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 COPYRIGHT-I92O 
 
 MACBETH-EVANS GLASS COMPANY 
 
 PITTSBURGH PA.
 
 President 1899-1916
 
 GEO. D MACBETH 
 Secretary 
 
 HOWARD S. EVANS 
 
 Vice President 

 
 FIFTY YEARS OF 
 GLASS MAKING 
 
 1869 -1Q 19 
 
 <^-~/ 
 
 47284
 
 T? 
 53 
 
 T3 
 
 H I 
 
 
 

 
 LASS has been traced by history and tradi- 
 
 tion to remote ages of the world. The time 
 and place of its discovery will probably be 
 never more than mere conjecture. Some 
 writers would have us believe that "Tubal 
 Cain," mentioned in Genesis 4:22 as "an instructor of 
 every artificer in brass and iron," was the inventor. 
 Doubtless this opinion finds its chief basis in the theory 
 that glass, the offspring of fire, was discovered shortly 
 after its progenitor. 
 
 J>liny^the Roman historian (23 A. D. 79 A. D.), 
 wrote a somewhat different version 
 of the discovery of glass. This 
 ancient writer, in his story, declares 
 that the discovery was accidental. 
 "It is said," wrote Pliny, "that 
 some Phoenician merchants, hav- 
 ing landed on the coast of Palestine, 
 near the mouth of the river Belus, 
 were preparing for their repast, and, 
 not finding any stones on which to 
 place their pots, took some cakes of nitre (bicarbonate of 
 soda) from their cargo for that purpose. The nitre being 
 thus submitted to the action of fire with the sand on 
 the shore, they together produced transparent streams 
 of an unknown fluid, and such was the origin of glass." 
 There are many who have taken exception to Pliny's 
 account of the discovery of glass, declaring it impossible 
 to produce glass in the open air and under the conditions 
 described. However vague and indefinite the early 
 history of glass may be, it is undoubtedly true that its 
 
 Figure 1 
 
 f glffTDir 
 c f ^ 
 
 Twelve
 
 ancient discoverer, unknown and unheralded, gave the 
 world one of its most important inventions. Destroy all 
 glass, forget the methods of manufacture, and by that 
 action you will sever the jugular vein of science, cripple 
 the great industries and transform homes into dark, 
 poorly lighted, unsanitary shelters reminiscent of the 
 middle ages. The microscope, marvelous because of glass, 
 would be valueless without it. The minute organisms, 
 isolated under the skillful direction of the scientist, would 
 continue to exist unseen. The telescope without its won- 
 derful lenses \vould not reveal the universe filled with 
 uncounted heavenly bodies, the knowledge of whose 
 movements and characteristics enables the astronomer 
 to forecast with uncanny precision natural phenomena. 
 
 The constantly increasing use of glass has made it in- 
 dispensable in our domestic, scientific and industrial lives. 
 In this book we shall attempt to trace briefly its develop- 
 ment from known antiquity to present-day modern 
 practice. The last fifty years have seen the greatest 
 development in glass manufacture since its discovery. 
 Processes have been marvelously improved. Intricate 
 machinery has supplanted the slower, less accurate hand 
 methods. Laboratories have eliminated to a great extent 
 the element of chance, which, in earlier days, and even in 
 this more enlightened period, has worked much havoc. 
 
 There are innumerable examples of glass, both in 
 public and private collections, which are unquestionably 
 of ancient origin, yet because of the lack of proper 
 inscriptions it is impossible to classify them in chrono- 
 logical order. 
 
 The paintings of the Theban 
 glassmakers reproduced herein 
 were discovered on the tombs of 
 Beni Hassan. These tombs, accord- 
 ing to authentic records, were Figure 2 
 
 Thirteen
 
 Figure 3 
 
 erected about 2000 B. C., but it is claimed that the 
 paintings were executed during the Reign of Onsertasen 
 I (3500 B. C.). Figure 1 represents an ancient Theban 
 taking molten glass from the foot of a furnace. Figure 2 
 shows two others seated on the ground, holding pipes 
 similar to those used at the present time. The glass 
 on the end of the pipes, which are pointed toward the 
 fire, is ready to be blown. Figure 3 illustrates the 
 blowing of a large glass vase by two men. 
 
 The glass bead (Figure 4) found by Cap- 
 tain Hervey, of the Royal English Marines 
 at Thebes, has inscribed on it in hiero- 
 glyphics the name of Queen Ramaka, for 
 Figure 4 whom it was made. She was the wife of 
 Thoutmes III of the eighteenth dynasty (1500 B. C.). 
 We find it definitely established, therefore, that glass 
 was being manufactured at Thebes at this early date, 
 and it is quite evident that the industry was in more 
 or less an advanced stage at that time. 
 
 When the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, con- 
 quered Egypt (26 B. C.) he quickly recognized the 
 commercial value of glass and ordered that it should 
 form part of the tribute which he imposed upon the 
 conquered country. This had the extraordinary and 
 paradoxical effect of stimulating the Egyptian glass 
 industry. The Romans, eager for novelty, bought 
 
 Fourteen
 
 freely of the product of the Egyptian glassmakers, 
 with the result that this industry flourished until 
 the Reign of Tiberius (14 A. D.), when, according 
 to Pliny, the Romans began the manufacture of glass 
 in their own country. With characteristic intelligence 
 and industry, they assimilated the knowledge of the 
 Egyptians, and within a comparatively short time 
 Roman glass rivaled that of Egyptian origin. Recog- 
 nizing that the perpetuity of the 
 industry depended upon wide- 
 spread demand, glass was made 
 into many dissimilar articles hav- 
 ing broad application. Bottles,* 
 drinking glasses, vases and toilet 
 articles, many of which bear a 
 striking resemblance to those of 
 the present day, were produced by 
 these early Roman glassmakers. 
 
 WherL. ancient Gaul fell under 
 the yoke of the conquering Roman 
 it was most natural that the art of 
 glass making should be introduced into the new prov- 
 inces. That the Gauls were adept students and later be- 
 came in some respects superior to their Roman masters is 
 evidenced by the works of art which have been unearthed 
 in the ancient provinces of France. Probably the best 
 example of the skill of these ancient Gallic glassmakers 
 is the Strassbourg vase found in a coffin excavated by 
 chance near the glacis of Strassbourg. It bears the name 
 of Maximianu Herculius, a Roman emperor (250 A. D. 
 310 A. D.). The difficulties overcome in the man- 
 ufacture of this vase clearly indicate that glass making 
 was highly developed at this period. 
 
 When Rome and many of her provinces were overrun 
 by the barbarous Huns, they ruthlessly devastated 
 
 Strassbourg Vase 
 
 Fifteen
 
 and destroyed the industries of the conquered country, 
 with the result that we find that glass making became 
 a lost art in the West for several centuries. 
 
 Constantine the Great (274 A. D. 337 A. D.), when 
 the glass industry died in the West, hastened to offer 
 alluring inducements to the skilled workmen in that 
 part of the world to come to Byzantium (Constanti- 
 nople), the seat of his Empire. With the encouragement 
 of Constantine, and also of Theodosius III, who reigned 
 from 408 A. D. to 450 A. D., the manufacture of glass 
 became an important industry. This monopoly of the 
 East was not overcome by the West until the fourteenth 
 century, when Venice became a factor. For several 
 centuries the Venetian Republic maintained its leader- 
 ship as the principal producer of glass. In order to 
 more closely supervise the industry, to guard its 
 secrets and to break the contact of the workmen with 
 foreign countries, all the glass workers w^ere confined 
 to the Island of Murano, which is separated from 
 Venice by a narrow strip of water. Marco Polo, in his 
 travels in the Far East, discovered the rich markets of 
 Tartary, India and China, where the 
 natives were fond of false pearls and 
 imitation gems. Venice quickly took 
 advantage of these new markets, with 
 the result that the city became wealthy 
 because of its glass trade. The Ger- 
 mans, in spite of the attempted mon- 
 opoly of the Venetians, began at this 
 period to manufacture glass in their 
 own country. Their product was heavy 
 and ungraceful in contrast with Vene- 
 tian glass, which was noted for its fine 
 and light filigree work and for its color. 
 The German decorations were put 
 
 German Glass 
 
 Sixteen
 
 Venetian Glass 
 
 on with enamel and were, for the 
 most part, reproductions of coats 
 of arms. The German glass- 
 makers of this time were re- 
 sponsible for many valuable 
 formulas, among which was the 
 one for making a beautiful ruby 
 red, discovered in the early part 
 of the seventeenth century. 
 
 Bohenjia followed Germany 
 closely in the establishment of 
 her own glass works. It was not 
 long, however, before the Bohe- 
 mian manufacturers were mak- 
 ing glass of a clearness superior to any previously 
 manufactured. About 1609 Gaspar Lehmann, a Bohe- 
 mian, invented a new method of decoration that of 
 engraving on glass. This new decoration revolutionized 
 the industry, and \vhile the Bohemian glass of this time 
 was clear and light in weight, it unfortunately lacked 
 brilliancy. It did, however, possess an originality 
 which was not always in good taste 
 but for which there was a demand be- 
 cause of its peculiar individuality. 
 
 England neglected the glass indus- 
 try during the middle ages, and it was 
 not until the Reign of Queen Eliza- 
 beth that glass was made in that 
 country. This famous queen invited 
 Cornelius de Lannoy to London for 
 the purpose of establishing a glass 
 works, and he was responsible for the 
 first glass made in the British Isles. 
 
 Bohemian Glaas 
 
 Seventeen
 
 I 
 
 Harper's Encyclopedia of 
 
 United States History 
 
 Copyright, 1901, by Harper 
 
 & Brothers. All rights reserved. 
 
 JAMESTOWN IN 1622 
 
 Eighteen
 
 GLASS INDUSTRY 
 IN AMERICA 
 
 LASS making enjoys the distinction of being 
 one of the earliest industries introduced in 
 the new world. 
 
 In 1607 the first glass furnace was erected 
 about a mile distant from Jamestown, 
 Va. The product was confined to bottles. The second 
 plant was erected in 1620 to manufacture glass beads, 
 which were used extensively at that time in trading 
 with the Indians. Both works were destroyed in the 
 great massacre of 1622. 
 
 The next attempt to make glass in America was at 
 Salem, Mass., where a plant was built in 1639 to 
 produce bottles and other articles. 
 
 In Pennsylvania the first mention 
 of glass making was found in a 
 letter written by William Penn in 
 August, 1683, to the Free Society of 
 Traders. The location of the works 
 and the product unfortunately were 
 not disclosed. 
 
 Two glass factories were in operation in New York 
 
 Glass Beads Made at 
 Jamestown, Va., 1621-1625 
 
 Nineteen
 
 City in 1732. Seven years later the first glass works 
 in New Jersey was built by Caspar Wistar about one 
 mile east of Allowaystown, Salem County. In 1775 the 
 failure of this enterprise resulted in the workmen mov- 
 ing to Glassboro, N. J., and establishing a new factory. 
 The glass works now in operation in that city is a 
 development from the factory built in 1775 and is one 
 of the oldest continuously operated glass plants in 
 America. 
 
