On Sep 29, 5:23 pm, Michael wrote:
A long two hour drive from Bloomington up to Kokomo and I got to see
the place for the first time. It's a dump. Exposed ceiling joists
and writing and carving on the walls and broken glass on the floor and
scrap pieces in beat-up metal cans. And long corridors with hundreds
of 8 foot tall upright bins filled with over 300,000 feet of beautiful
glass.

When I walked in the door I lucked into an unscheduled tour. I really
didn't think I would be that interested. I'm more focused on the end
product than the process. But it was spectacular walking down all
those halls of glass. Back by the glass furnace you could look at
scenes that almost could have been pulled right out of 1888. Gazing
into the openings was hynotic. You would see a pure orange color with
no shadow, no shading, and no hint of movement. Just pure bright
orange. Got to see them scoop it up and pour it out and flip and fold
it and then start it running through a roller that flattened it and
took it on the long cooling ride. It doesn't look like their
technology has changed much over the last hundred years.

I bought some glass and talked to the tour guide and headed home.
Great trip.

Michael

If you ever get an opportunity to tour Spectrum, you'll see something
radically different. Three furnaces running constantly pouring out
glass 24/7 through rollers into 300 ft tunnel kilns.