Trip through McLaughlin Glass Company

All Day Long They Blow and Blow

Top, left, G. Cornell, blowing ice holder for fruit juice container, and James Carlson, a helper, at the McLaughlin Glass Company, Fifty-second and Long Beach boulevard. Upper left, Bert Mosley gathering glass from furnace and, lower, Mosley blowing hot glass.

BY AGNES UNDERWOOD

FOREVER blowing bubbles!

Rather a hot job in this par­ticular case, yet these same bub­bles furnish some of the most im­portant necessities of our life. It is really surprising to look around and see and count the many things used in our daily routine made of glass.

Through the courtesy of the own­ers of the McLaughlin Glass com­pany, we took a trip through their factory yesterday and were amazed at the way the various things were made of glass and the ease and ra­pidity with which the work is car­ried on.

It is almost impossible to imagine anything as hot as the furnace in which the glass is melted. In look­ing into the small opening from which the glass is gathered, it seems that we are looking at the bricks on the bottom of it, the mixture inside being so transparent.

The heat waves coming from this furnace are so terrific that it is not an uncommon thing for the workers to faint, especially during the sum­mer season, and the gatherers who take the glass directly from the fur­nace, have a job that is a “job."

The glass is drawn out on the end of a long hollow iron rod, and un­less the blower knows his business, and works fast, the glass falls be­fore it has had time to set. Some of the articles are entirely hand blown, some blown into a mold and some just molded. Of course the latter are the cheaper grade. After they have been blown or molded in­to the desired shape, they are tem­pered in one of the hot ovens for several hours, then the rough edges are ground or cut.

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ONE man was making those beau­tiful glass lamps that are filled with pretty colored water. Imagine our surprise when he told us that there was from 16 to 20 pounds of glass in each one of the particular kind he was making. How many of us could get that much red hot glass on the end of a stick and make it stay where we wanted it too. An­other man, who was described to us as a mechanic, makes beautiful lit­tle glass bud vases, with a green snake wound around them to make the stand for them; others were making the ice container for these fruit juice containers we see on soda fountains; another crew were mak­ing fish bowls while still others were making insulators for telephone and telegraph poles. Every man had a certain little important thing to do and every one was right on the job to do his share.

Few of us realize the skill, down­right hard work and "blows" re­quired to furnish us with some of our "glass" comforts of life.