Michael Owens and the Glass Industry

Book excerpt: A biography of the “Owens” in “Owens Corning”—a brilliant but humble inventor with nine companies and forty-nine patents bearing his name. He stands next to Thomas Edison in the pantheon of inventors. Commercial products stamped with his name are ubiquitous in modern life. His inventions are directly responsible for safety glass in car windshields and consistently proportioned medicine jars—and helped to significantly reduce child labor in America. His designs have changed the way we illuminate a dark room and buy pasteurized milk. Michael J. Owens has left an indelible mark in human history, yet his name often has been overlooked publicly, until now. Michael Owens was a driven but unassuming man who shunned the spotlight, wanting only to create. In this first biography of a visionary, artist, and craftsman, Quentin R. Skrabec’s research has uncovered a resourceful, colorful, and dynamic industrialist and inventor. This insightful account sets the stage for Owens by going back to the beginning—the history of glass as an art form. Today, his flourishing legacy includes Owens Corning, employing nearly twenty thousand people in over thirty countries.