Glass Inspector Must Have Keen Eyes!

by Joyce Torbert
Issue No. 125 - September 1983

Ever wonder what all a glass inspector is looking for as they inspect a piece of glass? Well, at the Cambridge Glass Company in Cambridge, OH (1901-1958) they had to look for over 45 different items.

The following list represents the areas that were inspected (where applicable), according to a Cambridge Glass Company inspection form recently acquired by the Degenhart Glass Museum of Cambridge, OH,

The explanation of some of the terms were derived with the assistance of Bernard C. Boyd and Sidney Garrett.

  • CRACKED
  • CRACKED FOOT
  • CRACKED HANDLE
  • CHIPPED EDGES
  • CHIPPED BOTTOM
  • CROOKED ( )
  • CROOKED HANDLE
  • CROOKED KNOB
  • CRIZZLED (Very fine surface cracks…with spider web effect…caused by the mould or plunger not being hot enough. Crizzle marks are not cracks running through the entire depth of the glass.)
  • CORDY (Fine wavy or distorted lines caused by poor quality glass that has a different density than the rest of the piece.)
  • DIRTY (Rough places caused by flecks of dust or dirt in the mould. Also caused by impurities on tools, such as oil, beeswax or dirt.)
  • SEEDY (Minute bubbles caused by impurities in glass. Occurs when glass batch has not been cooked long enough to remove impure agents.)
  • STONY (Stones are caused by small chunks of lime or other impurities that were not dissolved or melted during the cooking of the glass batch.)
  • STUCK (A rough place caused by hitting the glass piece on something when warming-in or reheating the piece.)
  • SUNK (Glass piece has fallen out of shape. This is caused by the piece being too hot when turned out of mould.)
  • SUCKED (Glass piece has been pulled up or sucked up and out of shape when plunger was too hot causing glass to stick to plunger.)
  • WARPED
  • MISFITS
  • FINE GLASS (Tiny particles of powdered glass that fall down onto a piece of glass and stick to it.)
  • TWISTED STEM
  • SUNK TOP
  • OPEN MOULD (A crease caused by a joint in the mould when the mould is not completely closed.)
  • CRUSHED BOTTOM
  • TOO HEAVY
  • TOO LIGHT
  • FLAT ( )
  • FLAT FEET
  • NOT MELTED (Rough edges are caused by not getting the glass piece hot enough when warmed-in on the glazer.)
  • NOT POLISHED
  • BAD EDGES
  • BAD SHAPE
  • BULGED OUT
  • NOT FULL (Glass piece not filled out completely due to a gather or glass being gathered short.)
  • IRON ON BOTTOM (Iron or scale on bottom of glass piece caused by mould or plunger being too hot.)
  • SHEAR MARKS (A rough, irregular, crease caused by the improper cutting of the gather of glass by the presser.)
  • ROCKY (Glass piece rocks on its foot or base. May have been caused by too quick a removal from the mould.)
  • PRESSED UP (Appearance of a thin edge of glass pressed up between the plunger and the ring.)
  • PRESSED OVER (Appearance of a thin edge of glass between ring and mould caused by the presser cutting the gather too heavy.)
  • MARKED FROM TOOLS
  • WAVY
  • BLISTERED (An unwanted bubble or air trap caused from air getting into the glass while being gathered.)
  • BAD BOTTOMS
  • RUN DOWN (Same as sunk.)
  • ASBESTOS DIRT (Asbestos stuck to glass. Caused by putting the object on asbestos paper when it was too hot.)
  • MELTED TOO MUCH (Glass piece became lopsided. Caused by leaving piece on glazer too long and thus getting too hot. Could also refer to color burn out.)
  • PINCHED (A squeezed glass piece caused by too much pressure having been exerted by the pinchers…tools that hold a hot glass piece as it is carried from mould to lehr.)

Editor's Note: Joyce Torbert is Membership Secretary and HEARTBEAT Newsletter Editor for the Degenhart Glass Museum in Cambridge, Ohio. This article first appeared in HEARTBEAT (August 1983).