Design Glassworks -- Branford, CT 1-800-278-2276

New York Times
Sunday, May 17, 1992

Glass Blower Thrives in a Corporate Post
by Penny Singer

Ciba-Geigy, the international developer and manufacturer of pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals has 91,600 employees worldwide -- 17,000 of those in the United States -- and one of those, Robert W. Wallace, is the glass blower at Ciba-Geigy corporate headquarters here.

Every month, Mr. Wallace estimates, he produces about 30 original pieces of glassware made to specifications of Ciba-Geigy scientists for use in experiments in the research departments at headquarters. He also mends pieces of expensive laboratory glassware bought from outside vendors.

Mr. Wallace belongs to a small and select group of 700 scientific glass blowers in the United States, and at 28, he is one of the youngest. Observed in the laboratory last week, he may also be one of the most enthusiastic. He regards his work as a contribution to medical research and clearly enjoys his job.

Two Types of Glass Blowers

While Mr. Wallace was demonstrating his skills on a specially designed double lathe, he was asked about the occupational hazards of his profession, and replied that there were fewer than generally believed.

"Actually, there are almost no problems," he said. "My workplace is very well ventilated. I have a hood that pulls out all the heat. I wear special reflective glasses, and I use an air hose instead of my lungs as a bellows most of the time."

"I know when people hear glass blower, what they're thinking of is artistic glass blowers who use their lung power to make things like little glass poodles or paperweights. I can also do that sometimes, and I do it for fun, but for those of us who are scientific glass blowers, that term glass blower is really a misnomer."

Scientific glass blowers, he explained, regard themselves as skilled craftsmen who have the ability to create a product used for a specific function from raw materials.

An Expensive Type of Glass

"I work very closely with the 100 scientists here to give them exactly what they need," he said. "We discuss what they require in the piece for what type of experiment, and then they supply me with a rough sketch. In some cases, I'm called upon to modify or improve existing pieces of glass or make repairs to those that have been damaged."

Research laboratory glass, Mr. Wallace said, is very expensive.

"For example, the glass cells that are used in experiments to develop skin patches for drug delivery through the skin are used in large quantities in the development of such of our products such as Habitrol, used in stopping smoking, or Estraderm, used in the treatment of menopausal symptoms," he said. "Hundreds of these glass cells, which cost $100 to $500 each, are used in experiments to see how drugs react in the body. I'm called upon to fix many of them."

Pointing to a large glass container across the room, Mr. Wallace said: "That piece, which was bought on the outside, cost $1,200 and takes about a month to get after it is ordered, but I can make a similar condenser for less than half the cost in about 3 hours. And since time is an extremely important factor when a scientist is working on an experiment that has to be done at the appropriate stage, with a fresh drug or chemical that has no shelf life, speed is important."

To date, Mr. Wallace said, his most difficult assignment has been making a heat-exchange apparatus for use in a distillation experiment.

"There were several glass tubes involved, and the thickness in the glass wall in the tube has to be exact all around," he said. "I use graphite tools and a caliper to measure, but I find my eye and hand are still the best tools when it comes to measuring the wall thickness and a piece of glass equipment. It does take time to get it exactly right, but it can be very dangerous if scientific glass instruments are flawed in any way."

Coordination and Practice Required

When asked what made him choose such an unusual occupation, Mr. Wallace said his interest in glass blowing began with a summer job he had when he was 14.

"It was at the Q Glass Factory in Glen Ridge, N.J.," he said. "They were making a lot of scientific glass for government research projects, and I was assigned to sweeping, cleanup and doing odd jobs around the factory the first summer I spent there." Eventually, Mr. Wallace said, he spent four summers working at the glass factory.

"Every summer I was given more responsibility," he recalled. "I found I had the ability to melt and reshape glass, which takes good eye-hand coordination and a lot of patience."

When he was about to graduate from high school, Mr. Wallace, who said he was interested in science as a career, met with his guidance counselor.

Recruited on the Campus

"I said I liked science and I knew I had a talent for working with glass, and since I knew that scientists need a little glass-blowing training in order to make their own equipment, I was looking for a school that gave courses in glass blowing."

His guidance counselor found five colleges that offered scientific glass blowing, he said. One was Salem Community College in New Jersey.

"It was a two-year college, and it just seemed like it was made to order for me," he said. "There were 18 people in my class, and we did glass blowing for four hours each day," he recalled. "At the end of the two-year course, because the college had a top reputation in the country for training glass blowers, most of us were recruited on campus."

Mr. Wallace was recruited by Union Carbide to be a consultant on special projects in Tarrytown.

"It was a great opportunity to learn on the job for someone just out of school," he said. "I was assigned to work on vacuum precise glass apparatus used in their scientific experiments. It was my first real well-paying job, and I loved it. I worked on the project for six months, and just as it was winding down, by chance Ciba-Geigy contacted Union Carbide and asked them where Ciba-Geigy could find a glass blower. Union Carbide was good enough to give them my name. I went over there for an interview seven and a half years ago, and I have been working for Ciba-Geigy ever since."

A scientific glass blower can expect to earn $45,000 to $60,000 a year.

When asked if he had regrets about not pursuing scientific studies further, Mr. Wallace said, "No, I'm happy to be working in a scientific atmosphere. I have very good relationships with the scientists here, and they are most important to me. But as a profession and a career, I like glass blowing."

Mr. Wallace is active in the American Glass Blowers Society, a professional group, and is chairman of the New York section. "At meetings, we also share our knowledge with each other and with the vendors who come and ask our opinion of their products," he said.