Glass Blowing

The weight of glass made each year is equal to the weight of steel produced. So said Mr Barbour, in his address and demonstration on glass blowing to The Chemical Society recently.

The two best types of glass for working with are pirex and monex. Mainly pirex is used at Victoria, where he is the official University glass blower, but he thinks monex is a better type of glass, mainly because it is made in Scotland. Mr Barbour is a Scotsman. Both monex and pirex were brands of a new type of glass developed by the Americans called Borosylicate, which unlike the old solar glass, was more resistant to heat. Its chief disadvantage being its very high melting point.

Basically glass blowing consisted of heating a length of glass tubing to the required temperature, on a coal gas and oxygen flame, and while it was plastic, changing its shape by bending or blowing. All glass for blowing purposes is marketed in tubes, varying in size from 3mm to 100 mm in diameter.

In his demonstration, Mr Barbour make a corrugation and a constriction in a piece of tubing, a U tube, a thistle funnel, a condensor and a bulb. He then showed a variety of glassware he had made at Victoria. About 45 members attended the meeting.

The next meeting of the Chemical Society will be held on April 18 in Easterfield Building. The subject will be "Forensic Toxicology." A lecture by Dr P. P. Lynch, Pathologist to the New Zealand Government. Anyone interested is welcome.