Libbey-Owens-Ford

Libbey-Owens-Ford Company (LOF) was a producer of flat glass for the automotive and building products industries both for original equipment manufacturers and for replacement use.

In parallel, Michael Owens and associates completed work in 1902 on the first fully functioning automatic bottle-blowing machine (the successor of which was honored as a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers), and in 1903 incorporated the Owens Bottle Machine Company.

In 1912, Owens acquired rights to Irving Wightman Colburn's invention for manufacturing plate glass.

In 1922, a Libbey-Owens sheet glass plant opened in Shreveport, Louisiana, becoming both the city's largest manufacturer and employer.

This plant converted operations between 1972 and 1974 to Libbey Glass table-glassware manufacturing, which it continues today.