Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. > Far East (excluding China)
Research into Japanese pressed glass industry, c.1870-1900
David E:
Cathy: Many thanks. I see the engraver Hauptmann is mentioned in the Atsushi Takeda paper, and is a name that Akiko and Sally had already picked up on. However, impurities in the sand, I believe, would not have been a reason to deter sheet glass manufacture. Adding certain chemicals would eliminate discolourations, such as greenish tinge from iron oxide impurities, but there is less emphasis on high-quality glass for use as windows, of course - I'm currently looking through my own windows, c.1916, which were almost certainly made using the much later Fourcault drawn-glass process - loads of imperfections here! :o
To expand on the early development of the glassworks, and referring to one of Akiko's papers (if I can find it online, I'll provide a link to the entire paper):
Kogyosha works:
1873: Erasmus Gower - the first to be hired and responsible for building the first glasshouse. The pertinant point here is that the works is referred to as "the first Western-style glasshouse".
1874: Thomas Walton - installed the first furnace
1876: Government purchases the "financially troubled" plant after it fails to produce sheet glass the previous year, and this was using "experienced Japanese glassblowers". Plant renamed as Shinagawa after the locality.
1877: Elijah Skidmore arrives as a skilled potmaker (a very under-estimated and higly valued skill, IMHO)
- factory at this time is producing "daily products" and side-lights (navigational lights for ships). Sheet glass production is suspended.
So it can be seen that normal, low-cost glass is being produced.
1878: Walton leaves
1879: James Speed arrives as Chief of Craftsman. Akiko quotes here that, "Clay, various metallic oxides and moulds imported from England." It is also noted elsewhere that Speed was probably the most respected of the engineers.
From this it is possibly pressed glass moulds that it refers to (the navigational lights could have been pressed, of course), but this is not certain.
1881: Sheet glass production resumed, but suspended due to "technical and financial difficulties".
Again, it is still unknown as to what the problems are exactly. 'Technical' is alluded to, but cannot be determined to the exact cause. At this time, "some 268 pieces of table-wares, scientific apparatus, chimneys and bottles are exhibited" at the 2nd inter-Japan Industry Promotion Fair.
1881: Skidmore leaves and takes up post in Osaka glassworks. Hauptmann arrives to take a position as an engraving instructor, but leaves after one year (finances again). Various engraving equipment is imported from England.
1883: Speed is dismissed and moves to Osaka.
1885: Shinagawa sold. It continues operating until 1892 "after adopting German manufacturing technique".
Glen: Thanks for your link! Akiko acknowledges that Japanese glassmaking was "technologically weak" until the arrival of the English workers, but it was still producing many items of glass. I'll contact you about the 'Lefton' label - I can provide a little more information on this.
David E:
Regarding my earlier mention of a photo relating to the making of crown glass, here is the link:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-2041
Taken from Mirror for Chance, 1951
krsilber:
That's a great photo of crown glass making!
--- Quote ---However, impurities in the sand, I believe, would not have been a reason to deter sheet glass manufacture. Adding certain chemicals would eliminate discolourations, such as greenish tinge from iron oxide impurities, but there is less emphasis on high-quality glass for use as windows, of course
--- End quote ---
The effect of iron can be mediated, but you still need sand of a certain composition to make glass. Sand can come from a variety of parent material, and some sands are much purer sources of silica than others. For example, the black sand beaches of Japan would have come from basalt, which is relatively silica-poor. Quartz has very high silica content, but feldspar, the other type of sand mentioned in the abstract, is silica mixed with other minerals, depending on the type. Another issue is the variation in the sand. If you go digging up a beach there are going to be layers of different composition, size of grain, etc. Different sands would need different treatments or batch formulas for use. Without accounting for such variation (which would be a hassle) you could end up with inconsistent glass quality.
OK, I'll shut up about sand now! I must have beaches on the brain - a common ailment here in the snow-covered northland.
Frank:
Glassmakers invariably will get the best materials that they can, additional processing for impurities would render the cost for window glass uncompetitive, importing would be cheaper. Iron is particularly unhelpful in window glass but useful in bottle glass. Pittsburgh proved the mecca for US window glassmakers because of its sand quality being particularly suitable and costing less than half as much as sand from elsewhere in the US in the period in question - it exported to Japan. In Europe French sand was the best and widely used throughout Europe. Scottish sand was also particularly good. In Bohemia they used quartz instead of sand.
Also in that period, potmaking was a significant factor in window glassmaking, with glassworks failing due to poor pots - despite the technology not being difficult to acquire, mostly it was lack of diligence and quality control. Japan certainly had the technological skills to produce the appropriate clays but it is apparent from other countries that with-out the quality control the mastery of the technology was irrelevant if the batch was lost.
That the Japanese were relying on English technology would also be a negative factor as in this period it was not of good quality, Belgium lead the field followed by France and Germany. That they switched to German technology would imply the use of the Siemens furnace, coming to the fore in this period - but it was expensive, accident prone and gas-fired. Which adds gas production to the technology needed to be mastered by the glassworks. The English glass-makers would almost certainly have installed direct fire furnaces, likely to have been coal fired. The switch of technology again points to issues other than the raw materials.
krsilber:
Great post, Frank, very informative. Yours, too, David. I hope you find that article online, sounds fascinating.
The US is the biggest producer of sand in the world, a quarter of global production. (Oops, I said I'd stop it with the s---.)
You'd think the Japanese with their ceramic history would have been able to make good pots! ;D Maybe they got too cocky. ::) Or maybe the clay they had wasn't good for it. Clay is one of the things they imported from England.
--- Quote ---The switch of technology again points to issues other than the raw materials.
--- End quote ---
Unless gas was cheaper than coal. ;)
I don't understand how the technology of the furnaces and pots could have been the reason sheet glass wasn't being produced if they were still producing other wares. Is there something particularly technologically difficult about the production of sheet glass? Special annealing ovens? A tricky formula?
What about the skill of the blowers? Perhaps there weren't enough people who could produce good sheet glass. It says they were experienced, but maybe not in that area. Seems like it would be a tough skill to master, and with the industry just getting started there isn't the history in the community and family of glassblowing, where you start your apprenticeship as soon as you can carry a bucket.
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