WASHINGTON, Aug. 2, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following
is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census
Bureau:
A GLASS ACT
Profile America — Sunday, August 2nd. A patent
awarded on this date in 1903 literally affected the shape of things
to come. Specifically, the shape of glass things to come.
Michael Owens of Toledo, Ohio, patented a machine that could
automatically manufacture glass bottles, producing four per second.
The invention standardized and expanded the glass industry. It also
enabled tremendous growth in the soft drink and beer industries,
making available a less expensive way of packaging their products.
Owens' later machines were developed to quickly turn out standard,
uniform glass jars, as we use today. Manufacturing glass containers
currently engages 80 establishments and 14,000 workers in the U.S.,
with annual business receipts of around $5
billion. You can find current data on the country's
economy by downloading the 'America's Economy' mobile application
at www.census.gov/mobile.
Sources:
Owens biography:
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Michael_J._Owens
The patent:
http://www.sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/Owens1904patent.pdf
Expansion of products:
http://www.utoledo.edu/library/canaday/exhibits/oi/OIExhibit/Owens.htm
Glass container industry/NAICS 327213:
http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ASM_2013_31VS101&prodType=table
$5 B
Establishments and workers:
http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ECN_2012_US_31I1&prodType=table
Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media
and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are
available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at
http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the
"Newsroom" button).
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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau