Tramore Scout Troop - Ted Ryan Stuff

8th waterford, tramore Scouts.

Ted Ryan Stuff . . .

The Bases we visited . . .

Base No.	Grid Reference	Where?	Name of Base
1	943 H29	Sacred Heart	Tent Pitching
2	824 G31	Order of Malta, Poleberry	First Aid
3	830 F31	Enterprise Centre, New Street	Computers
4	613 K77	Waterford Crystal	Factory Report
5	898 F68	Cathedral Square	Estimation
Finish	802 F69	De La Salle	Test Meal

Our factory Report:

When we went in first through the worker's entrance, there was a touch screen computer tour with pictures of all the areas of the factory. We were told that the old blowing room has now been converted to a storage room.
We were told the main batch ingredients were Silica sand, Hot Ash & Litharge.
We then went into the factory and the first thing we noticed was the heat. There were loads of machines and robots whizzing up and down with molten glass. There was broken glass everywhere.
Then we went up to the furnace. There were two huge funnels mixing together batch and cullet (glass not up to perfection the first time around) into a huge tank. The furnace is powered by Natural Gas and 20 tonnes of molten glass pass through it everyday. This furnace operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and it's temperature is about 1300 degrees celcius.
Next we saw the glass blowers. In the past more than one person would blow the same piece of glass but now one blower does all the piece. The blowers use beech wood to shape the glass because it is more resistant to fire.
If there is any slight imperfection in the glass it is thrown away.
The shape of the glass is achieved by putting in it in a cast iron mould. The patterns in the glass are carved in with a diamond tip.
There are machines with set patterns in them for cutting a load of glasses the same like the John Rocca Collection. Then we went back outside and onto the next base.