Shenango Pottery Company Manufacturers of
High-Grade
Semi-Vitreous China Plain and Decorated
New Castle, Pa.
Sept 13, 1907 Prof. Chas. F. Binns,
Dear Sir,
I am now settled in my new position. I have been here nearly a month and believe I will stick for some time. Until I have either made or lost my position and reputation as a boss potter.
At no time yet have I been at a loss as to what to do when things were going wrong. I was very fearful at first and expected to have a hard time. So far all my troubles have been easy to solve.
At times it seems queer and funny to be over so many men, and I have to laugh at myself because I feel like a school boy. Many of the men under me have been in the business more years than I am old but the education I have had, gives me an advantage which enables me to overcome difficulties that they are unable to cope with.
My work so far has been almost entirely in the clay shop and filing tools. I have no clay foreman under me but have that work to do myself. This with looking after the kilns, sliphouse, warehouses and dipping room make me very busy.
They have been making “semi-porcelain” and are almost through with it. One or two weeks more and we shall see the last of it. The hotel china they are starting is a somewhat crude affair to my mind. It is fired just to complete vitrification and not to a good translucency. The ware is all of the double thick variety. The kind you wonder how anyone could break them.
The market seems pretty good for this class of ware especially with no decoration.
The pottery is all on one floor with a row of six kilns down through the center. The decorating shop is a one end of the plant and so cannot be arranged to do an underglaze decoration, as it is too hard to get from the biscuit warehouse to decorating shop.
I have had no time to do any body or glaze work but hope to get at it in a short time. The glaze they use is too stiff and viscous
.2 RbO 2.5 SiO2
.3 K2) .38 Al2O3
.4 CaO .59 B2O3
.1 ZnO
This is it, and it is one that Ernest Mayer gave them at that. It requires cone 7 or 8 to make a good surface to it. The fritt they use is 196 flint, 196 Boric acid, 15 clay.
This is another one of Mayer’s contributions. It does not give satisfaction though so I will tackle it soon and work along the line of the glazes I made in school. The alumina is of course too high. It ought to be brought down to .25 at least. All of the K2O in that formula comes in from spar.
There will be many things to talk over with you when I get at experimental work but at present there is nothing but little problems in the making which I have to solve.
School almost ready to begin and I not going back. It seems strange and makes me feel lonesome.
I wish to thank you for your help in getting me the position, and I can promise to do everything in my power to help you or the school. The State School has been the scene of the happiest days of my life and there it is that work first became a pleasure to me. The work here is hard and the hours long, but every bit of it is pleasantly spent. My worst trouble being to keep from worrying over small things.
I have thought many times about the subject of boric acid acting as a base and I would appreciate very much your telling me of any light which could be thrown on the subject.
Yours very respectfully R. G. Cowan
