Remedies for our manifold ills; the refreshment that our infant lips craved; coolness in time of heat; yes—­even tho July 1st has come and gone—­drafts to assuage our thirst; the divers stays and supports of our declining years—­all these things come in bottles.  From the time of its purchase to the moment of its consignment to the barrel in the cellar or the rapacious wagon of the rag-and-bone man the bottle plays a vital part in our lives.  And as with most inconspicuous necessities, but little is known of its history.  We assume vaguely that it is blown—­ever since we saw the Bohemian Glass Blowers at the World’s Fair we have known that glass is blown into whatever shape fancy may dictate—­but that is as far as our knowledge of its manufacture extends.

As a matter of fact the production of bottles in bulk is one of the most important features of the glass industry of this country today.  The manufacture of window glass fades into insignficance before the hugeness of the bottle-making business; and even the advent of prohibition, while it lessens materially the demand for glass containers of liquids, does not do so in such degree as to warrant very active uneasiness on the part of the proprietors of bottle factories.

The process of manufacture of the humble bottle is a surprizingly involved one.  It includes the transportation and preparation of raw material, the reduction of the material to a proper state of workability, and the shaping of the material according to design, before the bottle is ready to go forth on its mission.

The basic material of which all glass is made is, of course, sand.  Not the brown sand of the river-bed, the well remembered “sandy bottom” of the swimmin’ hole of our childhood, but the finest of white sand from the prehistoric ocean-beds of our country.  This sand is brought to the factory and there mixed by experts with coloring matter and a flux to aid the melting.  On the tint of the finished product depends the sort of coloring agent used.  For clear white glass, called flint glass, no color is added.  The mixing of a copper salt with the sand gives a greenish tinge to the glass; amber glass is obtained by the addition of an iron compound; and a little cobalt in the mixture gives the finished bottle the clear blue tone that used to greet the waking eye as it searched the room for something to allay that morning’s morning feeling.  The flux used is old glass—­bits of shattered bottles, scraps from the floor of the factory.  This broken glass is called “cullet,” and is carefully swept into piles and kept in bins for use in the furnaces.

The sand, coloring matter, and cullet, when mixed in the proper proportions, form what is called in bottle-makers’ talk the “batch” or “dope.”  This batch is put into a specially constructed furnace—­a brick box about thirty feet long by fifteen wide, and seven feet high at the crown of the arched roof.  This furnace is made of the best refractory blocks to withstand the fierce