 In the beginning of the nineteenth century, a number 
 of glass factories had been erected throughout what is 
 now the eastern part of the United States. 
 
 It was not long before the early American glass 
 manufacturers discovered that it was important in the 
 economic production of glass to locate in a section of 
 the country which could, from its natural resources, 
 furnish proper fuel. It was for this reason that Western 
 Pennsylvania, and particularly the Pittsburgh district, 
 showed such phenomenal growth as a glass center 
 during the 19th century. 
 
 The celebrated American statesman, Albert Gallatin, 
 has the distinction of establishing the first glass works 
 
 in Western Pennsylvania. His 
 plant was located about sixty miles 
 above Pittsburgh on the Monon- 
 gahela River and began in 1787 to 
 manufacture window glass. In 1795 
 the first glass works was built in 
 Pittsburgh and was known as 
 "Scott's" located on the south 
 side of the Monongahela River. 
 The product of this factory was 
 chiefly window glass. 
 
 In 1797 GejiexaLOJiara and 
 Major Craig erected a plant near 
 
 class Tumbler 
 
 Twenty
 
 Molded Bottle 
 Early Nineteenth Century 
 
 ' ' Scott's. ' ' These men have been gen- 
 erally recognized as the pioneers in 
 the glass industry in Pittsburgh. The 
 success of O'Hara and Craig quickly 
 attracted others, with the result that 
 we find the glass industry in the Pitts- 
 burgh district in the first half of the 
 nineteenth century showing a devel- 
 opment clearly indicative of the ul- 
 timate dominating position of Pitts- 
 burgh as a glass center. 
 
 In the period dating from the re- 
 construction days of the Civil War 
 down to the present time the glass industry has 
 undergone many revolutionary changes. No similar 
 space of time in the history of glass making records the 
 same number of epoch-making improvements in machin- 
 ery and methods. 
 
 As in every great industry there are certain dominat- 
 ing influences which have contributed most to its 
 advancement. Because of this fact, the history of the 
 Macbeth-Evans Glass Company is interesting to the 
 reader who knows in a general way that this company 
 has been an important contributor to the advancement 
 of the art of glass making during the time of its greatest 
 development. It was with this fact in mind that the 
 history of the Macbeth-Evans Glass Company has been 
 written. 
 
 Twenty-one
 
 PITTSBURGH IN 1869
 
 THE 
 FOUNDERS 
 
 N 1869, at the foot of Gist Street, in that 
 part of Pittsburgh known as the Bluff, Thos. 
 Evans established a glass works which 
 marked the beginning of the Macbeth- 
 Evans Glass Company. The plant was 
 operated under the name of Reddick & Company. 
 
 In 1872, three years later, Geo. A. Macbeth, with 
 several associates, purchased the Keystone Flint Glass 
 Works, Second and Try Streets, Pittsburgh, known as 
 the "Dolly Varden." The company operating the 
 plant was called Muzzy & Company. 
 
 The melting equipment of the plant of Thos. Evans 
 consisted of one ten-pot furnace, and the output was 
 confined to handmade chimneys. A ten-pot furnace also 
 completed the melting equipment of Geo. A. Macbeth's 
 first glass works. The product, however, consisted 
 of handmade chimneys, reflectors and lantern globes. 
 Thus we find the beginnings of a great glass company 
 like that of many of the world's greatest industrial 
 institutions of today modest, and for the most part 
 financed by perseverance and courage. 
 
 Before tracing the development of each of these 
 companies to the time when they were merged in 1899, 
 forming the Macbeth-Evans Glass Company, it will be 
 interesting to know something of the early careers of 
 the founders. 
 
 Twenty-three
 
 Georde Alexander Macbeth 
 
 j]EO. A. MACBETH was born in Urbana, 
 Ohio, October 29, 1845, the son of James 
 Reed and Frances Ann Macbeth. Edu- 
 cated in the public schools of his native city, 
 he moved at an early age to Springfield, 
 Ohio. Here he secured employment in a retail drug 
 store and it was while compounding prescriptions that 
 he gained his first knowledge of chemistry, the study of 
 which he continued unceasingly throughout his long and 
 successful career. 
 
 Recognizing the limitations of the work in which he 
 was engaged, Mr. Macbeth began to look for an opening 
 which would give him an opportunity for greater 
 development and ultimately more remuneration. It 
 was not long after he had made up his mind to leave 
 Springfield that fate opened the way for him to go 
 either to Cincinnati or Pittsburgh, selling opportunities 
 being offered him in these cities. In deciding to go to 
 Pittsburgh, Geo. A. Macbeth disclosed some of the 
 uncanny foresight which stood him in good stead in 
 later years. 
 
 After coming to Pittsburgh he sold the products of 
 B. F. Fahnestock Company, wholesale druggists; 
 Armstrong Cork Company, manufacturers of cork 
 products; W. H. Hamilton, bottle maker, and the 
 Keystone Flint Glass Works, whose product was lead 
 lamp chimneys. About 1872 the last named company 
 became financially involved. With several associates 
 Mr. Macbeth bought their plant, which was located at 
 Second and Try Streets, and began the operation of this 
 factory in 1872 under the name of Muzzy & Company. 
 
 Twenty-four
 
 This marked the beginning of the career of George 
 Alexander Macbeth as a glass manufacturer. How 
 successful he was is very fitly expressed in the following 
 extract from the Proceedings of the Engineers Society of 
 Western Pennsylvania, published after Mr. Macbeth's 
 death on February 11, 1916: 
 
 "Geo. A. Macbeth had a good schooling experience at various 
 institutions prior to his arrival in Pittsburgh in 1862 to engage 
 in business. What difficulties he overcame and how, after 1862, 
 he labored to perfect himself in his chosen field of glass making, 
 we are not told, but we may be sure that it required an inflexible 
 purpose and diligent effort on his part to emerge, as he did in 
 1872, as a glass manufacturer. 
 
 "Almost from the start he commenced those improvements 
 in the composition and manipulation of glassware used for 
 lighting purposes, which at once attracted attention and brought 
 to his name a fame which spread all over the country and even- 
 tually reached all regions of the globe where American refined 
 oils were used. 
 
 "When one thinks of this illimitable field of enterprise true 
 not monopolized by any one firm, but having regard to the 
 commercial value of a name there was here offered to Mr. 
 Macbeth an opportunity for becoming the head of a legitimate 
 trust of vast capitalization. W 7 ith him, however, the advance- 
 ment of personal wealth was secondary to his desire to explore 
 ways for advancing knowledge in his chosen sphere. The 
 inauguration of the Carnegie Institute in this city with its 
 department of Science, Art and Literature brought together 
 a group of the best equipped minds and the most noted scientific 
 workers of western Pennsylvania. Mr. Macbeth was intimately 
 associated with the men of this group and enjoyed their esteem, 
 as he did also that of Mr. Carnegie, to the fullest extent. Besides 
 Mr. Macbeth's interest in applied science, he was an authority 
 and critic of no mean rank on etchings and engravings. He was 
 very active in bringing about the vast extension of the great 
 building and especially the enlargement of the library and the 
 establishment of its branches throughout the city." 
 
 Twenty-five
 
 Thomas Evans 
 
 JHOS. EVANS was born in Pittsburgh, on 
 October 5, 1842, the son of Evan and 
 Eleanor Jones Evans. His father and 
 mother had come to the United States from 
 Wales in 1835 and settled at Ebensburg, 
 Pa., moving a few years later to Pittsburgh, where Thos. 
 Evans was born. He was one of a family of six. In 
 1856 his father, who was employed as a mechanic 
 in the glass works of Bakewell, Pears & Company, was 
 killed in a fly-wheel accident. Thos. Evans, who was 
 thirteen years old at the time, was compelled to leave 
 school and accept w r ith his brothers the responsibility 
 of providing for the family. His mother having died 
 seven years before his father made the task all the 
 greater. With characteristic courage, however, he 
 assumed the burden which fell upon his youthful 
 shoulders. 
 
 His first position was with Bakewell, Pears & Com- 
 pany, where he was employed as an errand boy at a 
 salary of $6.00 per month. He took up his duties on 
 Wednesday, and on Saturday he received his first 
 pay, which consisted of one gold dollar. He has often 
 said that he has not seen a dollar since quite as large 
 as that one. 
 
 He continued in the employ of Bakewell, Pears & 
 Company until 1862, when he became associated as a 
 salesman with \Villiam N. Ogden & Company, dealers 
 in oil and lamp chimneys, located at Liberty and Wood 
 Streets. In 1863 he went to Cleveland, Ohio, where he 
 remained for one year, during which time he was 
 employed as a salesman by S. S. Barrie & Company, 
 
 Twenty-six
 
 large retailers of oil lamps and glassware. Return- 
 ing to Pittsburgh he was successively employed by 
 Wallace & Company, who had a retail store on Wood 
 Street, and Atterbury & Company, large glass manu- 
 facturers at that time. Just previous to the organization 
 of his own company in 1869 he was with Fry, Semple & 
 Reynolds, who operated a glass plant at the foot of 
 Seventeenth Street on the South Side. The diversified 
 experience which he gained in being associated with 
 both the retail and manufacturing branches of the glass 
 industry provided him with the foundation upon which 
 his later career was built. 
 
 Those who have been associated with Thos. Evans 
 over a long period of time can best appreciate the 
 sterling qualities which eventually brought him recogni- 
 tion as one of the outstanding figures in the glass 
 industry in America. 
 
 The history of the Macbeth-Evans Glass Company 
 and of Mr. Evans's earlier venture in glass making 
 reveals to only a small extent his genius for organization 
 and finance. His has always been an indomitable will 
 plus a high type of courage, primary essentials in the 
 pioneer days of his career, and contributing factors to 
 the success of Macbeth-Evans Glass Company, of which 
 he was treasurer from 1899 to 1916, when he became 
 president. 
 
 Twenty-seven
 
 Development of the 
 
 Thomas Evans 
 
 Company 
 
 EDDICK& COMPANY, organized in 1869 
 by Thos. Evans, was capitalized at $14,- 
 000.00, the stock being owned by Thos. 
 Evans, James Reddick and fifteen skilled 
 glass workers. After operating for three 
 years, it developed that the continued existence of the 
 company necessitated the removal of the works to the 
 south side of the Monongahela River. This was because 
 the more favorable labor conditions in that section made 
 it possible to operate a glass plant with greater economy. 
 After a thorough canvass of the situation, Mr. Evans 
 found that the works of Fahnestock, Fortune & Com- 
 pany, located at Josephine and Twenty-second Streets, 
 could be purchased for $35,000.00. A glimpse of the 
 courage of this man is revealed in the fact that but 
 $5,000.00 was paid in cash, the balance being repre- 
 sented by notes. It was a noteworthy transaction 
 and, because of the lack of money, extremely difficult 
 to handle. The fact that Thos. Evans was barely 
 thirty years of age at the time he negotiated this deal 
 shows that his genius for organization and finance 
 was developed at an early date. The new plant was 
 the largest lamp chimney factory in Pittsburgh, operat- 
 ing sixty shops. 
 
