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Crown Glass Cutter

  • Thread starter Thread starter Premo
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Premo

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My Gt-Gt-Gt-Gt-Grandfather William Pike born 1813, was a Crown Glass Cutter at the Ravenhead glass works in St Helens Lancashire, anyone know what that job would entail.

David
 
Premo I take it you have never been to the Black Country Museum as they have one their it involves cutting intricate designs and patterns  on the glass with a grinding wheel in the old days the wheel was kept wet with a bucket of water hanging over the wheel with a straw comming down onto the grindstone to keep it wet.
Vibration smashes glass, stop the vibration and it will not crack
You can try this Littletrick get a piece of glass and cut a piece from it with a pair of scissors, how do ya do it, stick it in a bucket of water,hard to believe but it work's (one of my party pieces )
Glass works Brum 1843
 
Thanks Cromwell, Do you know what the difference was between a Crown Glass Cutter and a plain Glass Cutter?
I only ask because Ravenhead glass works were just perfecting the manufacturing and cutting of sheet glass.

David
 
Premo if ya smash a window ya go to the Glazier and he will cut ya a piece of glass to size but he could not engrave glass.
In the days gone by a lot of folk used stain glass which was an art to cut and do (I have done it) so that is another skill that had to be learned
PS look in the Art of Cromwell tomorrow and you will see the stained glass in my porch what I put it
 
One for Cromwell.
You seem to be knowledgeable about glass,take a look at the broken glass pot on Ebay item 220037974140 and tell me how a more respectable repair could be made to it or even how to make a DIY replacement for it. E
 
Eric that looks as though its gone to far and a replacement glass would be the best bet
but if you want to repair coloured glass or enamel the best way to do it is mix oil paint with araldite get the right shade then add hardener,Works wonderful on enamel
I go to the Big Brum Antique Fair every month on the Wed. I would get a replacment pot for it if it was mine as then it could be used but the way that is broke it could not be even with a repair
 
Ok Cromwell, so what you are saying is, the word Crown meant he would be working in the factory producing cut glassware, drinking glasses, wine decanters etc.
Do you know much about the Ravenhead glass works, would the type of glassware they were producing c1835 be of high quality lead crystal or everyday glassware.

David
  :o
 
Premo, I could not possibly say what he did as their many jobs in a glass factory and like any job you progressed as the years went on, he could have been a bullseye glass cutter for doors or windows for factories or shops or glassware of which there is a wide range, you would have to do a lot more research on the place he worked.
Ravenhead were allways the better class glassware
 
Mmmmmmm, you have confused me a little, because you said in your earlier post a Crown Glasscutter was someone who cut patterns on glass, and a plain glasscutter was someone who repaired your broken window, or have I missed something.

David
:-\
 
Thats correct, but their is 101 jobs in the glass trade so you need to do more research
 
Premo if you follow the link you will see what crown glass cuttter was "Bullseye glass" but you need the year etc to see how they progressed,library is best bet
 
:angel: I agree Jennyann, I've learned so much coming here over the years I've been member and almost every day there's something new O0
 
First thank you Cromwell for your replies to my post, and second thanks to Jennyann for the link.
I have done a small amount of research on the manufacture of glass around 1830-1840
But found very little on the topic of Crown glass cutter, the Ravenhead Glass website gives very little info on the job title, yet the job was obviously a skilled one.
One thing I did notice when searching the 1841 census for my 4gt-grandfather was the amount of people employed by the glass works.
Also on the census there were no road names, the only thing in that column was Ravenhead glass works, and this went on for family after family.
Would there have been a housing estate in the grounds of the glassworks built just for the workers?

David
   
:)
 
the copy below taken from the site posted by Jennyann,explains how molten glass was spun into a thin disc of glass (like a record)up to 2-3 foot in diameter which when cooled would be cut into panes of glass,the center section left would then be the bullseye
or crown.
I was shown examples of early glass which just looked like a old 78 record with the lines still in it,modern bullseye glass is still produced the same way by centrifugal casting

CROWN GLASS. Molten glass is gathered on a blowpipe, and a balloon shape is blown. The blowpipe is removed, a solid "punty" rod is attached and the glass is spun rapidly until a disc is formed. The outer portion beyond the central knob is then cut into panes. By the 18th Century quality was often very good with an almost unmarked fire-finished surface. Crown was the preferred choice for window glass, together with some imported Cylinder glass until the mid 19th Century.

Colin
 
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