Part I: Experimental Glass Blowing

Experiment 1. Fun Bending Glass

Boys, glass tubes are made in the sizes shown in Fig. 2, and in larger sizes. You will use sizes 2, 4, and 6 in the following experiments. Hold a piece of No. 2, with both hands, in the flame of th...

The Lamp

The wick should be cut straight across and should project above the wick holder about 1/8 inch (Fig. 5), or a little more if you require more heat. Burn wood alcohol or grain alcohol, because they giv...

Experiment 3. How To Make The Edges Smooth

Hold one end of the six-inch piece of No. 2 in the tip of the flame (Fig. 8), and turn constantly until it is just red hot. Take it out and let it cool on the blocks. Do you find that the edges are sm...

Experiment 4. Practice With The Blowpipe

Hold the small end of the blowpipe just inside the flame at one edge, about1/8 inch above the wick (Fig. 9), and blow air through the flame parallel to the top of the wick. Keep your mouth closed o...

Experiment 5. To Close The End Of A Small Tube

Hold one end of a piece of No. 2 tube in the blowpipe flame (Fig. 10), turn it slowly, and heat until the end closes. Does it close nicely? Close one end of a piece of No. 4 in the same way. You...

Experiment 6. Fun Blowing Glass Bubbles

Smooth one end of a piece of No. 2 tube and allow it to cool. Close the other end in the blowpipe flame, turn it slowly, and heat until it is very hot. Take the tube out of the flame, put the smooth e...

Experiment 7. How To Make Water Balloons

Close one end of the No. 2 tube in the blowpipe flame again and while it is still hot blow carefully into the open end un-til you have a bulb about 1/2 inch ir: diameter (Fig. 12). Now let it cool. ...

Experiment 9. Balloon Races

Make another water balloon. Put the two balloons together in the bottle filled to overflowing with water. Insert the stopper and press down hard. Do the balloons sink (Fig. 15), and does one sink m...

Experiment 10. Fun With Thin Tubes

Hold a piece of No. 2 tubing in the lamp flame and turn it constantly. When it is red hot and soft, take it out of the flame and pull your hands apart until the tube is stretched ten or twelve inches ...

Experiment 11. Magic

You have always heard that water runs downhill, but you will now see it run uphill and remain there in a most magical manner. Cut off 5-inch lengths of No. 6, No. 4, and No. 2 tubing, stand them si...

What Is Glass?

Common glass is made from three substances with which you are all more or less familiar; namely, sand, sodium carbonate (washing soda), and lime. If sand and soda or potash are mixed and heated to ...

How Are Things Made Of Glass ?

The glass mixture is heated to a high temperature in fire clay-pots or tanks in large ovens. The surface is skimmed from time to time and the heating is continued until all air bubbles have escaped fr...

Experiment 12. How To Make An Acrobatic Pollywog

Smooth one end of a piece of No. 2 tube to put in your mouth, close the other end in the blowpipe flame, take it out and blow a bulb about 1/2 inch in diameter. Allow the bulb to cool, then heat th...

Experiment 15. How To Make Glass Spider-Web

Heat the end of a piece of No. 2 tube in the blowpipe flame until it is melted and very hot. Now touch the end of another piece of glass to the melted glass, remove from the flame, and quickly pull th...

Experiment 17. How To Make Working Handles

You can save glass in many cases by attaching a short piece of glass to the piece you intend to work with, as follows: Heat an end of each piece in the lamp flame until red hot, press them together, r...

Experiment 18. To Close A Large Tube

You closed small tubes in Experiment 5 by simply heating the end in the blowpipe flame. This method does not serve for large tubes, however, because it leaves a very large lump of glass which may crac...

Experiment 19. How To Make A Submarine

Close one end of a piece of No. 2 tubing as described above, but leave the end somewhat pointed (1, Fig. 32). Heat the tube on one side at a distance 1/2 inch from the end and blow a bulb about 1/2 in...

Experiment 21. Fun With The Submarine

If your friends do not know about the little submarine, you -an mystify them as follows: Tell them that submarines are just like other fish; namely, they 1 a y eggs, and the little eggs hatch out afte...

Experiment 23. To Flare The End Of A Tube

Heat the end of a piece of No. 2 tube until it is red hot, take it out of the flame, hold the flaring wire inside the end, and press outward gently while you revolve the tube (1, fig. 36). Do you find...

Experiment 24. How To Make An Air Gun

Take a full-length piece of No. 4 tube and flare both ends slightly. This is the air gun (Fig. 37). Now to make an arrow, cut off the lighting end of a match and insert a pin in the other end (Fig....