 Twenty-eight
 
 #" '-X r 
 
 - 
 
 '* J * 
 
 ?2g* 
 
 " " ^===-"1 "r- 
 
 * tl"'--. 
 
 Works at 18th and Josephine Sts., Thos. Evans & Co. 
 
 In 1873 James Reddick retired and the name of the 
 company was changed to Evans, Sell & Company. In 
 1877 a machine known as the "Patent Crimper" was 
 invented. The introduction of this machine had the 
 immediate effect of greatly increasing production and 
 reducing costs correspondingly. Quickly recognizing 
 the necessity of having this machine in his factory in 
 order to meet competition, Mr. Evans secured a 
 license to use the "Patent Crimper." The workmen 
 were not in sympathy with any improvement tending 
 toward the increase of production, laboring under the 
 delusion that it would result in fewer employees as 
 well as less work. The conditions outlined by the 
 workers under which they would operate the machine 
 were so unreasonable that they could not be accepted. 
 The men quit work and very quickly a general strike 
 spread through all the factories operating patent 
 
 Twenty-nine
 
 Employees of the 18th St. Works, Thos. Evans & Co. 
 
 crimping machines. The fifteen glass workers who 
 owned stock in Evans, Sell & Company refused to work, 
 thus creating an unpleasant situation. Mr. Evans 
 made a proposition to them for the purchase of their 
 interests, which was accepted. The firm name was 
 then changed to Evans & Company. Because of the 
 determined stand taken by the workmen, it was evident 
 that the strike would be of long duration. What to do 
 under the circumstances was a problem. With his 
 characteristic ability to think straight and decide 
 promptly, Mr. Evans determined to secure a factory in 
 another city which could be operated temporarily and 
 thus maintain the identity of his company with the 
 trade during the time his Pittsburgh plant was closed. 
 A careful search disclosed an idle glass works in the 
 northwestern part of Chicago. Leasing this plant he 
 secured workmen from widely separated sections of 
 the country and within a short time had the factory in 
 operation. Desperate attempts were made to prevent 
 the operation of the works, but in spite of the great 
 difficulties encountered, Mr. Evans, although his life 
 was in danger almost constantly, kept the plant going 
 
 Thirty
 
 for about one year, when the strikers made overtures 
 looking toward a settlement. After several conferences a 
 compromise was effected, the result of which was the 
 immediate abandonment of the Chicago works and the 
 resumption of operations at the Pittsburgh factory. 
 
 In 1881 Mr. Evans sold his interest in the company 
 and erected in the same year a plant at Josephine and 
 Eighteenth Streets, operating under the name of 
 Thos. Evans & Co. The melting equipment of the new 
 factory consisted of a large fifteen-pot furnace. The 
 business grew so rapidly that in order to meet the 
 demand for his product Mr. Evans leased the factory 
 owned at one time by his former employers, Frye, 
 Semple & Reynolds, located at the foot of Seventeenth 
 Street on the South Side. In 1887 the Thos. Evans 
 Company was incorporated. 
 
 In 1890 the development of the natural gas field in 
 Indiana gave the glass manufacturers an opportunity 
 to obtain fuel at small cost, and many factories removed 
 to that section. To meet the competition of these plants, 
 Mr. Evans in 1892 established a works near Marion, 
 Indiana. The new plant contained three fifteen-pot 
 furnaces. Coincident with the opening of the Marion 
 works, the Seventeenth Street factory was discontinued. 
 Forty-five pots at Marion and fifteen pots in opera- 
 tion at the plant on Eighteenth Street, Pittsburgh, 
 making a total of sixty pots, made the Thos. Evans 
 Company the largest lamp chimney manufacturers in 
 the world. 
 
 The production of the Thos. Evans Company reached 
 the enormous total at that time of 12,000,000 lamp 
 chimneys a year. The factories of the company pro- 
 duced in addition to lamp chimneys large quantities 
 of lantern globes and oil lamp shades as well as other 
 illuminating glass. One historian of the time visualized 
 
 Thirty-one
 
 Group of Employees of the Thos. Evans Company 
 
 the output of the Thos. Evans Company in the state- 
 ment that the production laid in line would reach 1500 
 miles built up as a ten-foot hollow square it would 
 form a chimney over nine miles high. 
 
 The use of colored decorations in the forms of 
 wreaths, flowers, landscapes and marine views on lamp 
 chimneys and shades became popular about 1885. 
 The demand for these decorated chimneys became so 
 widespread that within a comparatively short time 
 the Thos. Evans Company were decorating 4,000,000 
 chimneys and shades a year, employing seventy-five 
 to a hundred women for this work alone. 
 
 The Thos. Evans Company continued to maintain 
 its leadership as the largest lamp chimney manufac- 
 turers in the world until 1899, when it was combined with 
 the Geo. A. Macbeth Company, forming the Macbeth- 
 Evans Glass Company. 
 
 Thirty-two
 
 
 Development of the 
 
 George A.Macbeth 
 
 Company 
 
 HE melting equipment of Muzzy & Com- 
 pany organized by Geo. A. Macbeth in 
 1872 consisted of a ten-pot furnace. The 
 employees numbered about 150. The 
 plant was generally known throughout the 
 glass industry by the nickname "Dolly Varden." 
 
 In 1880 the factory of Atterbury & Company, known 
 as the "White House" and located at Tenth and Carson 
 Streets, South Side, was leased and operated by Mr. 
 Macbeth under the name Geo. A. Macbeth & Company. 
 The output, which was confined to lead glass chimneys, 
 reflectors and lantern globes, was melted in a ten-pot 
 furnace. 
 
 In 1881 Muzzy & Company, operating the Keystone 
 Flint Glass Works, and Geo. A. Macbeth & Company 
 were absorbed in a corporation which was called the 
 Geo. A. Macbeth Company. The principal owners 
 were Geo. A. Macbeth, Harry Darlington, W. G. Muzzy 
 and C. Z. F. Rott. Coincident with the formation of 
 the new company, the plant at Second and Try Streets 
 was abandoned. 
 
 In 1882 the Geo. A. Macbeth Company, in the plant 
 at Tenth and Carson Streets, built a fourteen-pot 
 
 Thirty-three
 
 "White House" Employees, Geo. A. Macbeth Company 
 
 "Deep Eye" furnace, the largest melting unit of its 
 kind in the United States at that time. After the 
 completion of this furnace this company began the 
 manufacture of colored lantern globes, signal glasses, 
 lenses and roundels, for railroad and marine use. 
 It was in the making of these products that Mr. Mac- 
 beth gave expression to his unceasing study of glass 
 chemistry and his desire to reach ultimately the position 
 of being able to manufacture everything for industrial, 
 scientific and illuminating purposes. 
 
 In 1886 a factory located at Eighth and Sarah Streets 
 was purchased from Adams & Company. The melting 
 capacity of this plant was limited to a ten-pot furnace 
 and its product was confined to lead glass chimneys. 
 
 In the year 1883 Mr. Macbeth secured the design 
 patent under which he manufactured chimneys which 
 he marketed as "Pearl Top." This patent covered the 
 decoration consisting .of thirty-six beads or pearls 
 around the top of the Number 1 chimney and forty 
 
 Thirty-four
 
 beads or pearls on the Number 2 chimney. "Pearl Top" 
 chimneys continue to be manufactured that way to 
 this day. 
 
 Mr. Macbeth's merchandising instinct quickly recog- 
 nized the possibilities of trade-marking and advertising 
 these chimneys. He engaged the services of an adver- 
 tising agency in St. Louis and during the first year his 
 appropriation totaled $25,000.00. Compared to the 
 mammoth advertising appropriations of the present 
 day, this amount seems insignificant. In those early 
 pioneer times when advertising was frowned upon by 
 many of the old-established companies who believed 
 it to be an instrument employed chiefly to exploit 
 patent medicines and fake schemes, the spending of this 
 amount of money to advertise a lamp chimney was 
 exceptionally daring and a decided deviation from 
 the ordinary selling methods. There were many who 
 believed that it would ultimately ruin his business, 
 but notwithstanding the criticism of his friends and 
 competitors, the advertising was continued year after 
 year with splendid results. 
 
 In 1886 Mr. Macbeth engaged the services of John 
 E. Powers, who was the outstanding figure in the 
 advertising world at that time. Working together, 
 these two men outlined an advertising and selling cam- 
 paign for "Pearl Top" and "Pearl Glass" lamp chimneys 
 which made these chimneys famous the world over. 
 The unusual copy used in the advertisements created 
 widespread comment. Particularly was this true of the 
 car cards used in the New York Elevated Railroads. 
 These were always placed at the end of the car where 
 they were easily seen. Some of the early advertise- 
 ments are reproduced on the following page. 
 
 In 1890, wishing to take advantage of the cheap fuel 
 available because of the gas development in Indiana, 
 
 Thirty-five
 
 One chimney a year is 
 enough for a lamp, if you 
 get the right chimney. 
 
 MACBETH 
 
 a factory was built at Elwood, Indiana. Two fifteen- 
 pot furnaces completed the melting capacity and the 
 product consisted of paste mold lead lam-p chimneys. 
 It was in the Elwood plant in 1891 that optical glass 
 was first successfully produced in the United States. 
 This was a signal triumph and was accomplished in 
 spite of the doubts of the instrument makers and other 
 users that optical glass equal in quality to the imported 
 could be made in America. A one-pot furnace for 
 melting the glass was built and skilled workmen were 
 secured at great expense. Optical glass of excellent 
 quality was produced, but unfortunately labor in 
 foreign countries was so much cheaper that it was 
 impossible to compete with the imported glass inas- 
 much as most of it came in duty free or nearly so. In 
 addition, the American instrument makers agreed 
 among themselves to buy only foreign glass. The folly 
 of refusing protection to this industry was demon- 
 strated during the late war, when frantic attempts were 
 made to make optical glass. Had the industry been 
 fostered, there would have been plenty of optical glass 
 for the instruments used by the army and navy. 
 
 After losing three sets of six-inch lenses which he 
 was making for the Tokio Observatory at Tokio, Japan, 
 during the grinding process, Dr. John A. Brashear 
 appealed to Mr. Macbeth for assistance. Optical glass 
 made at the Elwood plant of the Geo. A. Macbeth 
 Company was sent to Dr. Brashear, and from it the 
 
 Thirty -six
 
 Employees at the "White House," Geo. A. Macbeth Co. 
 
 lenses now used in Tokio Observatory were ground and 
 polished. 
 
