19th-century glass categories in the United States

none thumb|upright=0.8|Blown peachblow glass creamer made in 1880s by Hobbs, Brockunier and Co.Metropolitan Museum of Art|alt=small cream pitcher with white glass on inside and dark orange on outside top with cream colored glass on bottom half 19th-century glass categories in the United States include types of glass and decoration methods for glass. A simplified category version appropriate at the beginning of the century is glassware, bottles, and windows. As the century progressed, glass production became more complex and made necessary more categories and subcategories. An 1884 United States government report used glassware, bottles, windows, and plate glass as major categories—although plate glass accounted for only four percent of the value of all glass made. Although window glass was made using the Crown method or the Cylinder method at the start of the century, the cylinder method was dominant by mid-century. By the 1870s, glassware could be lead crystal or made from soda-lime, with crystal including lead as a key additive while soda-lime glass excludes lead. Glassware could also be decorated by cutting, engraving, or etching. Bottles continued to be made with low–quality green glass, but some bottles were made with high–quality glass and decorated. During the last decade of the century, wire glass was being produced in addition to window and plate glass. One government report used the category "building glass" to represent window, plate, and wire glass. Shatter-resistant glass was invented in Europe and would be introduced by an American manufacturer in 1915. Research was being conducted in the United States and Europe that would dramatically change the way window glass was manufactured in the next century. In France, Émile Fourcault was developing the Fourcault process for making window glass. In the United States, Irving Wightman Colburn would later be joined by Michael J. Owens to develop a similar window making process. Background 19th century glassmaking in the United States 19th Century glassmaking innovations in the United States Prior to the American Revolution, there were three types of glass made in the British colonies that would become the United States. Those categories were green glass, soda glass, and lead glass.Purvis 1999 107 In 1800, the United States was thought to have no more than ten operating glass factories.Dyer Gross 2001 23 Most of these factories produced window glass or bottles made of green glass, and very little high quality glassware was made.Scoville 1944 197The production of higher quality crystal glass in the United States was limited by a lack of skilled glassblowers and lack of a necessary additive for the raw ingredients.Skrabec 2011 18 Almost all of the crystal glassware in the United States was imported from England, and England controlled the supply of the necessary additive for crystal—red lead. Note Despite the War of 1812 and a trade war with Britain, the United States had at least 33 glass factories by 1820. The Tariff of 1824, which was a protective tariff, helped the American glass industry grow to nearly 70 glass factories over the next two decades. By the middle of the century, the United States had 94 glass works producing various types of glass—including glassware. Leading glassware manufacturers in the 1870s were Bakewell, Pears, & Company; Boston & Sandwich Glass; J. B. Dobleman; J. H. Hobbs, Brockunier and Company; Mount Washington Glass; and New England Glass Company.Skrabec 2007 73 In 1884 the Census Office of the United States Department of the Interior released Report on the Manufacture of Glass by Joseph D. Weeks. This report, which contained over 100 pages, used four "general varieties" to classify glass plus additional "sub–varieties".Weeks United States Census Office 1884 20–21Warren C. Scoville, in his journal entry titled Growth of the American Glass Industry to 1880, described the Census Office report as "Weeks's excellent report", and produced a table using Weeks' four categories.Scoville 1944 199 He also wrote that "...the increased efficiency of the Census enable one to ascertain the state of the industry in 1880 with much greater accuracy than in any previous year." Note For the 1880, 169 establishments produced glass products in the United States. Glassware was produced at 73 facilities, while green glass was made at 42. Window glass was made at 49 glass works, while plate glass was made at five establishments.Weeks United States Census Office 1884 3 The total value of all glass products produced was $21,154,571 (US 21154571 1880 eq). Glassware accounted for 45 percent of the total value of glass products made in 1880; while green glass, window glass, and plate glass had percentages of 27, 24, and four, respectively.Weeks United States Census Office 1884 9 The total value of all glass products produced in the United States grew to $41,051,004 (US 41051004 1889 eq) in 1889, and for 