Abstract
SHEFFIELD. Society of Glass Technology, June 18.—Mr. S. N. Jenkinson, president, in the chair.—S. N. Jenkinson: Impressions of a recent tour of the German glass factories. During a tour in Germany Mr. Jenkinson visited Silesia, Saxony, Saxe-Weimar, and other districts, and investigated conditions in several works, particularly glass factories. The size of the glass industry in Germany in pre-war days can be judged from the fact that in 1913 they exported glass to the value of 123,000,000 marks, and pottery to the value of 94,000,000 marks. This amount means that 75 per cent, of their output was exported. It can be realised, therefore, that the outbreak of war caused the shutting dawn of many German glass factories during 1914-15. The policy during 1915-16 in Germany was to reopen several of the factories and allow one furnace in each works to be kept going, and a scheme was inaugurated whereby finance in the industry was pooled. At the present time very little production of glassware is taking place, due largely to the lack of coal and the state of transport. Alt the plant in the works was kept in the highest pitch of efficiency, so that immediately opportunity came a high rate of production would follow. Out of some 132 furnaces into which Mr. Jenkinson made inquiries, only eight were working.—Dr. M. W. Travers: Some experiments with a gas-fired pot-furnace. The author gave a description of furnaces which had been used in producing chemical glassware, and advocated burning the gas from the producers in front of the pots, and taking the burnt gases out of the furnace at the back.—Edith Firth, F. W. Holden, and Dr. W. E. S. Turner: The properties of British fire-clays suitable for glassworks use. Part 1.: The variation of shrinkage, density, and porosity with temperature. (Preliminary communication.) This paper was illustrated by assemblies of fire-clay blocks showing the behaviour of various fire-clays under the tests outlined by the authors. It is the first communication of a research carried out under the auspices of the Refractories Research Committee of the society.—A. V. Elsden, O. Roberts, and H. S. Jones: Trie examination of optical glass in relation to weathering properties.
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Societies and Academies . Nature 103, 419–420 (1919). https://doi.org/10.1038/103419a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/103419a0