Well that all makes a good thread. I have been collecting pictures and information to put together a blog on the subject. Steve, did you get any pictures of the Corning exhibit of the man blowing the tall cylinder bottles, that had the top and bottoms cut off and the side cut so the flattening lehr could turn the sidewall flattened to make sheets, that were cut into window panes? I think I have some but I will have to search for them.
We have a lady in our bottle club that has a ceiling, framed collection of these spun sheet glass pontils, for a panel over her kitchen counter bar. It is top lit and beautiful. She often hosts' our Bottle Club Meetings, and is this month, I think I will take my camera and get a picture of it.
Neat thread and thank you - as I so often do Steve. RED Matthews
Believe it or not I have a complete window glass cylinder (tooled on one end, rough on the other and cut vertically the full length) that was recovered from 30 feet of water in Lake Dunmore. It's awfully fragile so I don;t get it out of hiding often but when I do I'll snap a pic...
Actually made at the Lake Dunmore Glass Factory right on the shores of the lake, C. 1840. There have been lots of divers who have found cylinders on the lake bottom but they all seem to break during the pressure change. As to how they found their way into 40 feet of water I do not know for certain but do have a few theories... We see shards at local auctions fairly often. Mine is the only one I know of that is complete. Legend has it that it was recovered in the Fifties or Sixties...
Really cool info guys!....So,....that's the pontil?...I get it now,...and how cool is that? I had just asked about this very topic in the Symposium thread ...Thanks for the info!...Jeff,...when you mention that your cylinder was already "cut"....they probably cut these with a shears?...before flattening out for window pane?....I wonder when "single strength",(1/16") and double strength" glass (1/8") thickness scale came into use...I have a real old wooden shipping box for pre cut panels of window glass that specifys "dbl. strength" glass upon it....Interesting topic. I worked in the glass biz (window) for a long time, but never connected the two (work and hobby) on more than a casual level....(although sometimes people would bring a nice bottle in, and want a hole drilled in it for a lamp![] and It's hard to imagine them blowing quarter inch thick (and heavier) plate glass this way...And they had it...in really big sheets...so anyone know how they obtained the really big sheets of heavy glass?...Maybe that's where "float glass" originated?..I feel like I should know this stuff.