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Houze Convex Glass Company History

Houze (L. J.) Convex Glass Company, Point Marion, Pennsylvania (1902 to the present).

This factory had a long and varied history. It was founded in 1902 as the Federated Glass Company, manufacturer of window glass by the hand-blown cylinder method. Its president and general manager was Leon J. Houze, a veteran of the glass industry known for his innovations in furnace design and as a pioneer in the manufacture of colored sheet glass. He received a number of patents in his life, but it was one approved in 1914 for a method of manufacturing and tempering convex glass articles that led to the company becoming the L. J. Houze Convex Glass Company. Convex glass was used not only for camera lenses, but also for goggles and other military uses B a line of manufacture that during World War I led to the company being responsible at one point for 75% of the goggle glass being made. In the 1920s and 1930s the company expanded operations once again, offering MarbleX and Onxglas in 1928 under the brand name of HouzeX. These were formulas for marbleized glass (or slag glass, as it is often referred to today), with products ranging widely from ash trays and flower pots to gear shift balls. They also made large numbers of lamps in these colors, often confused today with products of the Akro Agate Company.

Sheet glass remained a mainstay, with Houze selected in 1949-1953 when the White House was renovated as the only company able to duplicate the original windows in the same manner and quality as when they were originally made in 1792. By this time, they had also become the major manufacturer of sunglass lenses. Another major development in 1952 was the ability to transfer photographs to glassware by various processes using screen printing with permanently fired on ceramic colors. Over the next twenty years, pieces decorated in this manner proved very popular not only for direct sales, but equally so for advertising and souvenir purposes. In the late 1960s, the company began phasing out glass production and turned to decorating as their main business, using blanks from other sources. As the Houze Glass Corporation, they became one of the largest specialty advertising firms, offering decorations on ceramic mugs, as well as on glass. Unfortunately, like so many other companies in recent years, they fell victim to the decline in the glass industry. With the turn toward plastics and other materials supplanting their business, Houze was forced to close in December 2004, after over a century of operations in Point Marion.

? Adapted from The Glass Candlestick Book, volume 2, by Tom Felt, Rich & Elaine Stoer (reprinted with permission)

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Date:	28.04.2007 21:53
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Added by:	Tom Felt