Raw materials
1. Sand
2. Soda lime
3. Silica
4. Pigments
Process
1. Sand, soda lime, and crushed cullet are fed into a large, furnace-driven tank. In the tank, the mixture is heated to 1260°C to melt the raw materials. This can take as long as 28 hours.
2. Molten mixture moves out of the tank through an opening into a flow tank where an opening in the tank injects molten colored glass (a green marble has been injected with glass containing iron oxide; blue marble with cobalt; purple marble with manganese; greenish-yellow marble with uranium oxide). The speed and force of the injection determines the final design of the marble. Multicolored marbles are made by using a grooved feeder device, patented by the Akro Agate Company.
3. The still-molten glass is released from the flow tank as globs of glass. Automatic cutting devices slice the mixture into equal parts.
4. Finally, the globs travel down metal ramps that simultaneously cool them and perfect their spherical shape.
Product
Marbles
Used for
Playing (as a toy)
Production facility
Mount Barker, SA
Export
Islamabad, Pakistan
If you notice, as far as glass making goes, the raw materials for making marbles are similar to the soda-lime glass produced at Brisbane, QLD production facility. Therefore, marbles are soda-lime quality glass, which is the most common type of glass.
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