Mergers, Consolidations...

How does Henry Ford figure in the history of glass?  Ford actually built a glass making machine which produced 51 inches wide ribbons of glass for automobiles continuously for 3 1/2 miles a day for two years - total length 2000 miles long! That earned him inclusion in the Owens-Libbey-Ford Glass Company which went on to develop curved glass for automobile windows. 

Meanwhile in Somerville, Massachusetts, Amory Houghton, a skilled glass maker began the Bay State Glass Company in 1851.  He was born in Boston in 1812 and as a young man dabbled in real estate, construction and trading before starting his own glass company. 

In 1854, Hougton organized the Union Glass Company, then sold it 10 years later to purchase the Brooklyn Flint Glass Works with his son, the glass chemist, Amory Jr.  After four years in Brooklyn, Houghton needed to reduce costs, and find better access to fuel and transportation so he picked up his company and moved it to Corning, New York, where he changed that sleepy town to the center of the glass industry.  Corning was instrumental in making electric light bulbs by inserting puffs of compressed air into the molten ribbon glass. 

After Joseph Owens' death in 1923 (Libbey died two year later), the Owens Bottle Company in Toledo, Ohio, became Illinois Glass Company in 1929.  Then in 1935, the company merged with Corning Glass Works to become Owens-Corning and the rest is history...Three major players  revolutionized the glass industry as we know it today - Edward Libbey, Michael Owens and Amory Corning.

Next time...How do you pack your lunch?
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Today in Pioneer History: "On January 30, 1933, the Lone Ranger debuts on radio with the William Tell Overture as its introduction.  The program debuts on Detroit's WXYZ, created by George Trendle and written by Fran Striker.  The "masked man" became one of the most enduring heroes of the 20th century...Hi Yo Silver Away!