 The high quality of the products of the Geo. A. 
 Macbeth Company was recognized at the International 
 Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876, the Exposition 
 Universelle in 1889 at Paris, France, and at the Colum- 
 bian Exposition at Chicago in 1892. Reproductions 
 of the certificates awarded to the Geo. A. Macbeth 
 Company are shown on page 44. 
 
 In 1894 two fourteen-pot furnaces were added to 
 the melting equipment of the plant at Charleroi, Pa. 
 The factory known as the " White House" at South 
 Tenth and Carson Streets was abandoned in 1895, 
 leaving three plants operated by the Geo. A. Macbeth 
 Company: Charleroi, Pa.; Elwood, Ind., and the 
 factory at Eighth and Sarah Streets, South Side, 
 Pittsburgh, Pa. These factories were in operation at 
 the time of the formation of the Macbeth-Evans Glass 
 Company and were taken over by the new corporation. 
 
 These plants are still operated with the exception 
 of the factory located at Eighth and Sarah Streets, 
 which was sold in 1920. The disposal of this works 
 marked the passing of one of the historical glass plants 
 of the South Side of Pittsburgh. 
 
 4 7Z84 
 
 Thirty-seven
 
 ff ,. 1 
 
 //8w/ -* r '-i/-^i' ; - '/; T -rr> 
 
 V/9ft7/-' : .:;./!%. "/I ;'./ I. 4 I 'XtiffA / 
 
 '-7 __ W Wfci'M> **fjffj * Jf ^Kl^ ^-v "^~, A W^ "-* 
 

 
 Macbeth-Evans Glass Company 
 
 T is generally conceded that the two most 
 powerful influences giving the greatest im- 
 petus to the manufacture of glass during 
 the last fifty years were (1) the substi- 
 tution of gas for coal and (2) the invention 
 of the glass-blowing machine. 
 
 When coal was used for fuel it gave off sulphur fumes 
 which destroyed the brilliancy of the glass. This 
 defect was overcome by the use of gas, with the result 
 that we find a contemporary writer stating that the 
 new fuel will "cause ultimately Pittsburgh glass to 
 surpass the wonders of old Venice and the Bohemian's 
 best work." The second influence, the invention of the 
 glass-blowing machine by M. J. Owens, of Toledo, Ohio, 
 made it possible to increase the production of lamp 
 chimneys and other articles many fold over what could 
 be made by hand. The patent on this machine was 
 owned by the Toledo Glass Company, which operated 
 a factory at Toledo, Ohio, under the name of the 
 American Lamp Chimney Company. It can readily be 
 seen that the invention of this machine would cause 
 much concern on the part of glass manufacturers 
 inasmuch as it was not possible to compete with it 
 successfully. 
 
 Realizing that the continued existence of their 
 respective companies depended upon securing the 
 ownership of this patent, Mr. Thomas Evans and 
 Mr. George A. Macbeth in 1899 formed the Macbeth- 
 Evans Glass Company, which in turn absorbed the 
 American Lamp Chimney Company, taking over the 
 patents on the Owens glass-blowing machine. The 
 
 Thirty-nine
 
 Reception 
 Hall
 
 new company was capitalized at $2,000,000.00. This 
 was probably the largest single transaction which had 
 taken place in the glass industry in America up to 
 that time. 
 
 Shortly after the incorporation of the new company, 
 the Hogan-Evans Company, whose plant was located 
 at Twenty-second and Josephine Streets, was pur- 
 chased. The Geo. A. Macbeth Company, at the time 
 of the merger, operated a factory at Charleroi, Pa., 
 containing three twelve-pot furnaces and a plant at 
 Elwood, Indiana, which had two fifteen-pot furnaces 
 and one twelve-pot furnace. A third plant located in 
 Pittsburgh operated one twelve-pot furnace, making 
 a total in all of ninety pots. 
 
 The Thomas Evans Company at this time was 
 operating one fifteen-pot furnace in the plant at Eight- 
 eenth and Josephine Streets, Pittsburgh; three fifteen- 
 pot furnaces in the factory at Marion, Indiana, and 
 two ten-pot furnaces in the Seventeenth Street Works, 
 making a total of eighty pots. Immediately after the 
 Owens patent was acquired together with the American 
 Lamp Chimney Company, whose capacity was limited 
 to one sixteen-pot furnace and one fourteen-pot furnace, 
 the Seventeenth Street Works was abandoned, making 
 the total of 180 pots as the capacity of the Macbeth- 
 Evans Glass Company at the time that it really began 
 operation. Shortly after the company was formed a 
 continuous tank with a working capacity equivalent to 
 thirty pots was built at Charleroi Works. In 1902 the 
 fourth furnace was built in the same factory 7 . When this 
 furnace was completed the Macbeth-Evans Glass Com- 
 pany began the manufacture of all kinds of glass for 
 illumination. 
 
 The most important feature in connection with the 
 formation of the Macbeth-Evans Glass Company, aside 
 
 Forty-one
 
 Display Room
 
 from the purchase of the Owens glass-blowing machine, 
 was the bringing together of Mr. George A. Macbeth 
 and Mr. Thos. Evans, one the antithesis of the other 
 in many respects, but both well grounded in the intricate 
 processes of glass making. The first, a man of great 
 imagination; the second, more conservative but admir- 
 ably fitted by reason of a keen business instinct and a 
 thorough knowledge of glass making to direct the 
 financial destiny of the new company, an exceedingly 
 difficult and important task, as later years disclosed. 
 
 The Macbeth-Evans Glass Company, under the 
 guidance of these two men, grew so rapidly that it 
 soon outdistanced its competitors in the majority of 
 the lines manufactured. The works at Bethevan, Ind. 
 (changed from Marion, Ind.) ; Elwood, Ind., and Toledo, 
 Ohio, have been extended and improved by the intro- 
 duction of labor-saving machinery, since they first 
 became part of the Macbeth-Evans Glass Company. 
 
 It has been the Charleroi Works, located at Charleroi, 
 Pa., about 40 miles distant from Pittsburgh, that has 
 had the greatest growth. This plant, including the 
 Hamilton plant acquired in 1918, covers 21 acres, and 
 has a melting capacity of 63 pots, 2 continuous tanks, 
 and 15 day tanks. Combined with this melting capacity 
 is the large accessory equipment necessary for the 
 efficient production of glass in large volume as well as 
 that needed in the manufacture of glass of special 
 nature. 
 
 The Charleroi Works has been responsible for many 
 of the extraordinary accomplishments of the past 
 twenty years in the glass industry. Some of these are 
 described in the chapter reviewing the products of this 
 company. 
 
 Forty-three
 
 Staff Organization and 
 Its Development 
 
 HEN the Macbeth-Evans Glass Company 
 was incorporated in 1899, the separate 
 organizations of the Thos. Evans Company 
 and the Geo. A. Macbeth Company were 
 combined. The general office of the new 
 organization was established in the Bell Telephone Build- 
 ing on Seventh Avenue, Pittsburgh. As in every corpora- 
 tion, a board of directors was the governing body. The 
 active direction of the Manufacturing and Sales Depart- 
 ment was directly under the supervision of Geo. A. 
 Macbeth, President, and Thos. Evans, Secretary and 
 Treasurer. 
 
 The comparatively simple organization at that time 
 has developed due to the rapid growth of the business 
 into the highly specialized company of the present day. 
 It would be tiresome to trace the various changes which 
 have taken place during the past twenty years, but it 
 undoubtedly will be of interest to describe the organiza- 
 tion as it exists today. 
 
 The operations of the company are divided into the 
 following principal departments: Executive, Manu- 
 facturing, Research, Purchasing, Sales, Advertising, 
 Accounting, Credit, Traffic and Engineering, each 
 with a head responsible to the Executive Department. 
 Finance is not represented, as it is under the direct 
 control of the Executive Department. 
 
 The Export Department is located in New York 
 City. Through this department and its representatives 
 
 Forty-five
 
 Chemical Laborator 
 
 Physical Laboratory
 
 throughout the world, the products of the Macbeth- 
 Evans Glass Company are distributed to foreign coun- 
 tries, some of them being shipped to the most remote 
 parts of the globe. 
 
 Weekly meetings of the various department heads are 
 held, at which increasing problems of operation are 
 discussed and solved. The co-ordination of the various 
 departments is under the direction of the Assistant 
 Secretary. While the work which the Research Depart- 
 ment is doing has always been carried on to a certain 
 extent, the highly specialized organization of today was 
 not dreamed of a few years ago. In its well-equipped 
 laboratories, its chemists, physicists and ceramists, 
 under the supervision of an able director, have elimi- 
 nated to a very large extent the element of chance 
 which has made the glass industry so hazardous. It is 
 in the Research Department that the increasing number 
 of glass problems, presented by the widely diversified 
 industries of the world, are studied and solved. 
 
 The operation of all works is under the supervision 
 of the Manufacturing Department, directed by a com- 
 mitttee consistingof a General Manager and two Assistant 
 General Managers. Works superintendents are directly 
 responsible to this committee. In addition, this com- 
 mittee has to do with the company's relations to its 
 workmen, their employment, efficiency, welfare, com- 
 pensation for accidents, and with other duties of similar 
 character. That the welfare of the workmen is carefully 
 considered is evidenced by the establishment of a cafe- 
 teria a few months ago at Bethevan plant, at which the 
 employees can secure their noon-day lunch at cost. 
 
 Quite recently the life of every employee was insured 
 under the "Group" plan as it is generally known. All 
 this expense is borne by the company the amount of 
 each policy being dependent upon the salary and the 
 length of service of the employee. 
 
 Forty-seven
 
 BETHEVAN WORKS BETHEVAN INDIANA 
 
 CHARLEROI \VOF 
 
 TOLEDC
 
 ELWOOD WORKS ELWOOD INDIANA 
 
 EDO OHIO
 
 Macbeth- Evans Glass Company, Ltd 
 Toronto, Canada 
 
 Philadelphia Office
 
 Cafeteria Bethevan Works 
 
 Cafeteria Bethevan Works
 
 
 GLASS MAKING 

 
 O the uninitiated the manufacture of glass 
 has about it a halo of mystery. This can 
 be attributed, partially at least, to the fact 
 that the materials which compose it are 
 opaque. The resulting product glass is 
 usually thought of as transparent, notwithstanding the 
 fact that glass is made in various degrees of opacity. 
 The mysterious agent which causes this transformation 
 is fire. 
 
 ^ince^ the first glass was made, the two essential 
 ingredients have been silica in the form of sand and 
 alkali. In commercial glass of the present day, a 
 metal such as lead, zinc or aluminum forms the third 
 ingredient. 
 
 The glass industry depends upon natural deposits of 
 sodium and potassium. The principal ingredients of 
 nearly all modern glass are sand, soda-ash, potash, 
 lime, borax and lead. 
 
