DEFIES THE MACHINE AGE

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 302, 16 September 1933, Page 18

DEFIES THE MACHINE AGE

Glass-blowing Still Man’s Work

One by one crafts have disappeared before the advance of machinery—all but ore. Glass-blowing remains master of the situation. In a little street tucked away from the roar and bustle of Holborn and Kingsway a father and son are carrying on this craft which has defied all mechanical mass production methods to replace it. z The air pilot glancing at the levels which tell him how his machine is behaving, the scientist in his laboratory, the doctor in his surgery are dependent upon these men whose art has come down to them from the days of the j ancient Phoenicians, 1

Over two centuries ago the secrets of the craft were taught to a man whose descendants are still at work in London. Two generations are now represented—Mr. C. L. Muller and his son. “Machinery has displaced us only so far as ordinary glassware—bottles and jars—is concerned,” Mr. Muller said. “But for scientific fancy work it cannot compete. “No machine can make ,apparatus like this,” he says, as he shows his visitor an elaborate gas-washer with tiny taps, swelling bulbs, twists, turns and bends in the tubing.—Reuter, special to “The Dominion.”