Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 January 1875 — Malleable Glass. [ARTICLE]

Malleable Glass.

The French journals contain an » account of experiments made with a new kind of glass so perfectly annealed as to have lost all brittleness, wherefore the inventor calls it, justly or unjustly, malleable glass. His name is De la Bartre, and the experiments were made at the workshop of the railroad company of Pont d’Ain, said company wishing to ascertain the value of an invention which at the present day is exciting a great deal of interest, especially in such pursuits where glass is exposed to a great deal of strain and danger. ( A pane of common glass a quarter of an inch thick, of which the borders were supported by h wooden frame, was laid on the ground. A copper f weight of four ounces was dropped on its surface,elevating gradually the height of its fall. The glass broke at the shock caused by two-and-a-half feet of fall. In place of that pane anotlK-r,-half tuted, of one-eighth inch in thickness, of the glass tempered after the new method. The same weight was dropped, raising successfully to the height of the ceiling of the hall, without causing any damage to the glass. The experiments were continued outside the building, and the experimenter climbed on a ladder leaning against a wall, to let the weight fall, it broke at a fall from seventeen feet. It was then proved that the tempered glass does not break by shocks of longer or shorter duration, as the common glass does. It is broken in a great number of very small crystals, resulting from its new molecular disposition. When thrown on the ground the tempered glass rebounds, giving a special sound like that of the fall of a sheet of metal. The observations as to its resistance to heat have caused another series of experiments to be made. A strip of common glass was laid flat over the flame of a lamp. At the end of twenty-four seconds a sudden noise told that the glass was split. A glass annealed according to the new method subjected to the same — conditions resisted indefinitely. It was taken and plunged in a pail of water, put again all wet above the flame. It was in no way broken by the fire. Patents have been taken in France and in other countries. A society was formed at Bourg by the aid of some friends, who have offered their testimonial to the inventor. The buildings for manufacturing this kind of glass are in course of erection. We add to these details given by the local journals that the inventor patented .his process inFrance*" The claim of his invention is: As soon as the malleability begins the glass is thrown at once in a greasy, resinous or other substance, previously heated to various degrees, in proportion to the nature and quality of the glass on which they operate.— N. F. Grup/iie.