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Chance Glass Factory

ive been watching this building for many years now..do hope its bought back to life again...my grandad worked there during the 1920s

lyn
 
By coincidence I rode past it on my bike today. I also know the Trust chairman Mike. Ill see him in a couple of weeks, so will have a chat about where they are with things.
 
My gt gt grandfather was the Nighwatchman there in the 1850's. The Victorian equivalent of the modern Security man...He was a discharged soldier having done 25 years .. I've seen his wage record those sons / grandsons that didn't go in the army were glass blowers
 
so pleased that this building built 1837 seems to be getting a move on now....grandad worked here in the 1920s..

Our Vision

Our Projects Chance Glassworks The Chance Glassworks site is bordered by road, rail and water as shown opposite. The highly iconic and recognisable Seven-Storey building, built in 1847, is visible from all angles and represents a massive part of the history of the company. It is even...
chanceht.org chanceht.org
 
Good news that The Chance Glassworks will be preserved, with a lighthouse too. Lizard Lighthouse in Cornwall can be visited and the dazzling optics were made by Chance Glass (had to dig about to check though as Trinity House don't see the glass manufacturer as a historical feature). Astonishing to me is that they use ordinary electric lightbulbs, it is the glass which forms the beam.IMG_1128.jpeg
 
Stokkie said:
Good news that The Chance Glassworks will be preserved, with a lighthouse too. Lizard Lighthouse in Cornwall can be visited and the dazzling optics were made by Chance Glass (had to dig about to check though as Trinity House don't see the glass manufacturer as a historical feature). Astonishing to me is that they use ordinary electric lightbulbs, it is the glass which forms the beam.View attachment 170774
Click to expand...
I remember visiting the Lizard Lighthouse when I was on holiday in Cornwall with my family years ago, we were told that the optics were made in Birmingham and my Dad didn't hesitate to say proudly that we were from Brum!
 
A Sparks said:
I remember visiting the Lizard Lighthouse when I was on holiday in Cornwall with my family years ago, we were told that the optics were made in Birmingham and my Dad didn't hesitate to say proudly that we were from Brum!
Click to expand...
Good for Dad, we should not be shy of our past and present achievements!
 
I worked at a place in Spring Lane, Malvern, just round the corner from Chance. Went past it everyday. Very unassuming building, very low key industrial estate premises apparently put there in 1947, unlike those photos of the Smethwick factory in this thread. They would have been the lab glass offshoot of Pilkington at that time (71 to 76), but as everyone will know, they went private in 1992, keeping the name.

You will know this,
"In the early 20th century, many new ways of making glass evolved at Chance Brothers such as the innovative welding of a cathode ray tube used for radar detection."

But did you know this,
"In 1933, the company was reported to be involved in an attempt to contact "any intelligent life" on the planet Mars, using adapted lighthouse optics from a mountaintop, the Jungfrau, in Switzerland."
Source. Wikipedia.

Just a tidbit.

Andrew.
 
I don't know if I have mentioned this before but when I worked for Henry Hope & Sons in Smethwick in the early 1960s we constructed the steelwork for one of Chance's lighthouses and fitted it out for them before it was taken apart again and shipped abroad in order to test that everything fitted OK.
 
Viv,
Perhaps you will like this. Woulf bottle manually made, no standard joints . Rescued lab equipment that was originally at Somerdale the lab there was having a clearout . Have 2 of them. I think it would have well predated the lab glassblower at Bournville (Bill Blower - Truely the name , It is a black country name ) Certainly pre WW2, likely pre WW1Woulf bottle.jpg
 
Great piece of glass Mike. Would never have occurred to me that Bournville had its own glass blowers. Viv.
 
Only one, and he retired in the 1970s. He had a little sideline. For those he had contact with and knew who got married he would make them a small glass giraffe. The tradition was that if if it later got broken , then a pregnancy would soon happen. (though I wonder if that was a story spread by Bill to ensure people took care of it!!)
As I said, I think the bottle predates him, as his work was much better.
 
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