1899 it was $56,539,712 (US 56539712 1899 eq).United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce 1917 24The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce report published in 1917 shows statistics for 1879 on page 24 and 25 that match the numbers for 1880 in the 1884 report by Weeks and the Census Office.United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce 1917 24–25 Weeks calls his numbers "Summary of Statistics for 1880" and "The complete statistical results of the census of 1880...."Weeks United States Census Office 1884 1 Note Bottles and jars accounted for about 38 percent of the 1899 total, while building glass (window, plate, wire, other building) and pressed & blown glass (mostly glassware) both accounted for about 30 percent. (The other two percentage points are rounding plus an "All other products" category.)United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce 1917 29 Major categories of glass thumb|upright=0.8|alt=bottles with greenish and brown tints|Medicine bottles Flint glass is usually glassware, although it can be bottles and lamp chimneys. The glass composition could either include lead (usually called crystal) or soda and lime (soda–lime glass). In the 21st century, flint glass refers to crystal.Shotwell 2002 184 Green or "bottle" glass has a clear greenish (sometimes brownish) color because of impurities such as iron in the sand used in the batch—and a lack of additives used to remove the greenish tint or add a more pleasing color. In the English colonies that would become the United States, most glass produced was green glass until the 1760s when one glass works began producing high quality lead crystal.Shotwell 2002 224; Weeks United States Census Office 1884 21; Purvis 1999 107 Green glass of the 19th century is different from green glass, such as Uranium glass, deliberately colored green by using additives.Shotwell 2002 224 Plate glass was made by pouring molten glass onto a table, and then polishing it after it hardened.Swiatosz 1985 33 Plate glass is generally thicker than window glass, takes longer to anneal, and undergoes intensive grinding and polishing to produce its finish. It is used for mirrors, tabletops, and large windows.Shotwell 2002 432 Window glass production during most of the 19th century involved a glassblower making a long hollow cylinder that was cut lengthwise and flattened—known as the Cylinder method.Swiatosz 1985 33; Q. How were cylinder glass windows made? Corning Museum of Glass https://libanswers.cmog.org/faq/144378#:~:text=Cylinder%20glass%20was%20made%20by,cooled%2C%20the%20ends%20were%20removed. January 31, 2024 January 31, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240131213115/https://libanswers.cmog.org/faq/144378#:~:text=Cylinder%20glass%20was%20made%20by,cooled%2C%20the%20ends%20were%20removed. live By the end of the 19th century, the Lubbers glassblowing machine was created to eliminate the need for glassblowers in the window glass process, and work began early in the next century that would radically change the entire production method.Linton 1917 8359; Skrabec 2007 249 Other categories of glass thumb|upright=0.8|alt=cup with blue and clear glass|Brooklyn Flint Glass Co.cut crystal glass ~ 1850–1855Metropolitan Museum of Art thumb|upright=0.8|alt=wine glass red at top and gold on stem|J.H. Hobbs, Brockunier & Co.wine glass (soda–lime) ~ 1885Metropolitan Museum of Art Borosilicate glass was created between 1887 and 1893 in Germany by Otto Schott.Otto Schott (1851–1935) Florida State University https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/schott.html January 30, 2024 June 4, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230604083700/https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/schott.html live This type of glass is less likely to shatter because it is tolerant to sudden changes in temperature. Borosilicate glass was not made in the United States until 1915, when Corning Glass Works introduced its Pyrex glass.A Century of Pyrex Corning Museum of Glass https://www.cmog.org/article/pyrex January 30, 2024 December 8, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20231208115730/https://www.cmog.org/article/pyrex live Crystal glass (sometimes called flint glass) is a high-quality clear glass that needs an additive known as red lead. In the British colonies that would become the United States, crystal began being produced right before 1770 by a works led by Henry William Stiegel in the Province of Pennsylvania.Weeks United States Census Office 1884 21; Shotwell 2002 533; Palmer 1979 5 The Stiegel works ended production in 1774.Shotwell 2002 533 Glass works such as New England Glass Company, and Pittsburgh's Bakewell glass works, were producers of crystal early in the 19th century.Skrabec 2011 20; Madarasz Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center 1998 144New England Glass Company moved to Toledo, Ohio, in 1888 and was renamed Libbey Glass Company in 