Chance Brothers
Encyclopedia
Glass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
works originally based in Spon Lane, Smethwick
Smethwick
Smethwick is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, in the West Midlands of England. It is situated on the edge of the city of Birmingham, within the historic boundaries of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire....
, West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
(formerly in Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
), in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It was a leading glass manufacturer and a pioneer of British glassmaking technology.
The Chance family originated in Bromsgrove
Bromsgrove
Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England. The town is about north east of Worcester and south west of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 29,237 in 2001 with a small ethnic minority and is in Bromsgrove District.- History :Bromsgrove is first documented in the early 9th century...
as farmers and craftsmen before setting up business in Smethwick in 1824. Situated between nearby Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
and the Black Country
Black Country
The Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton. During the industrial revolution in the 19th century this area had become one of the most intensely industrialised in the nation...
in the agglomeration of the Midlands industrial heartland , they took advantage of the skilled workers, canals and many advances that were taking place in the Industrial West Midlands
West Midlands (region)
The West Midlands is an official region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It contains the second most populous British city, Birmingham, and the larger West Midlands conurbation, which includes the city of Wolverhampton and large towns of Dudley,...
at the time.
Throughout its almost two centuries of history many changes have affected the company, which now privatised, continues as a specialised industrial glass manufacturer in Malvern, Worcestershire
Malvern, Worcestershire
Malvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, governed by Malvern Town Council. As of the 2001 census it has a population of 28,749, and includes the historical settlement and commercial centre of Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, and the former...
at one of the former small subsidiary factories. The social and economic impact of the company on the region is the subject of a project sponsored by the Heritage Lottery Fund
Heritage Lottery Fund
The Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...
.
19th century
Robert Lucas ChanceRobert Lucas Chance
Robert Lucas Chance , was the fifth child and eldest son of William Chance and Sarah Lucas . He was always known as Lucas Chance.-Working life:...
(8 October 1782 – 7 March 1865), always known as 'Lucas', bought the glassworks of the British Crown Glass Company in Spon Lane in 1824, which specialised in making blown window glass. The company soon ran into difficulty and its survival was guaranteed in 1832 by investment from his brother William Chance (29 August 1788 – 8 February 1856) who owned a successful iron merchants in Great Charles Street, Birmingham. After the partnership with the Hartley Brothers was dissolved, Lucas and William Chance became partners in the business, which was then called Chance Brothers and Company.
Chance Brothers was amongst the earliest glass works to carry out the cylinder process in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and the company became known as "... the greatest glass manufacturer in Britain.". In 1837, it made the first British cylinder blown sheet
Cylinder blown sheet
Cylinder blown sheet is a type of hand-blown window glass. It is created with a similar process to broad sheet, but larger cylinders are produced by swinging the cylinder in a trench. The glass is then allowed to cool before the cylinder is cut. The glass is then re-heated and flattened...
glass with the expertise of Georges Bontemps
Georges Bontemps
Georges Bontemps was a director of an eminent French glass manufacturer in the 19th century, moved to England to work and is accredited with the re-invention of a technique for making ruby-coloured glass that was first used by the Venetians in the 16th century...
, a famous French glassmaker from Choisy-le-Roi who had purchased the secret of the stirrer after the deaths of Pierre Louis Guinand and Joseph von Fraunhofer
Joseph von Fraunhofer
Joseph von Fraunhofer was a German optician. He is known for the discovery of the dark absorption lines known as Fraunhofer lines in the Sun's spectrum, and for making excellent optical glass and achromatic telescope objectives.-Biography:Fraunhofer was born in Straubing, Bavaria...
, the pioneers of the manufacture of high precision lenses for observatory telescopes. Bontemps agreed to share the secret with Chance Brothers and stayed in England to collaborate with Chance for six years. In 1848 under his supervision a new Chance plant was set up for the manufacture of crown and flint glass for telescopes and cameras. Just three other companies in Britain made glass in the same way, Pilkington
Pilkington
Pilkington Group Limited is a multinational glass manufacturing company headquartered in St Helens, United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of the Japan-based NSG Group...
of St. Helens
St Helens, Merseyside
St Helens is a large town in Merseyside, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens with a population of just over 100,000, part of an urban area with a total population of 176,843 at the time of the 2001 Census...