 Pot Furnace 
 
 Fifty-three
 
 d 
 
 LlLH : /^i ' 
 
 A "Shop" Making Blown Ware 
 
 Sand, which comprises 50 to 75 per cent of the mixture 
 or batch as it is called, which is melted to form glass, 
 is found in practically pure form in various parts of 
 the United States. Notwithstanding this fact, how- 
 ever, it is necessary to wash all sand in order to remove 
 any foreign substances which may be present, chief 
 among which is alumina. 
 
 Soda ash (sodium carbonate) is used as a flux. Its 
 substitution for potash reduces the melting point of the 
 batch considerably below that in w r hich the same 
 quantity of potash has been used. The chief reason, 
 how r ever, for using soda ash instead of potash is because 
 it is less expensive. 
 
 Lime (calcium carbonate) is used principally to 
 harden glass, and at the same time, facilitate melting 
 and refining. 
 
 Potassium, in the form of pearlash or potash, like 
 soda, acts as a flux. It is more expensive than soda 
 
 Fifty-four
 
 and for that reason is used only in those glasses where 
 high brilliancy is required. 
 
 Nitre and borax are alkalies which are frequently used 
 because of the large amount of oxygen which they con- 
 tain. Glass in which alkalies have been used to excess, 
 when exposed to the chemical action of the atmosphere 
 and moisture, takes on an iridescent appearance, and in 
 many cases this "soft glass" if stored away for a time 
 will have its entire surface covered by a white film. 
 
 Lead is the principal metallic ingredient and is used 
 either in the form of litharge or red lead. Lead increases 
 the brilliancy of glass and makes it heat resistant. 
 
 Aluminum, arsenic, zinc, tin, barium, antimony and 
 many of the rarer elements are now used in glasses 
 manufactured to meet special requirements. 
 
 mm 
 
 p' ' ; 
 
 . 
 
 ~ 
 
 Grinding and Polishing Department 
 
 Fifty-five
 
 Making Glass with Machinery 
 
 COLORED GLASS 
 
 One of the most difficult problems in glass manu- 
 facture is the control of color in glass. Metallic oxides 
 are generally used and while certain elements produce 
 a definite color, such as the blue of cobalt, yet the 
 varying conditions entering into the manufacture of 
 glass frequently result in the same element producing 
 different colors. 
 
 It is interesting to note here, however, that the 
 development of highly organized laboratories in the 
 plants of a few glass manufacturers is, to a large 
 extent, bringing under control the vagaries of the batch 
 in its transition from the raw mixture into molten glass. 
 
 MELTING 
 
 The batch, after the raw materials have been carefully 
 mixed, is melted either in a pot or a tank, art a temper- 
 
 Fifty-six
 
 ature of approximately 
 2600 Fahrenheit. 
 
 Except in the man- 
 ufacture of optical 
 glass, in which one pot 
 is used in a furnace, 
 the number of pots to 
 a furnace will range 
 from six to twenty. A 
 pot furnace is ordi- 
 narily conical in shape, 
 tapering toward the 
 
 Clay Pot j 1 1 
 
 top and extending well 
 
 above the roof of the building. At the base of the 
 furnace is the fire, above which the pots are arranged 
 before arched openings. The fire by forced draft 
 envelops the pots, melting and refining the batch. 
 The time required is dependent upon the kind of glass 
 which is being made. The pots are filled and the mol- 
 ten glass gathered through a projecting aperture extend- 
 ing to the furnace w^all. 
 
 The material used in the manufacture of pots from 
 time immemorial has been fire clay. It is absolutely 
 essential that this clay be as homogeneous as possible. 
 The making of a pot is necessarily a long and tedious 
 process, requiring great care, as obviously a defective 
 pot may mean the loss of a valuable batch. 
 
 Thg present day tendency in plants of large produc- 
 tion is toward an increasing use of the tank furnace, of 
 which there are two kinds a day or intermittent tank 
 and a continuous tank. The former is nothing more 
 than a large rectangular pot where the batch is charged, 
 melted and gathered in much the same way as when 
 a regular pot is used. A continuous tank furnace, on 
 the other hand, is one so constructed as to melt glass 
 
 Fifty-seven
 
 by a continuous process. It consists of two principal 
 divisions, a charging and melting " End " and a refining 
 or working "End," connected by a restricted passage 
 called the throat. The capacity of these furnaces 
 varies from one hundred to seven hundred and fifty 
 tons of molten glass. Glass batch and cullet are fed 
 at short intervals into the charging end of the furnace 
 and are there melted. The molten glass then passes 
 through the throat of the furnace into the refining end 
 and gradually flows toward the various points at which 
 it is gathered or otherwise removed. 
 
 y i\fcv fci- -P"/ul ' ** '^dj lmmr 
 
 , M^tf^'^^fOip iiM I 
 
 i^ J f& I iSte4^ i 
 
 s* 
 
 Making Lamp Chimneys with Machine 
 
 Fifty-eight
 
 Molds Used in 
 Glass Making 
 
 N the manufacture of any article made 
 "from a liquid or molten substance, which 
 is in its finished state either solid or shell- 
 like, it is necessary to use some kind of 
 form or mold which will give the finished 
 article the desired shape. Each industry whose product 
 is made in the most part by the aid of molds has its 
 own peculiar type and trade names for molds. 
 
 Molds have been used in glass making from the 
 very early ages. The ancient F.prvpfians used crude 
 molds, presumably made of clay, in the manufac- 
 ture of bottles and other containers and ornaments, 
 upon the surface of which were sunken hieroglyphic 
 characters. But the industry in those ages, in fact up 
 to the time of the Venetians, was not developed commer- 
 cially, and the use ol' molds probably died out or at 
 least was not commercialized and improved. The 
 Venetians made practically all of their glass by the off- 
 hand method, which is accomplished without the aid of 
 molds. Using this method the blower gathers the 
 molten metal (glass) on the end of a tube and by 
 blowing upon the tube, pressure is exerted upon the 
 inside of the glass gathered. The blower, knowing 
 exactly how much pressure to exert from the inside, 
 combined with his skill in properly distributing the 
 
 Fifty-nine
 
 glass by swinging or revolving the tube and by the 
 use of his various tools, is able to produce an article 
 in the desired shape. 
 
 Glass_rnolds^ are of three kinds: iron, paste and 
 press molds, and considerable confusion has resulted 
 from these names. The fact is that all of these molds 
 are made of iron ancTthe names which are used grew 
 out of manufacturing methods rather than from the 
 kind of material of which the molds are made. If one 
 understands the history of glass making and the applica- 
 tion of molds to help in the shaping of articles, he will 
 understand better how the names of these different 
 molds originated and will then be able to tell quickly 
 which of the three styles has been used to make certain 
 articles. 
 
 From the method used by the early Egyptians 
 someone conceived the idea of an iron substitution 
 for a primitive clay mold. These iron molds were 
 
 Closed 
 
 Paste Blow Mold 
 
 Sixty
 
 Press Mold Showing Plunger 
 
 made in two sections, hinged on one side and held 
 closed by a clamp or lock on the opposite side. The 
 inside of the mold was polished so that the surface 
 of the finished article would not be marred or scratched. 
 These molds consisted of two or more segments 
 hinged together, which permitted the mold to be 
 opened and the blown article removed. 
 
 It was impossible to fit these molds tightly enough 
 to prevent the mold joint or seam from showing on 
 the surface of the finished articles in the form of a 
 ridge. As the molds were cleaned from time to time 
 and became abused in handling, the seam became more 
 and more noticeable in every piece of glassware blown 
 in them. This same condition exists today in spite of 
 all modern methods of making tight joints but of 
 course to a much lesser degree. 
 
 Although the faces of these molds were highly 
 polished, it was impossible to obtain a perfect surface 
 and all inequalities that were in the iron show r ed in 
 the glass. Of course the development of fine abrasives 
 has enabled mold manufacturers to produce a much 
 smoother surface; nevertheless, it is practically impos- 
 sible to produce an iron blown article which does not 
 have more or less of an obscure surface, varying of 
 course with the condition of the mold. 
 
 Sixty-one
 
 The German glassmakers made molds from maple, 
 apple and other harcT woods which were kept water- 
 soaked to prevent them from taking fire as soon as the 
 molten glass came in contact with the mold. It was 
 soon found that in spite of the water-soaked condition 
 of the mold the extreme heat of the glass charred the 
 surface of the mold and the longer it was used the 
 larger became the inside dimension, consequently a 
 larger article was produced than originally intended. It 
 was also noticed that after a mold became slightly 
 charred the blower could readily revolve the article 
 which he was making. A study of these conditions 
 revealed the fact that the charred surface of the mold 
 formed a paste which acted as a lubricant, thus per- 
 mitting the blower to turn the article at random. The 
 finished article made in this way had a smooth surface 
 free from seam marks and of a pleasing lustre. 
 
 Grinding and Polishing Tumblers 
 
 Sixty-two
 
 Semi-Automatic Machine 
 
 Iron molds were also in use at this time and it was 
 found that if the inside surface of these iron molds 
 was covered with some of this charred substance from 
 the wooden molds the glass could be revolved, while 
 being blown, just as it could in the wooden molds. 
 From this developed a carbon mixture which is now 
 known as "paste." This paste is applied to the inside 
 of an iron mold and is frequently sprayed with water 
 so that it will not get too hot and burn. The name 
 "paste mold" is generally used to designate an iron 
 mold which has an inner lining of some material which 
 allows the glass to be turned or revolved while it is 
 being blown. 
 
 It will be readily seen, however, that any article 
 having a design or figuration impressed upon or raised 
 from its surface cannot be revolved and must be blown 
 in an iron mold. Any article having a smooth and 
 
 V 
 
 Sixty-three
 
 No. 832 
 
 symmetrical surface can be blown 
 in a paste mold. Perhaps we can 
 illustrate this better by two of our 
 products, No. 832, which is a 12-inch 
 paste mold ball globe, and our No. 
 2691, a 12-inch Alba ball globe with 
 a figuration, which is made in an iron 
 mold. 
 Lantern globes are blown in both paste and iron 
 
 molds. Globes having lettering on their surfaces must 
 
 be blown in an iron mold, but 
 
 globes without lettering can be 
 
 blown in a paste mold. The ma- 
 jority of lantern globes are, due to 
 
 other manufacturing conditions, 
 
 made by the iron mold process. 
 A press mold is made ot iron 
 
 and consists of two parts, the mold 
 
 proper and the plunger. The mold 
 
 proper forms the outside surface of 
 
 the article and the plunger the inside surface. When 
 
 they are in proper position the space between the surface 
 
 
 
 No. 2691 
 
 Iron Blow Mold 
 
 Sixty-four
 
 - 
 
 
 Part of Gas Producer Plant at the Charleroi Works 
 
 of the mold proper and the face of the plunger represents 
 the article. The surfaces of both are very highly polished 
 so as to leave as few marks as possible on the finished 
 article. In making press mold glassware the molten glass 
 is gathered on the end of an iron rod or punty and then 
 dropped into the mold proper; the press operator 
 severs with shears the intervening thread between the 
 body of the glass and the punty. The plunger is now 
 pressed down into the hot glass, squeezing it from the 
 bottom of the mold up and around the sides until 
 the mold is filled. One can readily see that the 
 presser must know exactly how much glass to cut off 
 the punty in order that the mold may be sufficiently 
 filled when the plunger is dropped into place. Too 
 much glass will cause over-pressing and too little under- 
 pressing. 
 
