Louis Gilles of Libbey-Owens-Ford helping to create theUnited States Declaration of Independence enclosureAdvertisement for the Edward Ford Plate Glass Company in a 1905 Toledo Chamber of Commerce book
In June 1916, the Libbey-Owens Sheet Glass Company was organized, and in 1917 the first Libbey-Owens plant opened in Charleston, West Virginia. 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. In 1928, Libbey-Owens was the first company to produce automotivelaminated safety glass and won a contract to supply theFord Motor Company with windshields for theModel A. Libbey-Owens merged with theEdward Ford Plate Glass Company in 1930 to form Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company.[1]
In April 1986, LOF sold its glass business and name to thePilkington Group, amultinational glass manufacturer headquartered in theUnited Kingdom. The remaining three business units of the company, Aeroquip, Vickers, and Sterling, were retained and the holding company was renamed TRINOVA Corporation. The Sterling business was later sold, and in the late 1990s the company adopted its two leading business unit names, and continued as Aeroquip-Vickers, Inc., until being absorbed byEaton Corporation in 1999.[3] As part of the Pilkington Group, the company retained the LOF name. However, in June 2006, Pilkington was acquired byNippon Sheet Glass, and the LOF name was abandoned in an effort to rebrand globally under the Pilkington name.
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