Michael Joseph Owens

Michael Joseph Owens

Michael Joseph Owens (1859-1923)
Born January 1, 1859(1859-01-01)
Mason County, West Virginia
Died December 27, 1923(1923-12-27) (aged 64)
Toledo, Ohio
Work
Significant projects production of glass bottles
Significant awards Elliott Cresson Medal (1915)

Michael Joseph Owens (January 1, 1859 – December 27, 1923) was an inventor of machines that could automate the production of glass bottles.

Contents

Biography

He was born in Mason County, West Virginia on January 1, 1859. He left grade school at the age of 10 for a glassware apprenticeship at J.H. Hobbs, Brockunier and Company in Wheeling, West Virginia.

In 1888 he moved to Toledo, Ohio and worked for the Toledo Glass Factory of Edward Drummond Libbey. He was later promoted to foreman and then to supervisor. He formed the Owens Bottle Machine Company in 1903. His machines could produce glass bottles at a rate of 240 per minute, and reduce labor costs by 80%.[1]

Owens and Libbey entered into a partnership and the company was then renamed the Owens Bottle Company in 1919. In 1929 the company merged with the Illinois Glass Company to become the Owens-Illinois Glass Company. [2][3]

He died on December 27, 1923.[4]

Patents

References

  1. ^ "Michael Joseph Owens". National Inventors Hall of Fame. http://www.invent.org/Hall_Of_Fame/357.html. Retrieved 2007-06-21. 
  2. ^ "Michael Joseph Owens". Today in Science. http://www.todayinsci.com/O/Owens_MichaelJ/OwensMichaelJ.htm. Retrieved 2007-06-21. "Michael Owens was a glass manufacturer who invented an automatic glass bottle manufacturing machine that revolutionized the industry. His mechanization of the glass-blowing process eliminated child labor from glass-bottle factories, which he had himself experienced from the age of ten. ..." 
  3. ^ "Michael Joseph Owens". ASME. May 17, 1893. http://files.asme.org/ASMEORG/Communities/History/Landmarks/5612.pdf. Retrieved 2007-06-21. 
  4. ^ "Michael Joseph Owens Dead. His Inventions Revolutionized Methods of Bottle Making". New York Times. December 28, 1923. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00C11F93F5D15738DDDA10A94DA415B838EF1D3. Retrieved 2011-11-20. 

External links