 From the nature of the process it is obvious that in 
 
 Sixty-five
 
 making pressed articles the largest diameter is at the 
 top of the mold, so that after the plunger enters the 
 mold it may be withdrawn when the glass has solid- 
 ified. Our Alba shades, such as No. 3429, are made in 
 this manner, with the fitter at the bottom of the mold 
 and the widest part at the top. 
 
 Glass cooled suddenly is fragile and will break 
 easily when subjected to rapid temperature changes. 
 The elimination of this brittleness is accomplished by 
 tempering, or leering, as the process is called. After the 
 glass has been blown or pressed into the proper shapes 
 it is placed on large pans in a leer, which is an oven-like 
 structure of considerable length with doors at both ends. 
 
 . 
 
 : % J fe 3* ' ~- U ' Stt !> 
 
 M^WPifral 
 
 bKmwl3~^ 
 
 Sand Blasting Department 
 
 Sixty-six
 
 K . /. ' . ->. i * - ' i , X/y> v ^fc^ ' .^t A 1 
 
 
 Leers 
 
 These pans are drawn by mechanical means through a 
 zone of rising temperature which at its greatest inten- 
 sity closely approaches the melting point of the glass. 
 The pans move on into other zones, the temperature 
 being gradually reduced as the glass approaches the 
 end of the leer, from which it is removed. This slow 
 cooling eliminates the brittleness that the glass would 
 otherwise possess. Obviously, painstaking leering of 
 glass is one of the essential elements in successful glass 
 making. 
 
 Sixty-seven
 
 THE UNITED S 
 
 RECOGNIZES IN THIS AWARD FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE 
 
 THE LOYALTY ENERGY AND EFFICIENCY IN. THE PERFORMANCE 
 
 OF THE WAR WORK BY WHICH 
 
 AIDED MATERIALLY IN OBTAINING VICTORY FOR THE ARMS 
 
 OF FHE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN THE WAR WITH 
 
 THE IMPERIAL GERMAN GOVERNMENT AND THE IMPERIAL 
 
 AND ROYAL AUSTRO -HUNGARIAN GOVERNMENT 
 
 Sixty-eight
 
 /- ^v^. ^g 
 
 PRODUCTS 
 
 The Macbeth-Evans Glass 
 Company manufactures 
 almost every kind of glass 
 for illuminating, industrial 
 and scientific purposes. 
 While a large part of the pro- 
 duction consists of such widely 
 known articles as chimneys, 
 gas and electric shades and 
 tumblers yet there are many 
 special glasses produced, with 
 which the layman is not so 
 familiar. Their importance in 
 the commercial life of the 
 world makes them of more than 
 ordinary interest to the reader. 
 Descriptions of the most im- 
 portant of these glasses, their 
 application and development, 
 will give some conception of 
 the problems which this com- 
 pany is called upon to solve.
 
 LIGHTHOUSE 
 
 LENSES 
 
 N 1805 the great destruction of vessels 
 with the consequent loss of life resulted 
 in definite action the following year look- 
 ing toward the systematic lighting of coasts 
 and harbors. Previous to 1806 the coast 
 signals at night were confined to a few "beacon" 
 lights, produced by either coal or wood fires on tops 
 of buildings erected for that purpose. This was an 
 uncertain and dangerous method of marking coasts 
 and harbors, as vessels could be lost by mistaking the 
 fire of a lime kiln for a "beacon" light. The first 
 permanent lighthouse was built about twelve miles 
 distant from the coast of Scotland off the Firth of 
 Forth. Here the great lighthouse engineer, Robert 
 Stevenson, began experiments in which parabolic mir- 
 rors were used to project the light. 
 
 Seventy
 
 It was not until 1822 that Fresnel, an ingenious 
 Frenchman, utilizing the experience of others, developed 
 the cylindrical lamp employing one central light source. 
 It is this system with improvements which is used 
 today. 
 
 There is probably no more impressive example of 
 the glassmaker's art than a lighthouse lens. Involved 
 in its manufacture is not only a glass making problem 
 but in addition a mathematical problem, an optical 
 problem and a mechanical problem. 
 
 The making of lighthouse lenses by the Macbeth- 
 Evans Glass Company for the first time in United 
 States in 1910 was a signal triumph and convincing 
 evidence of the great advancement of the art of glass 
 making in this country. In this connection an extract 
 from a paper read before the Engineering Society of 
 Western Pennsylvania in 1914 by Mr. Macbeth is 
 interesting: 
 
 "In commencing the manufacture of these glasses 
 (Lighthouse Lenses) it seemed like assuming a duty 
 with an unknown investment as well as an unknown loss 
 or profit, but it also answered a challenge to an old 
 glass center like Pittsburgh to produce high-grade 
 articles and run the risk in the endeavor." 
 
 The first attempt to manufacture lighthouse lenses 
 in the United States is best described 
 in the annual report of the Secretary 
 of Commerce and Labor, under which 
 Bureau the Lighthouse Department 
 operates : 
 
 "Until lately it has been necessary to pro- 
 cure all the cut glass lenses used in the Light- 
 house Service from either France, England, 
 or Germany, most of them coming from 
 France. Recently the matter was taken up 
 with an American firm of glass manu- Fourt n^ e Lens X Pane ' 
 
 Seventy-one
 
 facturers with a view to ascertaining if a 
 better lens could be made in this country 
 than abroad by using some modern manu- 
 facturing methods. The results to date have 
 proven satisfactory. The lenses are superior 
 to those purchased abroad and can be made 
 for the same cost or less. The essential 
 feature of the American method of manu- 
 facture is that the prisms are formed by 
 machine instead of by hand. Every part 
 
 Fourth Order Four . . . 
 
 Panel Flashing Lens is made to fit an accurate template or jig, 
 so that they are true to size and parts of the same number are 
 completely interchangeable. Improvements have been made in 
 pressed glass lens lantern and buoy lantern lenses, and tests 
 show them well adapted for many conditions of the service, at a 
 decrease in expense." 
 
 Due to superiority of design and the accuracy 
 attained in manufacture, the light- 
 house lenses made by the Macbeth- 
 Evans Glass Company are approxi- 
 mately fifty per cent more efficient 
 than those made abroad. The glass 
 which is used is not hygroscopic 
 that is, it does not absorb moisture. 300 MM Fixed Lens 
 Because of this fact, Macbeth-Evans 
 lighthouse lenses, after years of continuous service, have 
 the same clear, highly polished appearance as when 
 originally installed. 
 
 This "permanent" glass, as it is sometimes called, 
 made by this company, is the result of extensive research 
 which culminated in producing the 
 proper combinations of certain 
 materials which form the glass 
 batch. The actual melting of the 
 batch and the manipulation of the 
 glass are, obviously, vital parts of 
 the whole process of securing suc- 
 
 Fourth Order Two Panel r 1 
 
 Bivalve Lens CCSSIUl 
 
 Sevenly-livo
 
 I 
 
 MINATING 
 GLASS 
 
 N Pennsylvania in 1859 Col. E. L. Drake, 
 successfully boring for petroleum, caused 
 the flooding of the market with oil at prices 
 never dreamed possible. This led to the 
 introduction of foreign-made oil lamps 
 and had the immediate effect of stimulating their 
 manufacture in America. Chimneys being an essential 
 part of oil lamps, it was quite natural that the increased 
 use of the latter would cause a correspondingly heavy 
 demand for the former. It was not long before the 
 consumption of chimneys became so great that their 
 manufacture quickly grew into a distinct industry in 
 Pittsburgh. 
 
 It was as manufacturers of lamp chimneys that 
 Geo. A. Macbeth and Thos. Evans became identified 
 with the glass industry. Although many diversified 
 lines for widely different purposes are now made by 
 the Macbeth-Evans Glass Company, yet the major 
 part of the production is illuminating glass. 
 
 Seventy-three
 
 The fame of " Pearl Glass" and "Pearl Top" lamp 
 chimneys has extended to the most remote parts of the 
 globe. They continue to be sold where oil lamps are 
 burnt and, strange to relate, there is a surprisingly 
 large number of lamp chimneys used today this in 
 spite of the development of the more efficient modern 
 light sources. 
 
 The advent of the Welsbach mantle in 1886 created 
 a demand for illuminating glass of somewhat different 
 character than that used for oil lamps. The manu- 
 facture of chimneys, shades and globes for this new 
 light source made necessary new factory equipment and 
 the readjustment of the business to meet the changed 
 conditions. 
 
 The incandescent electric lamp, possibly the most 
 interesting development in illumination, was the achieve- 
 ment of the famous American, Thomas A. Edison. 
 Electric lighting had been used pre- 
 vious to Edison's invention but was 
 produced by the means of the electric 
 arc, discovered by Sir Humphry Davy 
 in 1801. The greatest development 
 in the use of electricity for lighting 
 has been during the past twenty-five 
 years. Special glassware was devised 
 by this company to meet the require- 
 ments of each improvement in elec- 
 tric lighting. 
 
 It is interesting to note that the 
 Macbeth-Evans Glass Company has 
 contributed through its illuminating 
 engineering department and by exten- 
 sive publicity in no small degree to the 
 impetus which has been given orna- 
 Lighting unit" mental street lighting during recent 
 
 
 
 Seventy-four
 
 years. Handsome posts, surmounted by attractive and 
 efficient globes made either of Alba or Monax Glass, 
 are enhancing the appearance of cities and towns today. 
 
 The manufacture of illuminating glass for the carbon 
 filament lamp, and more recently for tungsten and gas 
 filled lamps, has given the resources of Macbeth-Evans 
 Glass Company an opportunity for real expression. 
 
 This company recognized early in the development 
 of modern light sources that their intrinsic brilliancy 
 required modification in order to produce useful and 
 efficient illumination. The invention of Alba a white 
 diffusing glass was the first step toward the solution 
 of the problem. The manufacture of this glass in the 
 form of globes, shades and bowls, scientifically designed 
 to distribute the light efficiently, quickly followed its 
 invention. 
 
 In the creation of an illuminating engineering depart- 
 ment, the facilities, which this company offered to those 
 who desired efficient as well as attractive illumination, 
 were complete. 
 
 Comprehensive publicity campaigns, advocating bet- 
 ter lighting, had the effect of creating a 
 demand for improved lighting conditions 
 in factories and offices, as well as in homes. 
 The requirements of home lighting differ 
 somewhat from the demands of the indus- 
 trial world. It is the desire of the average 
 owner to light his home artistically, depend- 
 ing upon local illumination for reading or 
 writing. It was therefore with this in mind 
 that the illuminating glass manufactured 
 by this company for residence lighting was 
 designed. 
 
