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(Ravenswood Novelty, 20 Wood ST, Ravenswood, WV)
Drawing Donated by Mike Johnson
Glass Marbles by the
Million
By Bill Random (Science and Mechanics April 1945)
(From the Marble Museum's collection)
April 1945
Eighty million is a big figure in any language and 80
million glass marbles are a lot of marbles, but even that is a small
part of the total made by factories in the United States for kids of
the world; I say world, since shipments are made through jobbers and
exporters to all parts of the globe. There are just seven plants in
the United States which manufacture glass marbles and all but one of
them are located in West Virginia.
No other state can boast such business monopoly as West Virginia can
with a glass marble factory in each of these towns: Pennsboro, ST Marys,
Parkersburg, Ravenswood and two in Clarksburg. The lone outsider is
in Ottawa, Illinois.
The plant in Ravenswood, West Virginia, using typical production methods
in which the accompanying pictures were made, was originally organized
in 1931 as the Ravenswood Glass Novelty Company
(new research may place the company's beginning even
earlier.) In 1943 it shipped about 80 million glass marbles to
the trade all over the world. Its owner, C. W. Trunbull, ingenious president
of the concern which makes the most of materials at hand and who designed
and built most of the equipment used, took over the business in 1932.
At present they manufacture only glass marbles. He intends, after the
war, to branch out into the making of general line of glass novelties.
After spending a good part of a lifetime, 30 years, in the clay pottery
business, Mr. Turnbull took over the plant during the depression, confident
that by careful management he could build up a good business. He succeeded
with the help of his wife and two daughters even though he admits that
during the days of the N.R.A. he almost folded up; somehow, however,
he managed to keep his corporate body and soul together. As a result
of war conditions, considerable difficulty is being experienced in procuring
the necessary materials used. In addition to sand (silica), there are
some 16 chemical compounds used to control melting temperatures, brittleness,
and colors. Some of the ingredients cannot be obtained at all during
the war and substitutes must be used.
Sand melts at a very high temperature, so fluxing materials such as
zinc oxide, soda ash, feldspar, fluorspar, and borax are added to the
sand which reduces the melting temperature of the mixture to practical
values. The glass chemist or ceramic engineer needs to know much more
than how to melt sand to make glass, since the ingredients needed to
be added in exact proportions for color control. Some of the chemicals
used are cobalt for blues, manganese for purple, manganese and iron
for browns and black, selenium for pink, sulfur for yellow, and cadmium
sulfide for yellow and red. Manganese is used chiefly as a classifier
or de-colonizer. Antimony oxide is added to control brittleness.
Batches of glass are made up for stock in clear, white, or solid colors
which are added together in the furnace or tank over the marble-making
machine in exact proportions depending on the colors required by the
customer. Such specifications as clear, solid colors, and striping is
done by putting the various glass colors in the furnace in layers or
laminations so that the molten glass runs from the furnace streaked
with the colors rather than with the colors mixed to form a particular
color. A typical formula for a batch of solid glass (purple in this
case) is: Silica (sand) 330 lbs, Soda
Ash 150lbs, Calcium (lime) 15 lbs,
Barium Carbonate 3 lbs, Sodium
Nitrate 7 lbs, and Manganese 12
lbs.
The marble glass is tapped from the furnace or tank over the marble
machine through an adjustable orifice, which controls the diameter of
the finished product. The stream of glass is cut by part of the marble
machine called a shear which shuttles from one side to the other of
the glass flowing through the orifice so that the piece cut off drops
to one side or the other onto the parallel, spirally-grooved rollers
of the marble machine. Seven sizes are made: 1/2", 9.16", 5/8" 11/16"
3/4", 1" and 1 1/4". Two orifices are used; a 3/4" for marbles up to
11/16" in diameter, and a 1 and 1/4 inch orifice for all larger sizes.
(Marble Rolling Off The Marble Machine)
The marble-making machine is movable, so that it may be
taken away from the furnace or tank for repairs to it or to the tank.
When being used, it rests on the floor so that the stream of glass flows
to the center of the machine to the end farthest away from the center
and, in rolling along in the spiral groove, is made round as it cools.
Rolling off of the end, the still red-hot marble tumbles down a through
to a keg or box. One marble rolls down one set of rollers, while another
rolls down in the opposite direction on the other set of rollers.
After the finished marbles have cooled, they are fed into a sizing machine
which consists of two shafts of steel, one revolving, and set out of
parallel so that the ends nearest the box of marbles being fed onto
it are close together, while the other ends are father apart--or, in
other words, in a letter "V" fashion. As the single marbles roll down
the shaft, the small ones fall through first and the intermediate and
larger sizes afterwards. This machine is likewise turned by an electric
motor. The various sizes fall into boxes below the machine, as shown
in the picture.
The boxes of marbles taken from the sizing machine are carefully inspected
for defectives - which are discarded. From the inspection table good
marbles go to the packaging machine. This is a simple affair made of
materials at hand. The operator controls the number of marbles for each
box by operating a foot pedal (an iron rod stop in the groove in which
the marbles roll down from the bin) counting the number automatically.
After the stop has been inserted, the marbles below it are permitted
to roll down into a sack or paper box (when obtainable) held in the
operator's hands.
Sacks or boxes of marbles ready for retail trade are shipped in large
paper cartons and as many as 50,000 loose marbles are sometimes shipped
in barrels to jobbers and exporters for world-wide distribution. Shipments
are frequently made to foreign buyers direct from the factory on orders
of Unites States exporters.
Ravenswood Marble Identification
From a selection of marbles Donated by Greg Helmick
In 1944,
Charles Turnbull died and his son-in-law, Paul Cox, resumed the business
in 1947. Under the leadership of Paul Cox the company began to use
cheaper glass cullet rather than producing their own hot batch mixes
of glass. The company continued operations until 1955. The building
now sits in a residential setting and is used as a storage building.
(Mike Johnson, Susie Metzler, and Dean Six)
We would like to thank Greg Helmick for contributing to The National
Marble Museum project. We welcome donations
of other interesting examples and original packaging from the Ravenswood
Company. Thank You!
In 2008,
the rights to this web site became the property of The Museum of American
Glass in West Virginia.
Note: All
rights to the contents of this page, including editing and updating,
belong to the
West Virginia Museum of American Glass, Ltd.,
9/2008
WELCOME
MARBLE COLLECTORS!
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