Flat Glass & Lighthouses

What's it all about?

The title of this site 'Flat Glass & Lighthouses' represents the industries that the two companies (Chance Bros. & Pilkington Bros.) were mainly involved in. While Chance was actually the more diverse and concentrated on virtually all aspects of glass manufacture, Pilkington held mainly to its core business – the production of flat glass.

Chance Brothers, 1824-1981

The main industries supported by Chance were; flat glass, optical glass, rolled-plate glass, blown glass, pressed glass.

Pilkington Brothers, 1826-date

The main industries supported by Pilkington were; flat glass and rolled-plate glass. Developers of the float glass process. Now owned by the Nippon Sheet Glass (NSG) group

Notes:

• If you do use information from this site, it would be nice to be acknowledged!
• Also see:
  GlassyEye.com
  and ChanceGlass.net
  Also note our Copyright
• With thanks to:
  Broadfield House
  Smethwick Heritage Centre

Briefly...

Chance Brothers operated exclusively from Smethwick, England, from 1824 until 1981. Its flat glass production was absorbed into the parent company plant (Pilkington) at St. Helens in 1976. Chance Brothers at one time were the leading lighthouse, scientific and optical glass producers in the world.

Pilkington Brothers was formed in 1826 and by the late 19th century had become Britains main producer of flat window glass. Its core business was, and still is, the production of flat glass.