Corning Glass Works

In 1864, Armory Houghston Sr. purchased The Brooklyn Flint Glass Company in New York. Four years later, in 1868, he took one hundred of employees and moved to Corning New York. Thus, Corning Flint Glass Works was born. This early company produced tableware, glass light bulbs, tubing, and thermometers. Armory undertook this venture with much debt, and due to stiff competition, was forced to sell his controlling interest in the company in 1879. All was not lost as far as the Houghston's were concerned. Armory's son, Armory Jr. majored in chemistry. Armory Jr. was a good businessman and worked his way to the top of the company and became its manager. He soon bought control of Corning Glass Works. Armory Jr. remained the head of the company for many years in spite of his declining health. During this time period both of Armory's sons, Alanson and Arthur became involved in the family business. Alanson controlled sales while his brother Arthur oversaw production. In 1887, Arthur developed advanced machinery capable of producing designs for vertical thermometer tubing. This new venture propelled the company into a new era of success and change.

In 1907, incandescent bulb-blowing machines were developed that enabled their products to portray uniform red and green colors. Because of the resulting improved signal glassware lenses, the Railroad Associations for both the United States and Canada accepted these products as the new standard for their signals. Now Railroad engineers could read signals without the worry of misreading a light signal. This was a major advancement in design that saved the lives of many railroad passengers and workers.

Corning Glass Works had a fantastic research laboratory and they continued to develop many innovative ideas. This was a major factor in the production of glassware made for research purposes. Heat resistant glassware used for storing batteries, and for railroad lanterns was developed. This glassware was capable of great thermal expansion and contraction. This characteristic made it the perfect medium to use for the baking and cooking and led to the devlopment of the next important products.

PYREX® glassware was introduced in 1915. Heat resistant chemical and laboratory glassware followed close behind in 1917. These registered products were the wave of the future for Corning Glass Works.

Corning had a relationship with many of the glass companies that made and sold heat resistant glassware. Some of the companies that were licensed to produce Pyrex® were Fry Glass Company (Fry Oven Glass), McKee Glass Company (Flameware), and Macbeth-Evans who merged with and became a division of Corning Glass Works. Because of the research and designs that Corning Glass Works created the way we think of kitchen glassware was changed forever.

Although Corning Glass Works is best known for its line of ceramic and glass cookware, it no longer owns that section of the company. In 1989 Corning Glass Works changed its name to Corning Incorporated. It still holds an 8% interest in glass table and cookware developed by them. Today Corning Incorporated has become a high tech company that spends its time researching and developing new technologies such as glass for liquid crystal displays, and control devices for catalytic converters. They are the largest producer of optical fiber made for long distance communication.

Some of the Brief history for Corning Glass Works was written from information found in:

"PYREX® The Unauthorized Collector's Guide" by Barbra E. Mauzy.

and

"Corning Incorporated" from Wikipedia, the free enyclopedia