The Manufacture of Table Ware in Tank Furnaces

JSGT_1919_V03_T242_T249 (8 pages)

The title was suggested as a result, of a discussion concerning the efficacy and efficiency of the pot furnace in comparison with the tank furnace for the making and melting of flint, table ware, or crystal glass. Possibly it would be well for me to define here what we, in America, consider to be flint glass. Flint glass with us means, in general, anything which is clear or crystal like, and usually takes no account, of composition. However, this paper, and I trust its subsequent discussion by your members, regards as flint glass one having a composition between the limits: silica 78%, calcium oxide 6%, and sodium and potassium oxides 16%, and silica 62%, lead oxide 26%, potassium and sodium 12%. Therefore you will observe that my presentation of the use of a tank furnace for the manufacture of table ware or flint glass takes in a considerable territory, and I trust that you will recognise that my attempt to present the conditions governing the design and operation of tank furnaces suitable for producing a glass of first quality must be subject to certain qualifications, since one can here deal only with the general problem and not with all the details met with in actual practice.

R. L. Frink