Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. > Far East (excluding China)

Research into Japanese pressed glass industry, c.1870-1900

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David E:
As has already been mentioned, sand was one of the items imported (although whether this was a long-term commitment, I'm unsure), as was clay, presumably for the pots. Both were sourced from the UK, although it is quite possible another glassworks imported sand from the US, or elsewhere. But as a country already producing glass, the technique of pot-making was already available to it.

I agree about the need for an experienced potmaker. Elijah Skidmore was employed, and was probably up to the job as he stayed there for the full term of his four year contract.

I can also confirm that coal was the fuel used. The system employed (Hakurai-buki = imported method) of coal & soda-lime glass, replaced the traditional Japanese methods (Japan-buki) of charcoal & potash-lead glass. BTW, the traditional cutting method was using iron bars and abrasives.

Frank, you seem to suggest that British glass was inferior for making window glass? Chance and Pilkington at around 1870 were probably the one of the worlds leading flat glass producers, and were certainly exporting around the world.

(the trouble with this thread is that there are two disparate interests: window glass and pressed glass)

It is also worth recording that Chance was using the Siemens regenerative furnace from 1861 (Siemens was, incidentally, an adopted Englishman ;) ) so this technology was available in the UK. T C Barker (The Glassmakers) mentions Pilkington as adopting the process around 1863 as well. As a point of interest, I think the gas used to fire these furnaces was derived from... coal! The reason for using gas was due to it providing a more efficient heat source, which also made it cheaper.

Chance originally sourced its sand locally, and went on to purchase entire areas elsewhere in the country for the purpose of mining it (Leighton being one area until c.1890), then switching to Belgium sand. It did eventually use Scottish sand (need to check location) much later - I think 20th century.

Is it reasonable to suggest, therefore, some other reason for why Shinagawa used a coal-fired furnace: perhaps it was too small to support such apparatus? I don't know - it really needs Akiko's expertise in this area.

I also don't believe the skills of Japanese glassblowers was an issue. Glassblowing was already well established and adapting those skills should not have been a problem.

Producing sheet glass by this time was a well-known process and was widely used around Europe to produce window glass. The only problem the company may have found with annealing, was ensuring that it cooled uniformly across the whole surface - this often means artificially cooling it more towards the centre of the sheet. However, I should imagine this pertinant fact was known by any skilled glassmaker and should not have presented an issue.

Finally, on a political note, relationships between the USA and Japan had suffered at around this time, and Britain was already trading into the Far East. Chance had also received visits from representatives of the Japanese government in 1862 and 1872 (Iwakura mission), although whether this was directly related to Shinagawa is unknown at this time. Once I get access to the Chance archives, mid-2009, I will then be able to find out, but there's probably 2-3 years of research material to wade through... :-\

krsilber:
From this site:


--- Quote ---After 1873, the government invited instructors of glass making several times, and received instruction of the facilities as well as the techniques of various styles of glass making from them. The government also expected them to train Japanese technicians in making glass.
--- End quote ---


Have you heard of Martha Chaiklin?  She wrote an article, "The Miracle of Industry:  The Struggle to Produce Sheet Glass in Modernizing Japan," in Morris Low, ed., Building Modern Japan:  Science, Technology and Medicine in the Meiji Era and Beyond.

Here is an abstract of another paper of hers:

--- Quote ---A World without Windows: Glass Production in the Modernization of Meiji Japan

Martha Chaiklin, Milwaukee Public Museum

Glass production functions as an excellent case study with which to chart the conflicting tensions between continuity and disruption from the past that modernization represented for Meiji Japan. When the Meiji Government began the process of institution-alized modernization, glass was one of the industries it chose to support. Why glass? The exorbitant cost of importing glass windows, for all the new Western-style buildings being constructed was bankrupting government construction projects. Sheet glass was one of the most difficult to manufacture, and only panes of minimal size could be produced with the old technology. Glass had been produced in Japan since at least the eighth century, but never in the same quantities as in the West. Yet, the government-funded Shinagawa Glassworks did not rely on ancient expertise, but rather, imported foreign craftsmen to educate their workers. Glass production was therefore a vital part of the new face the Meiji Government wished to present to the world. This paper will discuss glass production in Meiji Japan discussing the social and cultural factors surrounding the transition from craft to industry with special emphasis on sheet glass using government documents and craftsmen’s memoirs.
--- End quote ---

David E:
Regarding the 1st quote: training the apprentices was one of the jobs that James Speed was bought in for. It would appear that of all the British craftsmen and engineers, Speed was the most highly thought of. A photo of him with a group of trainees in 1883, probably at a farewell ceremony from Shinagawa, is seen in Akiko's paper.

Yes, I was aware of Chaiklin's book and would have bought it, if it were not for the price:

http://www.amazon.com/Building-Modern-Japan-Technology-Medicine/dp/1403968322

krsilber:
I see what you mean!  It's available here through Interlibrary Loan, maybe I'll get it when I've returned some of the books I have out now.  At any rate, perhaps the skills of the glassblowers were indeed a factor in the problems with making sheet glass?  From what I've read, it seems like until about 1870 most blown articles were small, thin and fragile.

Just so I'm understanding things correctly, was the method of making sheet glass at the time that of blowing huge bubbles, slicing them open and laying them flat?


--- Quote ---BTW, the traditional cutting method was using iron bars and abrasives.
--- End quote ---
  Can you expand on this?  I'm trying to picture how this worked.  Were the bars and abrasives two separate methods, or used together?  I saw a reference to early diamond point engraving, and wheel cutting was used by the late Edo period.  Maybe bars and abrasives refers to diamond point (or "scratch," since diamonds weren't always used), and the abrasives were embedded in the bars.

Frank:
I presume Akiko is aware of

Blair, Dorothy (1973), "History of Glass in Japan": 479 pages 240 b/w 37 colour.

Abstract:
Definitive English reference work on glass in Japan over two thousand years. - ISBN Number: 0870111965. Editions/printings: Mount Holyoko College Japanese only 1998.

Listed in The Glass Bibliography
I would be happy to add an opinion of the books usefulness.

Mentions a few catalogues too.

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