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!


 

The Story of Glass

In the century after the Civil War, the increased use of iron, steel and something not used before in the form and design of buildings was introduced - concrete.  Concrete was actually as old as the Romans, but its use in widespread masonry was not.  Along with new designs in buildings came new uses for glass, bringing the outside inside and the freedom of view.

The story of glass is goes back 1000s of years.  Glass is an ancient material, but transformed over the many centuries to what we use today.  The ancient Egyptians used glass for glazing beads, making imitation precious stones, and even for travel.  Glass-blown vessels were widely used on the Mediterranean before Jesus.

During the Middle Ages, glass became more useful in personal ways like fancy containers, chandeliers and mirrors.  Venice was the glass making center of Europe in the 13th century.  Glass makers' techniques were counted among the treasures of the city and guarded as secretive.  Venetian glass makers perfected a pure, colorless. transparent glass which after being made into fragile pieces were art objects in the finest palaces.

Glass, rather than a raw material, was treated as transparent silver.  The use of glass for windows was a slow, gradual change.  Glass was very expensive and flat glass was difficult to make. Only very small windows were made and for the wealthy.  In the Middle Ages, windows began to show beauty - the stained-glass windows of England and France's cathedrals, although with limitations, showed the power of the glass makers of that time. 

Next time...The making of colored glass
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Today in Pioneer History: "On December 12, 1980, a notebook belonging to Leonardo Di Vinci was purchased for $5.1 million by American oil tycoon Armand Hammer at auction.  The manuscript written around 1508, contained 72 pages with 300 notes and drawing relating to water and how it moved.  After Hammer's death and an museum visit, the codex was sold to Bill Gates for an estimated $30.8 million.  Gates loans the codex to museums for public display.  (what else would do with it???)