1892.Timeline: Owens-Illinois and the Glass Industry in Toledo University of Toledo, Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections https://www.utoledo.edu/library/canaday/exhibits/oi/oiexhibit/timeline.htm February 18, 2024 February 18, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240218211559/https://www.utoledo.edu/library/canaday/exhibits/oi/oiexhibit/timeline.htm live Pittsburgh's Bakewell glass works had nine different names. From 1808 to 1809 it was named Bakewell & Ensell; and from 1809 to 1813 it was named Benjamin Bakewell & Company. From 1813 to 1827 it was named Bakewell, Page & Bakewell; and from 1827 to 1832 was named Bakewell, Page & Bakewells. From 1832 to 1836 it was named Bakewells & Anderson; and from 1836 to 1842 it was named Bakewells & Company. The Pears family became involved and the company was named Bakewell & Pears from 1842 to 1844; Bakewell, Pears & Company from 1844 to 1880; and Bakewell, Pears Company, Ltd. from 1880 to 1882.Madarasz Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center 1998 144 Note The Seneca Glass Company was one of the few glass works still making lead crystal glassware late in the 19th century, and it continued using 19th century technology through much of the 20th century. Cochran Wendell Seneca Glass Morgantown Dominion Post (Newspaper Archive) 40 November 16, 1969 Soda–lime glass (a.k.a. lime–soda glass or lime glass) was re–discovered in 1864 by William Leighton of the J. H. Hobbs, Brockunier and Company glass works in Wheeling, West Virginia. The glass made using his formula had good enough quality that the company could compete in the high-end of the glassware market.Skrabec 2011 27–28; Weeks United States Census Office 1884 79 The ingredients used to make the glass were lower-cost than those used to make lead glass. In addition, the glass hardened faster, meaning the workforce was forced to shape or press it quicker.Weeks United States Census Office 1884 79; Dyer Gross 2001 30–31 Professor Warren C. Scoville of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in an essay titled Growth of the American Glass Industry to 1880, considered the new soda-lime formula second only to mechanical pressing among the five outstanding American glassmaking innovations up to that time.Scoville 1944 211 Window glass, crown method was made by having a glassblower blow a gob of glass until it was shaped like a hollow globe. The globe was transferred from the glassblower to a worker where the globe would be cut open and twirled with a rod as it flattened into a large disc. When the worker removed the rod used for twirling, it would leave a "bullseye" in the center of the glass. The disc would be annealed in a kiln for two to three weeks. A cutter would then cut the flattened glass into the desired dimensions.Scoville 1944 201; Shotwell 2002 110 In the United States, the few window glassmaking companies that used the crown method ended production using that process shortly after 1850, although some crown glass was made at the end of the century for decorative purposes.Scoville 1944 202 Window glass, cylinder method starts like the crown method, only the gob of glass is blown into a large hollow cylinder. The cylinder is cut on both ends, and then cut lengthwise so it can be flattened in a flattening oven.Shotwell 2002 124 Although window glass made using the cylinder method did not have as good of a finish as that made using the crown method, it had a more uniform thickness of the glass which caused fewer distortions. It also could be cut into bigger pieces with less waste. This method was the only one used to make window glass in the United States during the last half of the 19th century. By 1920 it was mostly replaced by radically different methods for making window glass.The Fourcault process for window glass was invented in 1901 by a Belgian glassmaker named Émile Fourcault.The Window Machines: Sheet & Plate Glass Corning Museum of Glass https://www.cmog.org/article/window-machines-sheet-plate-glass February 29, 2024 February 29, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240229181124/https://www.cmog.org/article/window-machines-sheet-plate-glass live This process uses a machine to draw molten glass vertically, and has no need for a glassblower or glassblowing machine. By 1925, window glass manufacturers were using as many as 14 drawing machines had been placed over one furnace. Annealing the glass is also quicker than the cylinder method.Turner 1925 828–830 The process was finalized in Belgium, and was not used in the United States until 1923 when it began being used by the Blackford Window Glass Company in Vincennes, Indiana.United States Tariff Commission 1937 31 NoteThe Libbey-Owens process (also called the Colburn process) began being developed by Irving Wightman Colburn after he observed a paper–making machine in 1905.Turner 1925 830 Another source believes Colburn was inspired by noticing that while eating pancakes, syrup remained