Libbey-Owens-Ford
| Industry | Glass manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Libbey-Owens's sheet-glass division, Edward Ford Plate Glass Company |
| Founded | 1930 in Toledo, Ohio, United States |
| Fate | Glass manufacturing operations and brand sold to Pilkington Group in April 1986; brand discontinued by 2006 |
| Successor | Pilkington Group (glass manufacturing) |
| Headquarters | Toledo , United States |
Area served | Automotive and construction sectors |
Key people | Edward Drummond Libbey, Michael Owens |
| Products | Flat glass, automotive laminated safety glass, table-glassware |
Libbey-Owens-Ford Company (LOF) was a prominent manufacturer of flat glass primarily serving the automotive and construction sectors, catering to both original equipment manufacturers and aftermarket demands. With its headquarters situated in Toledo, Ohio, the company operated substantial float glass facilities located in Rossford, Ohio, Laurinburg, North Carolina, Ottawa, Illinois, Shreveport, Louisiana, and Lathrop, California. The enterprise was established in 1930 through the consolidation of Libbey-Owens's sheet-glass division and the Edward Ford Plate Glass Company, both originally based in Toledo.
The company's roots date back to 1818 when the New England Glass Company was founded in Massachusetts; it later moved to Toledo and was renamed Libbey Glass Company in 1892 under the leadership of Edward Drummond Libbey. Concurrently, Michael Owens introduced the first completely automatic bottle-blowing machine in 1902 and obtained rights to manufacture plate glass in 1912. Owens Bottle Machine Company evolved into Owens-Illinois Glass Co. after acquiring Illinois Glass Co. in 1929, becoming the largest glass manufacturer worldwide. Owens-Illinois purchased Libbey Glass in 1935 but divested it in 1993.
The Libbey-Owens Sheet Glass Company was created in 1916, inaugurating its initial facility in Charleston, West Virginia, in 1917. By 1922, its Shreveport plant emerged as a major employer locally and transitioned to producing table-glassware by the 1970s, a production line that persists today. In 1928, Libbey-Owens introduced automotive laminated safety glass and secured a contract to supply windshields for Ford’s Model A. The merger with Edward Ford Plate Glass Company in 1930 resulted in the formation of Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company.
In April 1986, LOF divested its glass manufacturing operations and brand to Pilkington Group, a multinational headquartered in the United Kingdom. The remaining divisions—Aeroquip, Vickers, and Sterling—were retained within TRINOVA Corporation; Sterling was subsequently sold off. By the late 1990s, the company operated as Aeroquip-Vickers, Inc., until Eaton Corporation acquired it in 1999. While under Pilkington's ownership, LOF maintained its brand name until June 2006 when Nippon Sheet Glass acquired Pilkington and gradually discontinued the LOF brand to consolidate global branding under Pilkington.
External links
- LOF company history, from LOF records at the University of Toledo's Ward M. Canaday Center.
- Libbey-Owens-Ford's 1951 Sun Angle Calculator, solarhousehistory.com, 18 October 2013
- https://www.utoledo.edu/library/canaday/exhibits/oi/OIExhibit/timeline.htm