subject: The History of Glass Making and Blowing – Part 3 [print this page] The History of Glass Making and Blowing Part 3
Early American Glass Production
The first factory in the United States was established in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1608. However, the glass making industry was not successful in the US until 1739, when Caspar Wistar built a glassmaking factory in Salem County, New Jersey. Another famous American glass maker was Henry William Stiegel, also known as Baron Stiegel. He pioneered clear, colored, enameled, and engraved glass in North America. Both Wistar and Stiegel were of German descent. In the 19th century, bottles and dishware were molded to produce inexpensive glassware for common people.
The Industrial Revolution and Glass Production
Since the Industrial Revolution, glass began to be mass-produced. One big contributor to this development was the German scientist Otto Schott and Ernst Abbe, who studied chemical compositions of glass that affect the optical and thermal properties. Friedrich Siemens, who invented the tank furnace, was also very influential in making mass production possible. The tank furnace rapidly replaced the old pot furnace and allowed the continuous production of far greater quantities of molten glass.
The vastly expanded market for glass was also crucial for the development of mass production. This was due to the discovery of petroleum and invention of kerosene lamps, which led to increased demand for glass lamps. In addition, bottles that were originally used mainly for whiskey were demanded by the medicine industry and food packaging industry. Glass tableware also became increasingly common and more people began to use glass in their daily lives.
Moreover, since coal became widely available during the Industrial Revolution, glass factories did not have to be built near forests. Fuel could be obtained anywhere, especially near major cities that were also potentially the major markets.
Automation was also under way. By the end of the 19th century, the engineer Michael Owens invented an automatic bottle blowing machine, and similar machines soon followed in Europe. In the 20th century, machines such as the gob feeder and individual section machine (IS machine) were developed. Especially the IS machine became the most widely used glass production arrangement and both types of machines still form the basis of most automatic glass factories today.
American Glass Art Today
The United States is an exciting glass art scene like never before. Many of the famous modern masters are from the US, such as Harvey Littleton, Dominic Labino, and Correia Art Glass.