 Alba, in many of its decorative forms, has 
 beenused toadvantageinhomeillumination. Ligh S dng et post 
 
 Seventy-five
 
 Thebian is another form of decorated glass designed to 
 meet the requirements of those residences in which 
 artistic lighting is desired at moderate cost. Artistically, 
 however, the most beautiful product of the Macbeth- 
 Evans Glass Company is the glass known as Decora. 
 Here the artist designer was given the opportunity for 
 unlimited expression. Exquisite colors combined with 
 a wealth of rarely decorative designs distinguish Decora 
 among other illuminating glass. It is truly a glass of 
 character distinctive because of its originality and 
 artistry, yet having the restraint necessary to become 
 part of an harmonious interior. 
 
 The illuminating glass made by this company 
 includes not only that described above, but in addition 
 a great variety of more or less staple shades and globes 
 in common use, the description of which would be 
 uninteresting because it is so well known. 
 
 Semi-Indirect Lighting Unit 
 
 Seventy-six
 
 GLASS 
 
 HERE is probably no more exacting con- 
 sumers of glass than the railroads. It is 
 important to the traveling public that such 
 be the case, as glass is a vital part of all 
 railway signal systems. The large American 
 railroads maintain testing departments, which scientif- 
 ically examine samples of all railway guide glass. For 
 instance, photometric tests are made when color and 
 transmission of light are involved, and when it is nec- 
 essary that the glass have a certain inherent strength, 
 it must pass mechanical shock tests. These tests deter- 
 mine whether or not the glass will meet the rigid speci- 
 fications of the Railway Signal Association. 
 
 It is interesting to know that red and yellow glasses 
 transmit approximately one-fourth as much light as 
 clear glass green glass one-sixth and blue even less. In 
 order, therefore, to project red light rays as far as white, 
 the intensity of the light source must be four times that 
 used with clear glass, while for green it must be six 
 
 Seventy-seven
 
 times as great. In small de- 
 tached units it is not practicable 
 / to so grade the light sources, 
 
 and for this reason the railroads 
 require colored glass which has 
 a minimum of absorption. This 
 is one of the many problems 
 which must be solved by the 
 Roundel Research Department of this 
 
 company. Another is to make a glass which when 
 subjected to mechanical shock sufficient to break it will 
 not fall to pieces. The importance of this quality is 
 best illustrated when we consider the situation of the 
 flagman, who may break the red globe in his lantern 
 when going out in a storm to stop a train. Disin- 
 tegration of a globe could easily result in a serious acci- 
 dent, such as a rear-end collision. 
 
 In the manufacture of roundels, which are used in 
 connection with semaphore signals, the color of the 
 glass is the essential requirement. Lantern globes, 
 other than clear, on the other hand, must combine, not 
 only the quality of great heat resistance necessary in 
 clear globes, but also the proper colors to meet rigid 
 railroad specifications. Lamp chimneys for switch lamps 
 and coach lighting must also be made of special glass. 
 One of the outstanding developments in the making 
 of glass for railroads was accom- 
 plished in producing tubular and 
 reflex water gauge glasses now used 
 on locomotives. Previous to the 
 invention of the special glass now 
 used in their manufacture serious 
 accidents resulted from the break- 
 ing and disintegration of gauge 
 glasses, allowing the escape of scald- R R Lantefn G]obe 
 
 Seventy-eight
 
 Semaphore 
 
 ing steam and hot water. The inher- 
 ent construction of the gauge glasses 
 now made for railroads by this com- 
 pany is such that if a gauge glass is 
 broken, it does not disintegrate and 
 preserves its original shape, thus 
 preventing the escape of steam from 
 the boiler. 
 
 The automatic signals of railroads are dependent for 
 their operation upon electric storage batteries. One 
 can easily imagine the serious consequence should these 
 batteries fail to operate. It is of vital importance there- 
 fore that the glass jars used to encase batteries be so made 
 that they will withstand the most severe service. On 
 some of the Northern roads it is not uncommon to renew 7 
 batteries by pouring in caustic soda, thus bringing the 
 temperature inside of the glass jar up as high 
 as that of boiling water when the temperature 
 outside the jar may be below zero. To deter- 
 mine whether the Macbeth-Evans battery jars 
 would stand this terrific strain samples were 
 placed in cracked ice, where they were allowed 
 to remain until the temperature of the glass had 
 been reduced to 5 F when boiling water was 
 poured into the jar. This is a severe test but is necessary 
 because of conditions under which battery jars are used. 
 The illumination of coaches, Pullman cars and 
 terminals has in recent years been given more con- 
 sideration by the railroads than formerly. This 
 company manufactures specially designed shades and 
 globes made to meet certain photometric requirements 
 specified by the railroads in order to secure efficient 
 lighting of terminals and cars for passenger service. 
 
 Seventy-nine
 
 MARINE 
 GLASS 
 
 JO those who have spent their lives on land 
 the statement that a vessel could not safely 
 leave our shores without being equipped 
 with certain glasses may seem somewhat 
 exaggerated. 
 It is quickly apparent even to those least familiar 
 
 with the sea that a ship would be in constant danger 
 
 traversing the ocean at night without masthead, port, 
 
 and starboard lights, running lights as they are called. 
 
 These lights are of different colors, thus identifying 
 
 certain parts of the vessel. It is for these lights that 
 
 this company makes special glass 
 
 to meet marine conditions. 
 
 Gauge glasses like those used on 
 
 the railroads are provided for the 
 
 high powered steam boilers with 
 
 which the large passenger liners and 
 
 warships are equipped. These gauge 
 
 glasses must resist the corroding 
 
 Eighty
 
 action of superheated water under steam pressure. The 
 superiority of gauge glasses made by this company is 
 shown by their widespread use by the United States Gov- 
 ernment, as well as by private steamship companies. 
 
 During the recent war the Macbeth-Evans Glass 
 Company devoted almost all of its production to 
 the manufacture of glass for the army and navy. Chief 
 among the articles made were the reflectors used on 
 the powerful searchlights with which our warships 
 and coast defenses are equipped. A battleship's 
 battery of searchlights is a vital part of its equipment. 
 In repelling a night attack it is obviously desirable 
 that a ship have sufficient searchlights to disclose each 
 attacking unit; the lack of an additional searchlight 
 might mean a battleship's doom, since one of the small, 
 swift-attacking units may slip up and deal the great 
 ship its death blow under cover of darkness. 
 
 Mirrors for searchlight purposes are of varied forms 
 and sizes, the shape depending largely upon the par- 
 ticular form of beam which they are designed to project. 
 Large searchlights generally are designed to project a 
 straight beam or bundle of light, and for this purpose a 
 reflector having a parabolic form is required. 
 
 In most cases these parabolic mirrors are made of 
 crystal mirror glass. A flat disc of the glass is placed 
 in an oven on a parabolic iron former. The temperature 
 of the oven is increased gradually until the glass softens 
 sufficiently to settle down to the shape of the former. 
 
 This approximately parabolic blank is then ground 
 to a true curvature on both the inside and outside sur- 
 faces. After polishing and silvering, the mirror is sub- 
 jected to severe test to determine whether the various 
 zones of the inside and outside surfaces have a common 
 focus. After completion each lens is rigidly examined 
 by a government inspector. 
 
 Eighty-one
 
 The glass itself must be of good color and free from 
 cords, seeds, etc. It must also show durability under 
 the action of atmospheric agents. 
 
 Aside from the constitution of the glass itself the 
 backing or silvering presents a difficult problem; the 
 nature and quality of the glass considerably affects the 
 ease and success of the various silvering processes. 
 
 Many of the older mirrors have mercury or quick- 
 silver films placed on their reverse surface for the 
 reflecting medium. Generally speaking, the present 
 method is to deposit metallic silver upon the glass, but 
 the manner in which this is accomplished, to enable 
 the mirror to stand up under government tests, is a 
 trade secret with the manufacturer. The silvering 
 must be deposited at a rate that can be controlled and 
 in a manner to give a uniform, continuous film, free 
 from all defects. 
 
 There are other glasses used on board ship which 
 are essential, the description of which is impossible 
 here because space is limited. 
 
 Eighty-two
 
 LABORATORY 
 GLASS 
 
 HE increase in the number of industrial 
 laboratories throughout the country during 
 the past few years has caused a heavy 
 demand for laboratory glass. In addition 
 there is a large consumption of this kind 
 of glass by private testing laboratories, schools and 
 colleges. 
 
 In order to realize the difficulties that present 
 themselves to the glass manufacturer in the production 
 of high quality glass for chemical purposes one should 
 know that when the science of chemistry was still in 
 its infancy chemists generally 
 had not yet realized the necessity 
 of having glassware of known 
 resistance to repeated evapora- 
 tion and resistance to chemical 
 reagents. 
 
 When water was boiled for 
 considerable period in glass ves- 
 
 Eighty-three
 
 sels a distinct amount of solid matter col- 
 lected in the glass container. The expla- 
 nation commonly given, on the basis of the 
 old Greek philosophy, was that water had 
 been turned into earth.; 
 
 Lavoisier, the great French chemist, 
 came into contact with this problem in his 
 earlier experiments, and was not satisfied 
 with this explanation. He was soon able to prove 
 that the earthy matter observed was accounted for 
 by the attack of the water on the glass, which had 
 corroded or lost weight during the boiling process. 
 Davy, another of the early chemists of note, in his 
 electro-chemical experiments, was able 
 to show that the alkaline substances 
 found in water that had been boiled 
 in glass containers could only have 
 arisen from the glass used as the con- 
 taining vessel. As the developments 
 of quantitative chemistry proceeded, 
 other errors in analytical work were 
 noted which arose through the use of 
 the glass apparatus of the day. 
 
 Because of this chemical instability of glass surfaces 
 there soon arose a demand for a glass that would 
 resist the action of solutions that might be placed in 
 it, but years of experiment were to pass before it 
 became commercially possible to produce such a glass. 
 Eventually, however, the desired results were achieved, 
 and a satisfactory glass was produced, thus making it 
 possible for the chemist to accurately determine the 
 atomic weights of various sub- 
 stances. 
 
 The chemical processes in- 
 volved in determining atomic 
 
 Eighty-four
 
 weights constitute a delicate ^^ ^ 
 
 task. The substance must be 
 first prepared and weighed in 
 the pure state, and must then 
 be subjected to suitable reac- 
 tions and again weighed with 
 proof that in the process noth- 
 ing has been lost and nothing 
 
 accidentally garnered into the material to be placed on 
 the scales. These requirements among other things 
 require a glass the production of which is a technical 
 problem of the first rank, and even today considerable 
 variation is still to be found in the various makes of 
 laboratory ware. 
 
