View from ESE showing glass cone with gasholder in background

Description View from ESE showing glass cone with gasholder in background

Date 9/1970

Collection Papers of Professor John R Hume, economic and industrial historian, Glasgow, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 769494

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Glass Cone, Alloa Glass Works, Glasshouse Loan, Alloa, Clackmannan This shows the southern cone, disused in 1970. The openings at ground level originally gave the glass-blowers access to the molten glass in the central furnace, The white material in the foreground is broken glass, known in the works as 'cullet', which is added to the furnaces to encourage fusion. By 1970 coal firing of glass furnaces and hand-blowing of bottles had long gone. In this works oil-fired furnaces supplied molten glass to automatic machines for bottle making. Most of the output was and is whisky bottles. The works is now owned by United Glass, a subsidiary of the Diageo Corporation. This works was founded in about 1750 by Lady Frances Erskine of Mar. At different times it made window glass and glass bottles, but by the end of the 18th century seems to have concentrated on the latter. Two new glass cones were built in about 1825, and one still survives on the edge of the works. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

External Reference H35/70/56/3

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/769494

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap