the furnace-tender and taker-in being performed by servants, as
before stated. The apparel and general style of dress, as indicated by
the drawing, shows that more attention was paid to the fashion of the
day than to comfort. The form of the furnace being similar to the
Venetian shows it to have been subject to the same unnecessary waste of
fuel; but it would appear that the French manufacturers had taken one
step towards improvement, in using the waste fuel of the furnace to
anneal their glass. The Venetians had a separate furnace to anneal
their glass, supported by independent fires, as used at the present
day.
[2] See drawing No. 2, at end of book.
The place marked D, over the crown of the furnace, is the door of the
annealing oven; but the drawing is so imperfect that the artist does
not show by what flues the smoke escapes, or in what way the glass was
drawn from the annealing oven; for only the external view of the
furnace is given. But it is fair to presume that the plan was the same
as still exists in France, and as adopted by a French company now
working a flint-glass factory in Williamsburg, near New York;
viz.,--the taker-in, so called, mounts by steps to door D and places
the articles in iron pans, which are slowly drawn over the furnace and
through another door on the opposite side, to allow the glass vessels
to cool gradually. The use of this plan is sustained by writers who
describe the tools used to carry the glass articles into the upper oven
to cool. In connection with the drawings of the ancient glass-furnaces,
we deem it proper to give a drawing of glass-makers' tools[3] in use at
that period, so that the glass-makers of the present day may observe
with what instruments their noble predecessors in the art performed
their labor.
[3] See drawing No. 3, at end of book.
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