 This company produces a glass which is eminently 
 suitable for analytical work, since it gives up no appre- 
 ciable quantity of alkali even after prolonged boiling. 
 This glass resists not only gradual heating, which 
 almost any glass will 
 stand, but also violent m- 
 
 and sudden changes of 
 temperature in other 
 words having a low 
 coefficient of expansion. 
 Alkaliesandacidshavea 
 negligible effect upon it. 
 
 Eighty-five
 
 MISCELLANEOUS 
 GLASS 
 
 N addition to the glasses which have been 
 described there are many other kinds for 
 special purposes, made by this company, 
 which cannot be placed under broad class- 
 ifications. A few of these are sufficiently 
 interesting and important to warrant their mention here. 
 The glass condenser jars used in connection with the 
 more powerful types of wireless sending apparatus are 
 made of a special glass, which will withstand the 
 tremendous shock of electrical currents from high 
 frequency. This is an unusual glass, the successful 
 making of which was not dreamed of a few years ago. 
 
 An American company utilizing large 
 vats for distilling purposes was in a quan- 
 dary a few years ago because of frequent re- 
 placements of the observation glass through 
 which the contents of the vat are observed. 
 The glass which was used lasted but a few 
 days, because of its inability to resist a 
 chemical action of the contents, sudden 
 changes of temperature, and corroding 
 action which caused the glass to become 
 obscured. To meet these unusual and se- 
 vere conditions this company invented a 
 glass which resists not only the chemical condenser j ar 
 
 Eighty-six
 
 action of the contents of the vat, but in addition will 
 not break when subjected to sudden changes of temper- 
 ature. The use of the special glass has resulted in 
 reducing the cost of production through the fact that 
 it is now possible to keep the vats in operation almost 
 continuously. 
 
 In coal mines, where electric lights are not used, 
 accidents have occurred due to defects in the glasses 
 used in miners' safety lamps. A miners' safety lamp 
 glass has been produced by this company which will 
 not fall to pieces, or even permit the passage of air 
 through a crack in this glass. The introduction of this 
 glass has no doubt averted many mining catastrophes 
 that have so often in the past formed terrible blots 
 upon the pages of the history of coal mining. 
 
 Flame Test 
 
 Miners' Safety Lamp Glass 
 Flame can play indefinitely against glass without breaking it 
 
 Eighty-seven
 
 AUTOMOB] LE 
 
 LENSES 
 
 ^ 
 --.. :.?>; 
 
 HE alarming increase in the number of 
 automobile accidents in the United States 
 caused by glaring automobile headlights 
 definitely established the necessity for this 
 light to be controlled in a way to eliminate 
 dangerous glare and to provide at the same time the 
 long range and side lighting necessary for safe driving. 
 The engineering skill which produced the wonderful 
 lighthouse lenses made by this company w r as con- 
 centrated on the problem with the result that "Macbeth 
 Green Visor" and "Liberty" lenses are giv- 
 ing the same measure of safety to motorists 
 as Macbeth lighthouse lenses are giving 
 to travelers upon the 
 ocean and inland waters. 
 More than 1,000,000 
 automobiles are now 
 equipped with headlight 
 lenses made by the 
 Macbeth-Evans Glass 
 
 Macbeth Lens Company. 
 
 Liberty Lens 
 
 Eighty-eight
 
 List of Products 
 
 HE following is a list of articles made 
 by this company, reproduced to give a 
 general idea of the ramification of glass 
 making. It will also serve to acquaint the 
 reader with the reason why 80% of the pro- 
 duction of the Macbeth-Evans Glass Company went to 
 the government during the recent war. 
 
 July 14, 1918, Commodore Denig gave the com- 
 mand to break out the Emergency Fleet Flag at the 
 Charleroi Works. This date to future generations will 
 be a reminder that the 264 employees of the Macbeth- 
 Evans Glass Company who served in Army and Navy, 
 and those who remained at essential tasks at home, 
 contributed in no small way to bring the war to a 
 successful conclusion. 
 
 Flag Raising, July 14. 1918 
 
 Eighty-nine
 
 Lamp Chimneys for domestic use. 
 
 Lamp Chimneys for railroads. 
 
 Lamp Chimneys for lighthouses. 
 
 Lamp Chimneys for steamships. 
 
 Lamp Chimneys for street lighting. 
 
 Lamp Chimneys for gas mantle burners. 
 
 Lantern Globes. 
 
 Lantern Globes for use as signals on railroads. 
 
 Lighting Fixture Glassware. 
 
 Globes for street lighting. 
 
 Shades for street lighting. 
 
 Reflectors for street lighting. 
 
 Globes for Welsbach and other gas mantle burners. 
 
 Shades for Welsbach and other gas mantle burners. 
 
 Laboratory Glassware. 
 
 Tumblers. 
 
 Lubricator Glasses used on gas and steam stationary 
 engines, locomotives and steamships. 
 
 Miners' Glasses used in miners' safety lamps in all 
 gaseous mines. 
 
 Gauge Glasses, flat (oblong and round) used on all 
 steam gauges on stationary boilers, locomotives, and 
 by the Navy on nearly all war vessels. 
 
 Gauge Glasses, tubular used on all steam gauges on 
 stationary boilers, locomotives, and by the Navy on 
 nearly all war vessels. 
 
 Protector Glasses used on tubular gauges, on station- 
 ary boilers, on locomotives, and by the Navy to 
 protect firemen and engineers from escaping steam 
 caused by the breaking of tubular gauge glasses. 
 
 Observation Glasses used in the manufacture of 
 chemicals. 
 
 Glass Sponge Cups for holding sponges for office use. 
 
 Reflectors for automobile and truck headlights. 
 
 Reflectors for household use in connection with old- 
 fashioned wall brackets. 
 
 Ninety
 
 Shades for railroad use. 
 
 Founts for side wall brackets for household use. 
 
 Bowls for use in railroad cars. 
 
 Plates for use in stove doors. 
 
 Meter Covers for gas meters. 
 
 Dental Glassware for spittoons in dental chairs. 
 
 Globes for collection boxes. 
 
 Globes used in flour mills. 
 
 Globes for electric sign use. 
 
 Globes for water filters. 
 
 Globes for sterilizers. 
 
 Cylinders for carburetors on automobiles and trucks. 
 
 Cylinders for electric meters. 
 
 Globes for ship lights and in tunnels. 
 
 Bowls for ship lights. 
 
 Cylinders for airplanes. 
 
 Lenses, in colors, for airplanes. 
 
 Cups to collect oil drippings in lamps used in railroad 
 
 coaches. 
 
 Bull's-eyes for advertising signs. 
 Bull's-eyes for lanterns. 
 
 Globes used as containers in dispensing gasoline. 
 Candle Globes for ecclesiastical use. 
 Bottles for milk testing. 
 Glass bowls for automobile lighting. 
 Glasses for dispensing paper cups. 
 Lenses for lightships. 
 
 Mirrors for searchlights for the Army and the Navy. 
 Ship Light Glasses used on vessels masthead, port, 
 
 starboard and running lights. 
 Buoy Light Glasses used on buoys for marking 
 
 channels along coast. 
 Lenses for lighthouses. 
 
 Lenses for automobiles, trucks and motorcycles. 
 Lenses for railroad signals. 
 
 Ninety-one
 
 Lenses for locomotive headlight use. 
 
 Battery Jars, of special quality of heat-resisting glass, 
 for the operation of block signals on nearly all 
 United States Railroads and in Europe. 
 
 Relay Covers for covering apparatus for operating 
 signals on railroads and water meters. 
 
 Glazing Glasses for polishing leather. 
 
 Globes for Pintsch and other railroad passenger car 
 lighting systems. 
 
 Cab Globes for illuminating locomotive gauges. 
 
 Candle Globes for railroad passenger cars and cabooses. 
 
 Lamp Chimneys for locomotive headlight and passenger 
 car use. 
 
 Headlight Front Glasses, of special quality glass, for 
 locomotive headlights. 
 
 Elevator Signal Glasses. 
 
 Vacuum Bottles for Thermos and other vacuum bottles. 
 
 Mantle Formers used in the manufacture of gas 
 mantles. 
 
 Glasses for coffee percolators. 
 
 Glasses for vending machines. 
 
 Glass Bushings for bell cords and whistle cords in rail- 
 road coaches. 
 
 Globes used in chemical manufacture. 
 
 Globes for medicinal use. 
 
 Tubes for Ozone machines. 
 
 Globes for water heaters. 
 
 Jars to contain tobacco. 
 
 Plates for dental chairs. 
 
 Holders for cotton for dental chairs. 
 
 Glasses for automatic milking machines 
 
 Ninety-two
 
 Toward Tomorrow 
 
 HERE are comparatively few prosperous 
 businesses a half century old. This will 
 not seem astonishing when we consider 
 that our country is still young in the 
 world's history. The pardonable pride of 
 the Macbeth-Evans organization, because 
 of its long and successful career, is tempered by the 
 responsibilities thrust upon those whose duty it is to 
 maintain the carefully fashioned individuality which 
 has distinguished the Macbeth-Evans Glass Company 
 since its founding. The personnel changes, but those 
 intangible but nevertheless potential forces the spirit 
 and ideals of the founders, together with the traditions 
 of the company remain to mark the course for those 
 upon whom rests the responsibility of preserving 
 Macbeth-Evans standards. 
 
 In the growth of the Macbeth-Evans Glass Company 
 the value of knowledge gained by intimate contact with 
 the intricate problems of the business has been carefully 
 emphasized. It is this tradition which has made possi- 
 ble many of the achievements of glass making recorded 
 in the preceding pages. 
 
 The earliest effort produced an incomparable lamp 
 chimney. The same high standards of progressive 
 manufacturing gave to the world at a later date Alba, 
 the original white diffusing glass. It is seemingly a far 
 cry from a modest lamp chimney to that marvel of the 
 glassmakers' art, the lighthouse lens, yet the success- 
 ful manufacture, for the first time in the United States, 
 of lighthouse lenses, by this company, was a natural 
 development, a visible tribute to the fifty-year tested 
 ideals and policies of the Macbeth-Evans organization. 
 It is in the contemplation of a successful past that 
 we find the best augury for a successful future. 
 
 Ninety-three
 
 We are indebted to the Pennsylvania 
 Museum of Philadelphia for their courtesy 
 in allowing us to use the following illustra- 
 tions found on pages 19, 20 and 21: Glass 
 Beads made at Jamestown, Va., 1621-1625; 
 Stiegel Glass Tumbler and Molded Bottle, 
 Early Nineteenth Century, and to the 
 Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Pa., for 
 several illustrations in the Historical Section. 
 
 Ninety-jour
 
 SOUTHERN BR- . :- 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LIBRARY, 
 
 C. -C/- -'"--
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 
 
 CT 28 1839 
 
 Form L-9-15w-7,'35
 
 TP 
 
 853 
 
 P5M1 
 
 Fifty years of 
 lasss 
 
 TP 
 
 853 
 
 P3M1 
 
 A 001189481 3