The Libbey–Owens–Ford Company (LOF) was a producer of flat glass for the automotive and building products industries both for original equipment manufacturers and for replacement use. The company's headquarters and main factories were located in Toledo, Ohio, with large float glass plants in Rossford, Ohio, Laurinburg, North Carolina, Ottawa, Illinois, and Lathrop, California. The company was formed by the merger of Libbey-Owens' flat-glass operation with the Edward Ford Plate Glass Company, both located in Toledo, in 1930.[1]
In the spring of 1916, Michael Owens and Edward Drummond Libbey, both manufacturers of sheet glass, merged their respective companies to form Libbey-Owens. In June 1916, the new Libbey-Owens bought Graham Glass along with the Graham brothers' patents for their glass bottle-making machine, allowing them to diversify into consumer products. In 1928, LOF (then Libbey Owens) was the first company to produce automotive laminated safety glass and won a contract to supply the Ford Motor Company with windshields for the Model A. The success of this relationship was the impetus for a merger that created LOF.[2]
In April 1986, LOF sold its glass business and name to the Pilkington Group, a multinational glass manufacturer headquartered in the United Kingdom. The remaining three business units of the company, Aeroquip, Vickers, and Sterling, were retained and the holding company was renamed TRINOVA Corporation. The Sterling business was later sold and in the late 1990s, the company adopted its two leading business unit names, and continued as Aeroquip-Vickers, Inc., until being absorbed by Eaton Corporation in 1999.
As part of the Pilkington Group, the company retained the LOF name. However, in June 2006, Pilkington was acquired by Nippon Sheet Glass, and the LOF name was abandoned in an effort to rebrand globally under the Pilkington name.