Experiment 25. A Shooting Match

Draw a target on a piece of paper and hang it up, away from the wall or at the edge of the table, where there will be space behind for the arrows to pass through. Now shoot at the target with your air...

Experiment 27. How To Make A Pea Shooter

Take a full-length piece of No. 6 tubing, smooth both ends and flare them out slightly. This makes an excellent pea shooter. Try it with peas. Do you find that they come out with great speed? Exper...

Experiment 29. How To Make A Good Bend

A good bend has the same diameter in the bend as in the remainder of the tube (1, Fig. 41). It is rather difficult to make because the tube tends to cave in on the inside of the bend (2) or flatten on...

Experiment 30. How To Make A Drinking Tube

Many times when there is sickness in the house, it is convenient to have a glass drinking tube (Fig. 42), through which the patient can drink without raising his head. Make such a tube from a piece...

Experiment 31. How To Make A Siphon

Cut off a piece of No 1 tubing 8 inches long, make two right-angled bends about 1 inch apart at the center, smooth both ends, and your siphon is complete (Fig. 43). Fig. 43. A Siphon ...

Experiment 32. Magic

Put one arm of the siphon in a tumbler of water and suck air out of the other end. Does the water start running and does it continue to run in a most magical way (Fig. 44) until the water is below the...

Experiment 33. A Long-Armed Siphon

Attach a full length of No. 4 tube to each arm of the siphon, as in Fig. 47, and repeat the experiments described above. Note: When you insert a glass tube into a rubber coupling or rubber stopper,...

Experiment 34. How To Make A Nozzle

Attach a working handle to one end of a piece of No. 2 tube, heat the tube about one inch from the end in the lamp flame, turn constantly until soft, then remove from the flame, and draw it out about ...

Experiment 36. Magic

Make a nozzle 6 inches long out of No. 2 tube. Smooth the ends of the nozzle, and long tubes. Arrange the apparatus as in Fig. 50 and suck air out of the nozzle until the water runs in the siphon. Doe...

Experiment 39. How To Start A Siphon

You can start a siphon without sucking the air out of it as follows : Fill the siphon with water, put a finger over each end (1, Fig. 53), place one end in a tumbler full of water and remove the finge...

Experiment 41. How To Make A Squirt Bottle

Make a nozzle at one end of a piece of No. 2 tubing, make a bend near the nozzle, cut off the other end at such a length that it will reach to within 1/4 inch of the bottom of the bottle, smooth this ...

Experiment 42. How To Make A Trick Squirt Bottle

You can have any amount of fun with a trick squirt bottle. It is exactly the same as the squirt bottle described in Experiment 41 except that it has a hole just below the bend (Fig. 57). To make th...

Experiment 44. How To Make An Engineer's Level

You can make one form of engineer's level (Fig. 61) as follows: Take a full length of No. 6 tubing, bend it up 4 inches at each end, smooth the ends, attach it to a small board, rest the board on a on...

Experiment 45. To Use The Engineer's Level

An engineer's level is used to find the difference in level of two or more points (Fig. 63). To practice using your level, find the difference in level of two points 100 feet apart on a road, sidew...

Experiment 46. How To Make A Spirit Level

The spirit level (Fig. 64) is simply a curved glass tube filled with alcohol except for the bubble and closed at both ends. The curve of the tube is part of a circle. Make a spirit level as follows...

Experiment 47. How To Make A Fountain-Pen Filler

Attach a rubber coupling to the large end of one of your No. 4 nozzles, close the other end of the coupling with a glass plug, and your fountain-pen filler is made (Fig. 67). To make the plug, clos...

Experiment 48. How To Make A Syringe

Take a half length of No. 6 tube and smooth both ends in the lamp flame or blowpipe flame. Now to make a plunger: Cut an 81/2-inch length of No. 2, smooth one end, close the other end and blow a sl...

Experiment 51. How To Make A Diablo Whistle

Use the No. 6 tube and the No. 2 plunger from Experiment 48, arrange as in Fig. 71, blow across the top, and move the plunger up and down. Do you get a most diabolical sound? The sound is produced ...

Experiment 53. To Join Two Tubes End To End

Take a piece of No. 2 tube about 7 inches long, close one end, smooth the other, and when cool cut the tube at the middle. Now join these two pieces as follows: Hold the ends opposite each other ne...

Experiment 54. To Join Tubes Of Different Sizes

Take a piece of No. 4 tubing about 3 inches long and close one end. Take a piece of No, 6 tubing, attach a handle to one end, heat the No. 6 tube in the blowpipe flame about 1 inch from this end an...

Experiment 55. How To Make A Large Hole

Take a piece of No. 4 tube about 6 inches long, close one end, smooth the other, and allow it to cool. Now to make a large hole in the side of this tube, proceed as follows : Heat in the blowpipe f...

