Michael Owens and the Glass Industry

Plot

The first comprehensive biography of the visionary and craftsman who defined the modern glass industry. With nine companies and 49 patents bearing his name, Michael J. Owens is a paradoxically inconspicuous influence on daily life. His invention of the Owens Bottle Machine revolutionized the container industry, making mass-marketed food and beverages both sanitary and consistently proportioned. A big-picture, true-to-life Horatio Alger character, his automated inventions were vital to electric lighting, food and beverage packaging, advanced optics, and automotive safety. The reduction of child labor was a direct and significant outcome of his inventions. Born in 1859 to an Irish West Virginian mining family, Owens, himself a child laborer, ultimately became known as the father of project management. Quentin Skrabec’s engaging account is the first biography on this unpretentious, resourceful, colorful, and dynamic industrialist and inventor.