on his knife blade as he lifted it—causing him to consider the possibility of molten glass being pulled up in a similar manner.Syrup Off the Roller: The Libbey–Owens–Ford Company University of Toledo Library https://www.utoledo.edu/library/canaday/exhibits/oi/oiexhibit/syrup.htm February 29, 2024 December 7, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20221207195354/https://www.utoledo.edu/library/canaday/exhibits/oi/OIExhibit/Syrup.htm live After running out of funding, Colburn's patents were sold at auction in 1912. The patents were purchased by the Toledo Glass Company, which was owned by Edward Libbey and Michael Owens. Colburn and Owens continued work on Colburn's process, and by 1917 it was improved enough to produce window glass. In this process, glass is melted in a tank furnace before moving into a trough where it is drawn. The glass is drawn vertically, but after it reaches a bending roller it is drawn horizontally. Annealing is conducted in a lehr that is 20 ft long.Turner 1925 831 Note In the United States, the last window glass company to use the cylinder method was the LeFevre Glass Company in 1926.Shotwell 2002 124–125 Wire glass, a variation of plate glass made after 1892, uses wire within the glass as reinforcement. Frank Shuman developed the process for embedding wire in glass.Wilson Wahl 1894 161–162E. Ward Tillotson, Assistant Director of Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, spelled Frank Shuman's surname as "Schuman" and credited the introduction date as 1892.Tillotson 1920 354 Note Decorating glass thumb|upright=0.6|alt=elegant stemmed wine glass with etching that appears to be plant-like|Fostoria Glass Co. etched stemware Cased glass consists of at least two layers of different colored glass.Shotwell 2002 77 Also known as overlay glass, this technique did not see extensive use until the 1850s, and peaked in production during the 1860s.McKearin McKearin 1966 33 Cut glass has been decorated by cutting groves or depressions in its surface.Shotwell 2002 117 The process involves making the cut, smoothing, and then polishing. The work was done by a glass cutter holding the glass against a wheel on a lathe.McKearin McKearin 1966 31 The Romans are known to have cut glass, and glass cutting was rediscovered by Germans in the 17th Century. The technique spread to the British Isles before it was brought to the United States during the late 18th Century. Pittsburgh's Bakewell and Company was an early 19th century glassmaking firm that became known for its cut glass. Enameled glass has been decorated by enamel paint.Shotwell 2002 158–159 The enamel typically contained lead, tin, and a metallic oxide ground into a powder. It was mixed with an oil and fused to the glass. It may have been practiced in New Amsterdam by Dutch glassmakers, and was definitely used in Pennsylvania by Henry William Stiegel's Manheim glasshouse during the 1770s. The Consolidated Lamp and Glass Company, the largest producer of lamps and shades in the United States in the 1890s, produced as many as 400 dozen hand–painted lamps per day.Consolidated Lamp and Glass Company 1896 36; Madarasz Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center 1998 10 Engraved glass in the 19th century United States was made using copper wheels on a lathe.McKearin McKearin 1966 32 It is a more exacting method of decoration compared to cutting glass. It was introduced to the English colonies (eventually the United States) by German glass workers during the last half of the 18th century. Etched glass has been decorated by using chemicals. The glass is covered with an acid-resistant wax, portions of the wax are scratched off, and the acid is applied.Shotwell 2002 164 This technique was used mainly in the late 19th century. Gilded glass has been decorated with gold paint.Shotwell 2002 207 The gold is paint consists of brown oxide of gold or a gold salt mixed with oil or water. Firing the paint onto the glass leaves it dull until it is polished. Gilding was probably not practiced in the United States until about 1820. Notes Footnotes Note 30em Citations 30em References 30em Consolidated Lamp and Glass Company April 1896 As Others See Us (advertisement) https://books.google.com/books?id=X9MxAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22too+small+for+the+increased+business+of+the+Company%22&pg=RA3-PA36 Chicago, Illinois American Glass and Pottery World Company Glass and Pottery World IV 4 36 August 25, 2023 March 1, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240301175658/https://books.google.com/books?id=X9MxAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22too+small+for+the+increased+business+of+the+Company%22&pg=RA3-PA36 live Dyer Davis Gross Daniel The Generations of Corning: The Life and Times of a Global Corporation Oxford University Press 2001 Oxford 45437326 978-0-19514-095-8 Linton Robert May 1917 Window Glass by Machine https://books.google.com/books?id=nV4iAQAAMAAJ&dq=John+H.