Experiment 56. How To Make A Tee

Take a piece of No. 4 tube about 6 inches long, close one end, smooth the other, and allow it to cool. Take another piece 3 inches long, close one end, and allow it to cool. Now make a hole in the ...

Experiment 57. A Three-Armed Siphon

Make a three-armed siphon as shown in Fig. 77. Put two arms in tumblers filled writh water, suck air out of the third arm until the water runs, and then put it in an empty tumbler. Stand the three ...

Experiment 58. How To Make A Repeating Air Gun

Take a full length of No. 4 tubing, out a branch about 3 inches long at a point about 2 inches from one end; leave the end of the branch closed (Fig. 78). Now load the branch with shot or coarse dry s...

Experiment 59. How To Make A Four-Way Junction

Make a tee as in Experiment 56, but do not cut off the closed ends. Now attach a fourth arm, as in Fig. 79, and heat and blow gently as before to work the glass into uniform condition. Cut off the clo...

Experiment 62. Balancing Columns

Arrange the apparatus as in Fig. 81, put the arms together in a glass of water, suck a little air out of the top coupling and close it with a glass plug. Do you find that the water rises to the same l...

Experiment 63. Unequal Columns

Put a large handful of salt into a tumbler partly filled with water and stir until the salt is dissolved. Now pour fresh water into another tumbler until it is at the same height as the salt water. Ma...

Experiment 64. To Fuse Wire Into Glass

Find a piece of thin iron or copper wire about 4 inches long, heat the end of a piece of No. 2 tubing until it is nearly closed, insert the iron or copper wire into the small hole, and heat the glass ...

Experiment 65. To Cut Window Glass

The common glass cutter is a small very hard steel wheel mounted on a handle (Fig. 85). Practice with one on a pane of glass: place a ruler on the glass, draw the wheel along the ruler (Fig. 86) with ...

Experiment 66. To Bore A Hole In Glass

Place a piece of window glass flat on the table, pour a little kerosene on the spot to be bored, clasp the file near the end, press the end down hard on the spot and turn it back and forth with a goug...

Experiment 67. To Cut A Bottle In Two

Wind a strip of blotting paper or wrapping paper 2 inches wide around the bottle at one side of the line along which you wish to cut. Make three or more thicknesses and then tie the paper with cord wi...

Experiment 68. To Grind Glass

Bottle Ready To Be Cut In Two Fig. 89. Heating The Bottle Rough edges of glass can be ground smooth by means of emery paper. For example, to smooth the edges of the glass bottle ...

Experiment 69. To Cement Glass

There are two important points to remember in ce-manting glass: first, to get the glass clean, and second, to press the surfaces together after applying the cement, to squeeze out as much of the cemen...

Part II: Magical Experiments

Magic With Flames. Experiment 70. Magic Lighting

Boys, you can perform many magic experiments with apparatus made out of the glass tubes, rubber stoppers, and rubber unions supplied with Experimental Glass Blowing. We outline a number in the follo...

Experiment 71. Air Used By Flames

Drop melted candle wax on a tin ca u cover and attach the bottoms of two candles to the cover (Fig. 94) ; use one candle about 6 inches long and another about 3 inches, stand them upright in a pan of ...

Experiment 72. Water Produced By Fire

It is certainly magic to produce water from fire, but 3'ou can do it easily as follows: Fig. 95. The cork rises Fig. 96. Water From Flame Hold a clean, dry, cold tumbler over ...

Magic With Air. Experiment 73. Atmospheric Pressure

Arrange a No. 6 tube as in 1, Fig. 97, and suck air out at the top. Does the water run uphill into your mouth? Hold your finger over the top and lift the tube out of the pail (2). Does the water re...

Experiment 74. Great Pressure Of Air

With the apparatus Fig. 98 hold your finger over the lower end of the tube, suck as much air as you can out of the tube, pinch the coupling, and remove your finger under water. Does the atmosphere dri...

Experiment 77. Magic Lift

Fill a tumbler with water, press your palm down on the top with your fingers pointing downward (Fig. 101), straighten your fingers without admitting air to the turn-tier, and then lift your hand. Do y...

Experiment 79. A Poultry Fountain

To make the poultry fountain (Fig. 103), fill a bottle with water, hold your thumb over the mouth, invert the bottle over the pan of water, and remove your thumb under water. Does the atmospheric pres...

Experiment 80. A Drinking Fountain

The drinking fountain (Fig. 104) is similar in principle to the poultry fountain of the last experiment. The water is held in the large inverted bottle by the atmospheric pressure on the water in the ...