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he will be inconvenienced in screwing the top on and off. Why these affairs are not made with union joints, as they should be, is a question which will perhaps be answered when we learn why cork borers are still generally made of brass, though steel tube has long been available.

      Fig. 4.

      These little matters may appear very trivial—and so they are—but the purchaser of apparatus will generally find that unless he looks after details himself, they will not be attended to for him. Whether a union joint is provided or not, let it be seen that the end of the delivery tube is either small enough to fit a large rubber tube connection going to the wash-bottle, or large enough to allow of a cork carrying a bit of glass tube for the same purpose to be inserted. This tube should not be less than half an inch in inside diameter. Never use a new bottle before it has been heated sufficiently to get rid of grease and carbonaceous dirt. A convenient oxygen-making apparatus is shown in Fig. 4, which is drawn from "life."

      § 16. For large blow-pipe work with lead glass I recommend a system of four simple blow-pipes, in accordance with the sketch annexed. I first saw this system in operation in the lamp factory of the Westinghouse Electric Company at Pittsburg in 1889, and since then I have seen it used by an exceedingly clever "trick" glass-worker at a show. After trying both this arrangement and the "brush flame" recommended by Mr. Shenstone, I consider the former the more convenient; however, I daresay that either can be made to work in competent hands, but I shall here describe only my own choice. [Footnote: A brush flame is one which issues from the blow-pipe nozzle shaped like a brush, i.e. it expands on leaving the jet. It is produced by using a cylindrical air jet or a conical jet with a large aperture, say one-eighth of an inch. See Fig. 25.]

      As will be seen, the blow-pipe really consists of four simple brass tube blow-pipes about three-eighths of an inch internal diameter and 3 inches long, each with its gas and air tap and appropriate nozzle. Each blowpipe can turn about its support (the gas-entry pipe) to some extent, and this possibility of adjustment is of importance, The air jets are merely bits of very even three-sixteenths inch glass tubing, drawn down to conical points, the jets themselves being about 0.035 inch diameter.

      Fig. 5 .

      The flames produced are the long narrow blow-pipe flames used in blow-pipe analysis, and arranged so as to consist mostly of oxidising flame. The air-supply does not require to be large, nor the pressure high—5 to 10 inches of water will do—but it must be very regular. The "trick" glass-blower I referred to employed a foot bellows in connection with a small weighted gasometer, the Westinghouse Company used their ordinary air-blast, and I have generally used a large gas-holder with which I am provided, which is supplied by a Roots blower worked by an engine.

      I have also used a "velocity pump" blower, which may be purchased amongst others from Gerhardt of Bonn. The arrangement acts both as a sucking and blowing apparatus, and is furnished with two manometers and proper taps, etc. As I have reason to know that arrangements of this kind work very ill unless really well made, I venture to add that the Gerhardt arrangement to which I refer is No. 239 in his catalogue, and costs about three pounds. It hardly gives enough air, however, to work four blow-pipes, and the blast requires to be steadied by passing the air through a vessel covered with a rubber sheet.

      In default of any of these means being available, one of Fletcher's foot-blowers may be employed, but it must be worked very regularly. A table mounted with one blow-pipe made on this plan, and worked by a double-acting bellows, is recommended for students' use. For working flint glass, the air jet may be one-eighth of an inch in diameter and the pressure higher—this will give a brush flame. See Fig. 25.

      It will be seen, on looking at the sketch of the blowpipe system, that the pair of blow-pipes farther from the observer can be caused to approach or recede at will by means of a handle working a block on a slide. It often happens that after using all four blow-pipes at once it is necessary to have recourse to one blow-pipe only, and to do this conveniently and quickly is rather an object. Now, in my arrangement I have to turn off both the gas and air from the farther system, and then put in a bit of asbestos board to prevent the nozzles being damaged by the flame or flames kept alight. As I said before, when some experience is gained, glassblowing, becomes a very simple art, and work can be done under circumstances so disadvantageous that they would entirely frustrate the efforts of a beginner. This is not any excuse, however, for recommending inferior arrangements.

      Consequently, I say that the pipes leading in gas and air should be all branches of one gas and one air pipe, in so far as the two remote and one proximate blow-pipe are concerned, and these pipes should come up to the table to the right hand of the operator, and should have main taps at that point, each with a handle at least 2 inches long. By this arrangement the operator can instantly turn down all the blow-pipes but one, while, if the inverse operation is required, all the three pipes can be started at once. [Footnote: I find, since writing the above, that I have been anticipated in this recommendation by Mr. G. S. Ram, The Incandescent Lamp and its Manufacture, p. 114.]

      The separate air and gas taps must be left for permanent regulation, and must not be used to turn the supply on or cut it off. In some respects this blow-pipe will be found more easy to manage than an oxygas blow-pipe, for the glass is not so readily brought to the very fluid state, and this will often enable a beginner who proceeds cautiously to do more than he could with the more powerful instrument.

      Though I have mentioned glass nozzles for the air supply, there is no difficulty in making nozzles of brass. For this purpose let the end of a brass tube of about one-eighth of an inch diameter be closed by a bit of brass wire previously turned to a section as shown (Fig. 6), and then bored by a drill of the required diameter, say .035 inch. It is most convenient to use too small a drill, and to gradually open the hole by means of that beautiful tool, the watchmaker's "broach." The edges of the jet should be freed from burr by means of a watchmaker's chamfering tool (see Saunier's Watchmaker's Hand-book, Tripplin, 1882, p. 232, § 342), or by the alternate use of a slip of Kansas stone and the broach.

      Fig. 6 .

      The construction of this blow-pipe is so simple, that in case any one wishes to use a brush flame, he can easily produce one simply by changing his air jets to bits of the same size (say one-eighth to one-sixteenth of an inch) tubing, cut off clean. To insure success, the ends of the tubes must be absolutely plane and regular; the slightest inequality makes all the difference in the action of the instrument. If a jet is found to be defective, cut it down a little and try again; a clean-cut end is better than one which has been ground flat on a stone. The end of a tube may, however, be turned in a manner hereafter to be described so as to make an efficient jet. Several trials by cutting will probably have to be made before success is attained. For this kind of jet the air-pressure must be greatly increased, and a large Fletcher's foot-blower or, better still, a small double-action bellows worked with vigour will be found very suitable. A fitting for this auxiliary blow-pipe is shown in Fig. 5 at B.

      Professor Roentgen's discovery has recently made it necessary to give more particular attention to the working of soft soda glass, and I have been obliged to supplement the arrangements described by a table especially intended for work with glass of this character. The arrangement has proved so convenient for general work that I give the following particulars. The table measures 5 feet long, 2 feet 11 inches wide, and is 2 feet 9 inches high.

      Fig. 7.

      It is provided with a single gas socket, into which either a large or small gas tube may be screwed. The larger tube is 5.5 inches long and 0.75 of an inch in diameter. The smaller tube is the same length, and half an inch in diameter. The axis of the larger tube is 3.5 inches above the table at the point of support, and is inclined to the horizontal at an angle of 12°. The axis of the smaller tube is 2.5 inches above the surface of the table, and is inclined to the horizontal at the same angle as the

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