Today in 1895, US Patent 534840 A was issued, an invention of Michael J. Owens, for his “Apparatus For Blowing Glass.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
My invention relates to an apparatus for blowing glass, and has for its object to perform mechanically, what has heretofore been done manually.
The invention consists in providing an apparatus which shall receive a blow pipe and mechanically blow the glass thereon into the desired form.
Heretofore in the art of blowing glass, there has been a blower necessary, who manually blows the article into the desired form, there being a gathering boy to secure the gathering upon the pipe previous to blowing, and remove the moil after the article is formed and removed from the pipe.
This invention has for its object to mechanically blow the glass and dispense with the blower, it only being necessary for the gathering boy to secure the gathering upon the pipe and place it upon the apparatus and remove the same when the article has assumed the desired shape.
