Michael J. Owens Dies

On This Day  |  Posted by: Tedd Long  |  12/27/2025

1923: Michael Owens dies in Toledo.

Born in Mason County, West Virginia in 1859, Owens left school at the age of 10 for a glassware apprenticeship in Wheeling. Within five years, he became a master glassblower. He moved to Toledo in 1888 to work for Edward Drummond Libbey. Pictured here (center) with other Toledo glassworkers, Owens was eventually appointed as foreman and supervisor and went on to build machines that could automate the production of glass containers and eliminate child labor in the glass industry. His glass bottle-making machine automated the entire process, from selecting the molten glass to blowing the glass into its final form. The machine produced glass bottles at a rate of 240 per minute, and in some cases, reduced labor costs by 80%. In 1983, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers described the bottling machine as the "most significant advance in glass production in over 2,000 years..." Over the course of his life, Owens secured forty-five patents. He retired in 1919. 

For more Toledo history, visit www.holytoledohistory.com