Hemingray Glass Company - Muncie, Indiana

WHAT BALL BROS. WILL DO.

Intend to Equip Their Entire Plant

With the Jar Machines.

GLASS NEWS FROM MANY PLACES.

"Mack" Visits Numerous Points and

Gives Much News.

MUNCIE, IND., April 26. - The machines for making fruit jars at Ball Bros. factories here are so successful that next season the entire plant will be operated with them. Plungers and molds are now being made for half gallon jars, which can now be turned out as successfully on the machines as pints or quarts. I have Frank Ball's word for it, that they expect to equip the entire plant with machines.

The pressers and gatherers are still working day-work. The wages paid are, pressers, $5; gatherers, $3.75 per day. A piecework list is in contemplation and will probably be adopted for next season. About 260 dozen quarts and 325 dozen pints are produced per turn. The product of the machine is estimated to be a saving of 65 per cent on the cost of the blown jar. This estimate includes the cost of chipping and grinding necessary on the blown jar, and still the pressed jar is clearer and free from "blow-over."

The fruit jar blowers have become reconciled to the success of the machines and are looking at the question calmly. If it had been nonunion men who supplanted the blowers the sentiment would probably be different. Even as it is there are some who do not take kindly to the innovation, and particularly to the "exclusion act." But be that as it may, it is still a fact, that a much better condition prevails at Ball Bros." factories with the introduction of the pressers than might be anticipated under ordinary circumstances. The introduction of pressers in the fruit jar trade while an innovation, does not degrade the trade, though they do supplant the blowers. The blowers have suffered no sacrifices, as will be observed by the wages paid, which is in some respects are equal to the standard paid in any press shop. The presser's work on fruit jars is not as laborious as the work on many articles in a regular press factory. The gatherer's work, however, is more tedious than the average work done by a gatherer.

The machine is being simplified daily, and those now in use are much different from the ones first tried here. The Ball Bros. have shown a better spirit than the average manufacturer shows when he gets hold of something in which he thinks he has an advantage. It has been the custom to seek for cheapness, and in that other manufacturers have gone to the extreme, but Ball Bros. have been more liberal, and will no doubt profit by their liberality. While seeking for a cheap process they also sought for skill, and were willing to pay for it. Though this process has developed a condition which is not on a par with the former standard of blowing, it is a prevailing condition, and whether the old blowers accept it or not, pressing is a recognized condition in the glass trade, and it is here to stay. If the various branches of the glass trade do not get any further away from ordinary conditions than the fruit jar trade has done then there is hope for the future of the trade; but there are still innovations in store which may be regarded with alarm, particularly by the bottle trade.

THE RED HEART BRAND.

At Maring, Hart & Co.'s window glass factory here they are making good glass. They usually sort well, which gives the firm a good prestige on the market with "Excelsior Brand." Then the red heart which is stamped on every box of glass that goes out is not an indication the Tom is giving away his heart with every box of glass, but rather that every light in the box is as true as Tom is when he thinks he is on the right track.

C. H. Over's window factory is coming around all right again. The tank has given them a little trouble, and they had to stop a few weeks ago to put in tank blocks, but that is the common custom with tanks, and does not bother C. H. Over much; for he has grown gray in the business, and he comes up smiling every time.

Hemingray's flint glass factory is holding its own; still they complain of prices and appear to think that this year the press trade is "up against it." They are doing fairly well on insulators. Dan Hemingray, of Covington, Ky., who has charge of the company's office there, and who also attends to the selling, was calling on his brother Ralph at the factory last week. Dan is a typical salesman, and could give some in the business a few points and then win out.

The Muncie Flint Glass Co. are pushing along as usual and are up with the procession. They appear to be in the green as well as the flint glass business to stay, and have put on a number of shops lately.

C. R. Hardesty, the window glass blower at Hart's, has built a residence. He is well equipped, as he owns a horse, buggy, and a cow. Chas. Sheridan, of Ottawa, is gathering at Hart's; Benj. Maury, of Olean, N. Y., is also there. Dr. J. O. Allen, for several years boss cutter at Maring, Hart & Co.'s, and who went to Louisville, Ky., to study medicine about three years ago, will probably hang out his shingle at Indianapolis. His many friends in the trade will wish him success.

Ralph Potts, at Gas City this fire, was called to the bedside of his wife, who is quite sick at their home here. P. J. Connon, of Defiance, O., is working here this season. John W. Tobin, the blower who usually rusticates during the summer with his father-in-law at Mitchell, Mo., is here again this year. His father-in-law is Jos. Cardott, Sr., who for many years blowed at St. Louis when the French Window Glass Co. operated there. Mr. Cardott has retired, and is living on his farm at Mitchell.

Among the many others we met at Maring, Hart & Co.'s, who wanted to know the latest war news were: Thos. Hogan, the flattener, of Clyde, N. Y.; Winfield Brand, John C. Haines, Aug. Smith, Jas. Mullen, Geo. Reynolds, Harry Iles, Thos. Lowe, Steve Pierce, the veteran cutter; William C. Bracey, D. Houze, Jos. Bard, A. Doolittle, Harry Fisher, Chas. S. Wood, Chas. Sterbeck, Fred Povey, late of Norristown, Pa.; Albert Shinn, Geo. Reiff, Carl Lonck, Leon Houze, Frank Abbott, E. W. Bankard, N. W. Bastian, and H. Schnase.

At Over's, A. J. Smith, the ex-secretary of L. A. 300, is looking just as natural as ever. The only change about him is that he has moved from one side of the furnace to the other. A new blow furnace has been erected. It sits against the wall and is different from the average blow furnace for there is only ring holes on one side of it, at which four blowers work.

Frank Ladue, who hails from the County Line, Mich., is gathering here this fire, also Jos. Mitchell, of Toledo. Wm. Williams, of Hornsby, Ill., is here. L. B. Hewits, of Dear's Creek, N. J., the flattener who sports a yacht and may be found along the Atlantic coast cruising for Spaniards next summer, is back here again, as is also his partner and townsman, S. E. Page.

Otto Walter, blower, of Revenna, O., but late of Pittsburg, has just returned to work after a two week's layoff owing to being badly cut on the elbow by a roller. Phil Spanial, of Baltimore, is here again, as is also E. D. Von Scio, the flattener, formerly of Quaker City, O., but now of Columbus, O. J. W. Hoffman is filling a place here this fire. Jacob Schmidt, the flattener, formerly of Jeannette, is well placed here and says he wishes he had come two years sooner.

Frank Russell, of Streator, and D. K. Miller, of Bellaire, O., help to swell the crowd at Over's, among whom are also Henry and Martin McCann, Louis Munn, Wm. Kaltenbach, Sid Ong, Thos. Dixon, W. H. Deming, Len Webb, Ed Burkhart, Ed Welsh, Paul Schmidt, Jos. Carville, Alfred Alt, Godfrey Weil, H. P. Dick, Frank Green, Louis Blum, C. Martin, Ed Zeller, J. H. Cashdollar, Harry Hart, J. A. Haus, N. G. Webb, and Rufus Darby.

Wm. Switzer has a wheel and is going to ride all the way to Jersey next summer.

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