, Hartleys of Sunderland and Cooksons of Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
. During 1832, Chance Brothers became the first company to adopt the cylinder method to produce sheet glass, and became the largest British
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
manufacturer of window
Window
A window is a transparent or translucent opening in a wall or door that allows the passage of light and, if not closed or sealed, air and sound. Windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent material like float glass. Windows are held in place by frames, which...
and plate glass, and optical glasses.
Other Chance Brothers projects included the glazing of the original Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...
to house the Great Exhibition of 1851, and the Houses of Parliament
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
, (built 1840–1860). At that time it was the only firm that was able to make the opal glass for the four faces of the Westminster Clock Tower which house the famous bell, Big Ben
Clock Tower, Palace of Westminster
Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, and is generally extended to refer to the clock or the clock tower as well. It is the largest four-faced chiming clock and the third-tallest free-standing clock tower in the world...
. The ornamental windows for the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
in America were also made there. Other products included stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
windows, ornamental lamp shades
Tiffany lamp
A Tiffany lamp is a type of lamp with many different types of glass shade. The most famous was the stained leaded glass lamp. Tiffany lamps are considered part of the Art Nouveau movement.- History :...
, microscope
Microscope
A microscope is an instrument used to see objects that are too small for the naked eye. The science of investigating small objects using such an instrument is called microscopy...
glass slides, painted glassware, glass tubing and specialist types of glass.
Elihu Burritt
Elihu Burritt
Elihu Burritt was an American philanthropist and social activist.-Biography:He was born December 8, 1810, in the town of New Britain, Connecticut....
(1810–1879) the American philanthropist and social activist once said about Chance “In no other establishment in the world can one get such a full idea of the infinite uses which glass is made to serve as in these immense works”.
In 1900 a baronetcy
Chance Baronets
The Chance Baronetcy, of Grand Avenue in Hove in the County of Sussex, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 19 June 1900 for James Timmins Chance, a grandson of William Chance one of the Chance brothers who started the family business in 1771. He became head of...
was created for James Timmins Chance (22 March 1814 – 6 January 1902), a grandson of William Chance, one of the Chance brothers who started the family business in 1771. James became head of Chance Brothers until his retirement in 1889 when the company was formed into a public company and the name changed to Chance Brothers & Co. Ltd. Sir James Chance was the first baronet of the family baronetage.
20th century
Another member of the family, Edgar ChanceEdgar Chance
Edgar Percival Chance was a British ornithologist and oologist who amassed a collection of 25,000 birds’ eggs. He is noted for his pioneering studies on the parasitic breeding behaviour of the Common Cuckoo .-Life:...
, a noted ornithologist
Ornithology
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
, managed the business between the first and second World Wars.
In the early 20th century, many new ways of making glass evolved at Chance Brothers such as the innovative weld
Weld
Weld most commonly refers to a joint formed by welding.Weld may also refer to:-People:* Weld family, an extended family of New England** Theodore Dwight Weld** Tuesday Weld* Weld-Blundell family* Cecil Weld-Forester, 1st Baron Forester...
ing of a cathode ray tube
Cathode ray tube
The cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...
used for radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
detection.
Chance also popularised slumped glass tableware, called Fiestaware that included many innovative designs, including the famous Swirl pattern.
Pilkington Brothers acquired a 50% shareholding in 1945 but the Chance operation continued to be largely separately managed and a factory was established in Malvern, Worcestershire
Malvern, Worcestershire
Malvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, governed by Malvern Town Council. As of the 2001 census it has a population of 28,749, and includes the historical settlement and commercial centre of Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, and the former...
in 1947 to specialise in laboratory glass where the operation was incorporated as an arms-length subsidiary under the old name Chance Brothers Ltd. In 1948 the Malvern plant produced the world's first interchangeable syringe. By the end of 1952 Pilkington had assumed full financial control of Chance Brothers, but did not become actively involved in its management until the mid- to late-1960s. When plastic disposable syringes displaced glass in the late 1960s, the range of its precision bore product was diversified.
The production of flat glass ceased at Smethwick in 1976. The remainder of the Smethwick works closed in 1981, thus ending over 150 years of glass production at Smethwick and all flat glass production was absorbed by Pilkington's St Helens factories. Remaining glass tube processing, especially the manufacture of syringes and laboratory glassware, was moved to the Malvern plant.
