The Making of Glass Bottles.

Manawatu Herald, 18 January 1898, Page 3

The Making of Glass Bottles.

A PICTURESQUE INDUSTRY. ' (Concluded.) The grate 3 are on the same flak as the tank for the glass, and a great draught is obtained by methods not at first apparent. When the factory ia working full handed — for at present, owing to the lack of skilled workmen, it is not fully employed— it can turn out 240 gross bottles a week. The whole proccs3 takes place under the great chimney, which is bo strongly built that it would take an extraordinary earthquake to trouble it. Underneath this glass kitchen is the ground floor, where a ehed con taina coal and the chemicals re" quired, and where there ia a furnace for the purpose of •• burning " the sand prior to its uae for glass making. The supports of the chimney reach down, but are so built that the great ventilation desired ia easily obtainable. An opeu space is left under the gratea and four open passages radiate at right angles to the edges of the building. No matter what way the wind is blowing, there is always an ample draught coming through one of these passages and up into the grate 3. One can stand j in the passage almost under the red bars of the fiiea and feel the wind that always blow 3 there. Two very large packing and storage rooms are contained in a separate building. Here are stored enormous quantities of bottle 3 and jars of every kind— aerated water holies, fruit and preserving jars, dispensing bottles, j &c. The well-known St. George and Kirkpatrick jams are put up in the company's jar?, tho Now Zealand Glassware Company being the only glass workers in the colony in this particular line. The WelliDglon aerated water manufacturers are als?o supplied from this factory. In this j building is the clerical office, and a ! machine for grinding the flat tops j of those big preserving jars known I to every thrifty housewife. About : 80, men and boys are at present j employed in the factory, but its j capacity, as we have said <■ U con-1 aiderably over that number. Alto- j gether the visit to this factory gives | one the impression that it is a useful industry to the colony, and that it is j thriving under the able management of Mr Wm. Saunderson, as it fully deserves.