Glass Industry gaining in city- Owens Illinois PR man said in radio broadcast

GLASS INDUSTRY

GAINING IN CITY

Owens-Illinois Official Sees

Bid as World Center.

Rapidly growing glass industries of Muncie, make the city a serious contender for the title of glass center of the world now held by Toledo, O., R. S. Leister of the public relations department of Owens-Illinois Glass Company said in a broadcast over station WLBC, yesterday.

Mr. Leister's address was part of the program of the Muncie Rotary Club luncheon held in the Hotel Roberts. He first attended the luncheon and then hurried to the WLBC studio to speak to club members over the air waves. T. K. Almroth, advertising manager of the glass company, gave a brief talk. The program was in charge of W. Paul Zunmerman, manager of the Muncie division.

History of Glass Traced.

In opening his address, Mr. Leister sketched the history of glass, told of its manifold uses in everyday life, listed the varied products of his company and described a few recent developments in the glass industry. He commented briefly on tempered glass, which can be bent, twisted or thrown on the floor without breaking or apparent damage.

From his description of the Owens-Illinois Glass Company listeners got an inkling of the tremendous size of the concern.

"More than 13,000 persons are now on our payrolls, operating on a six-hour shift with wages that provide comforts as well as necessities of life." he said. "Twenty-one plants are in constant operation: thirty branch offices in which thirty managers, ninety-four salesmen and 108 clerks serve the requirements of the public. More than 400 persons comprise the general office, executive sales, production control and accounting department staffs in Toledo.

Five Unique Features.

Insulux translucent glass blocks being manufactured by the Muncie plant provide the building industry with a new material. Mr. Leister said. He pointed out that the blocks possess as five unique features, translucency, insulation value, control of light and minimum maintenance and design.

"In the span of three months buildings have been erected in twenty states — of many distinct designs and for a wide variety of purposes." the speaker said. "In Toledo at this moment, masons are starting to lay blocks in the first windowless building every [sic] ever constructed. It will house the Packaging Research Division, design and model shops and other activities of the company.

"Insulux translucent masonry possesses features which in the same degree or combination are not a part of any existing building material. A quality particularly valuable in this era of air-conditioning is their translucency, which makes practical the elimination of glazed sash or other forms of light transmitting construction. Insulation, a property incident to the forming of the block, is another requisite of practical and economical air-conditioning. Control of light is given to Insulux through the character, design and depth of face markings.

Muncie Labor Benefits.

Each thousand blocks produced represent a definite number of hours of labor for Muncie workers — because expansion of productive facilities here will add many more to Owens-Illinois local payroll — because to Muncie men came the basic idea of Insulux and Muncie men brought it to successful conclusion.

"Just as the first all-glass building is being reared in Toledo, so is the first large installation of glass interior partitions being made there. Each of the six top floors of the large Ohio building soon to be occupied by Owens-Illinois will be partitioned off into private offices and larger areas by walls of translucent glass block. You see, we believe in Insulux and the men of Muncie — and we believe as well in the great Purdue Engineering laboratories the exhaustive tests of which fully substantiate every claim made for Insulux by its Muncie originators."