A LOST GERMAN MONOPOLY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 183, 29 April 1919, Page 7

A LOST GERMAN MONOPOLY

BRITISH VICTORY IN OPTICAL GLASS TRADE ONE FIRM DOUBLED 1914 OUTPUT ' No. section of trade lias done. more to make/ itself rcad.y for the new era nfter, tha war than tho optical glass industry— a section .of the trade whose importance wa never fully realised till we were at war. and the supply of German glass was cut off. ' Tn the early days of the war a' considerable part of our artillery was equipped with sun sights exclusively manufactured in Germany by .Hie. firm of Goerz; for months our Army clamoured in vain for an abundant supply of tiirocnhis (which till' lately were largely made from German, glass):- and then, with the. development' of flying, there arose n huge demand fur cameras for aerial photography, which required the very best lisxs'S made. The. sudden expansion of our Army, Navy, and Air iovce brought an i-n.i----mous demand for all sorts of vitally important scientific instruments, in which the finest optical glass is essential. Yet at flint time there was only one firm -in the United Kingdom .making optical glass —Messrs. Chance .Brothers and Co., Ltd., of Smethwick, near Birmingham—ami it ,was to them and to a French firm that for a Ion? time the whole-of (lis Allies had to look for their supplies of this yitnl article, '('.he fact that to-day Brit-ish-made optical glass is in every respect . equal to the much-boomed ' .Twin class—and in ram« respect actually surpasses the German article—stands largely to the credit.of Messrs. Chalice, who till recently remained the solo matiufactur-. ers of optical glass.in. the.country.

Never a Paying Trade. 'Sir. •ft.. .T. Stobart, the director of the optical section of their great works, told mo 'that the- firm has manufactured optical- glass for seventy .years.' "It was never a commercial proposition for us," 6<ti<r lie. "We en cried on largely lromrpal'rioric motives, and also because we knew that if we closed it down (he optical class industry would absolutely disappear from this country." Messrs. Chance set to wofk promptly to increase their production "to incut the ever-'exteudihg Government demands. "It w'iis>hot so easy' (for' us to ilie'l'MlSo'output "'as.:it was for engineers, to increase thoir-output of shells, said Sir. tSlobart. "The making of optical glnss is a' highly technical 'matter; and yon .can't"'train men to do it in liveminutes." .Side'-liv side- with increased production tliov achieved, as. the result of: careful research'and much work in. .the laboratory, great Advances in.the optical qualities of: the- tftßsaeß produced. •• In 1911 Messrs.' Chance, .listed' about- two- dozen kinds-of optical glass;• to-day they give our' British lens-makers an nrrrfyof sixdozen different kinds to .choose' from, and .if there is a sufficient demand they could .'produce even the remaining specialities''.in miscrscopc lenses that are. at present the monopoly of enemy manufacturers., • ■ ••■.'.■ .'...'• . .Tust.'before the nrmistii'c .was signed, when the demands, from the Hying service.were so great, Messrs: Chance were producing twice as-, much optical glass as .the -whole world was producing eaiiy lirlilii. • • • .- ■•■ • Mr. ..Stobart. was..confident that they .vmid now meet the demands of tlis : vrliole tountr'v" without difficulty,-but-ho regretted that already they have had to close down ;somc furnaces because the demands of the' manufacturers who use optical, glass ;as their" raw material have been Mow .-in. coining. forward-. . . Apropos .of,this, it is "interesting to note tn.it. the ■■phntograpliic .Press is already vriiiuh'ing why our -British' lens-makers nave been so slow to -tell 'the. British, public in these, days of preparing for Peace that British lenses made of British glass aro now" the finest of any kind that the photographer in those countries iimltl ever obtain, and that the' talk of German'superiority in lens manufacture is now a..'t>rickPti 'bubble. .'. The finest'work that-oiir-'-flvin.i! men have done with the: camera has. ben .done -with, British ieHKS made nf British glass. '•