+Lubbers+machine&pg=RA1-PA8359 Easton, Pennsylvania Compressed Air Magazine Company Compressed Air Magazine xxii 5 8359–8364 1564586 January 24, 2024 March 3, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240303181753/https://books.google.com/books?id=nV4iAQAAMAAJ&dq=John+H.+Lubbers+machine&pg=RA1-PA8359#v=onepage&q=John%20H.%20Lubbers%20machine&f=false live Madarasz Anne Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center Glass: Shattering Notions Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania 1998 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 39921461 978-0-93634-001-2 McKearin Georghe S. McKearin Helen American Glass Crown Publishers 1966 New York City 1049801744 Palmer Arlene 1979 American Heroes in Glass: The Bakewell Sulphide Portraits https://www.jstor.org/stable/1594129 Chicago, Illinois University of Chicago Press, Smithsonian American Art Museum American Art Journal 11 1 4–26 10.2307/1594129 1594129 February 17, 2024 February 24, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230224050127/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1594129 live subscription Purvis Thomas L. Colonial America to 1763 Facts on File 1999 New York City 234080971 978-1-43810-799-8 Shotwell David J. Glass A to Z Krause Publications 2002 Iola, Wisconsin 638 440702171 978-0-87349-385-7 registration https://archive.org/details/glasstoz00davi/page/638 Scoville Warren C. September 1944 Growth of the American Glass Industry to 1880 https://www.jstor.org/stable/1826160 Journal of Political Economy 52 3 193–216 10.1086/256182 1826160 154003064 November 2, 2023 November 13, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20231113122457/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1826160 live subscription Skrabec Quentin R. Michael Owens and the Glass Industry Pelican Publishing 2007 Gretna, Louisiana 137341537 Skrabec Quentin R. Edward Drummond Libbey, American Glassmaker McFarland 2011 Jefferson, North Carolina 753968484 978-0-78648-548-2 Swiatosz Susan 1985 A Technical History of Late Nineteenth Century Windows in the United States https://www.jstor.org/stable/1494065 Bulletin of the Association for Preservation Technology 17 1 31–37 10.2307/1494065 1494065 January 30, 2024 January 30, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240130215317/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1494065 live subscription Tillotson E. Ward December 1920 Modern Glass-Making – Putting the Glass Industry on a Scientific Basis https://books.google.com/books?id=x-AzU5Nx7UEC&dq=Kopp+ruby+glass&pg=PA354 New York City Scientific American Publishing Company Scientific American Monthly II 4 351–354 August 25, 2023 November 17, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20231117155535/https://books.google.com/books?id=x-AzU5Nx7UEC&dq=Kopp+ruby+glass&pg=PA354 live Turner W.E.S. July 1925 The Modern Production of Sheet Glass https://www.jstor.org/stable/41357024 Journal of the Royal Society of Arts 73 3792 821–837 41357024 February 29, 2024 February 29, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240229181553/https://www.jstor.org/stable/41357024 live United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce The Glass Industry. Report on the Cost of Production of Glass in the United States Government Printing Office 1917 Washington https://archive.org/details/glassindustryrep00unit 5705310 United States Tariff Commission 1937 Flat Glass and Related Glass Products https://books.google.com/books?id=YH8XrTJiZfsC&dq=boston+crown+glass+company&pg=PA29 12562332 Report Under the General Provisions of Section 332, Title III, Part II, Tariff Act of 1930 123 2 1–277 February 24, 2024 February 24, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240224183340/https://books.google.com/books?id=YH8XrTJiZfsC&pg=PA29&dq=boston+crown+glass+company&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjppJGIzsSEAxWAK1kFHfrLC304ChDoAXoECAUQAg#v=onepage&q=boston%20crown%20glass%20company&f=false live Weeks Joseph D. United States Census Office Report on the Manufacture of Glass U.S. Government Printing Office 1884 Washington, District of Columbia https://books.google.com/books?id=Ot0nAAAAYAAJ&q=report+on+the+manufacture+of+glass June 26, 2023 2123984 July 16, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230716182017/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ot0nAAAAYAAJ&q=report+on+the+manufacture+of+glass live Wilson Joseph M. Wahl William H. March 1894 Shuman's Process and Apparatus for Embedding Wire Netting in Glass https://books.google.com/books?id=HWBDAAAAYAAJ&q=Shuman&pg=PA161 Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania, for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts CXXXVII 3 161–175 January 24, 2024 March 3, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240303182420/https://books.google.com/books?id=HWBDAAAAYAAJ&q=Shuman&pg=PA161#v=snippet&q=Shuman&f=false live Category:History of glass Category:Cultural history of the United States