In 1992, during a period of rationalisation at Pilkington, a management buy-out reverted the Chance plant in Malvern to private ownership and it once again became an independent company, changing its registered name to Chance Glass Limited, but retaining the historical Chance logo. Since then the company has continued to develop its range of products and processes, and areas now served include the pharmaceutical, chemical, metrology
Metrology
Metrology is the science of measurement. Metrology includes all theoretical and practical aspects of measurement. The word comes from Greek μέτρον , "measure" + "λόγος" , amongst others meaning "speech, oration, discourse, quote, study, calculation, reason"...
, electronics and lighting industries.
Lighthouses
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
engineering company, producing optical components, machinery, and other equipment for lighthouses around the world. James Timmins Chance
Chance Baronets
The Chance Baronetcy, of Grand Avenue in Hove in the County of Sussex, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 19 June 1900 for James Timmins Chance, a grandson of William Chance one of the Chance brothers who started the family business in 1771. He became head of...
pioneered placing lighthouse lamps inside a cage surrounded by fresnel lens
Fresnel lens
A Fresnel lens is a type of lens originally developed by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel for lighthouses.The design allows the construction of lenses of large aperture and short focal length without the mass and volume of material that would be required by a lens of conventional design...
es so as to increase the available light output; these cages, known as optics, revolutionised lighthouse design. Another important innovation from Chance Brothers was the introduction of rotating optics, allowing adjacent lighthouses to be distinguished from each other by the number of times per revolution that the light flashes. John Hopkinson
John Hopkinson
John Hopkinson, FRS, was a British physicist, electrical engineer, Fellow of the Royal Society and President of the IEE twice in 1890 and 1896. He invented the three-wire system for the distribution of electrical power, for which he was granted a patent in 1882...
, the noted English physicist and engineer, invented this system.
Rolled-Plate Glass
One of Chances major contributions was the development of rolled-plate glass. During the 20th century, rolled-plate glass was to become the mainstay of the company's operation.Clock faces
The Clock Tower, Palace of WestminsterClock Tower, Palace of Westminster
Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, and is generally extended to refer to the clock or the clock tower as well. It is the largest four-faced chiming clock and the third-tallest free-standing clock tower in the world...
(housing Big Ben): The German Opal glass in the faces of the clock in the Westminster Clock Tower of the Houses of Parliament were damaged by Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
bombs during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The damaged glass pieces were to be replaced, but due to the differences in colour, it was decided to replace all the glass. The glass replaced by Chance uses a process known as opal-flashed - a thin layer of opal glass that is 'flashed' onto the outer faces of clear glass.
Large glass
In about 1848 Chance was one of the first companies to produce very long pieces of window glass, following technology developed as a result of finding a solution for an order from Joseph PaxtonJoseph Paxton
Sir Joseph Paxton was an English gardener and architect, best known for designing The Crystal Palace.-Early life:...
for a very large greenhouse on the Chatsworth estate of the Dukes of Devonshire.
Ultraviolet
Based on technology by Sir William CrookesWilliam Crookes
Sir William Crookes, OM, FRS was a British chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry, London, and worked on spectroscopy...
, Chance Brothers was responsible for perfecting the manufacture of glass for earliest optical lenses to block the harmful ultra violet rays of the sun while retaining their transparency. Chance continued to use Crookes as a tradename into the 1960s.
Cathode ray tubes
Chance first developed cathode ray tubes (CRTs) just prior to the outbreak of World War II. Using Hysil glass, a borosilicate glass similar to PyrexPyrex
Pyrex is a brand name for glassware, introduced by Corning Incorporated in 1915.Originally, Pyrex was made from borosilicate glass. In the 1940s the composition was changed for some products to tempered soda-lime glass, which is the most common form of glass used in glass bakeware in the US and has...
, Chance was then a major contributor to developing new methods for the production of Cathode Ray Tubes during World war II that were precursors to the modern CRT television screen. The tubes at that time were used for RADAR
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
detection displays.
Heritage site
The glass works lies between the Birmingham Canal NavigationsBirmingham Canal Navigations
Birmingham Canal Navigations is a network of navigable canals connecting Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and the eastern part of the Black Country...
(BCN) Old Main Line and New Main Line
BCN Main Line
The BCN Main Line, or Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line describes the evolving route of the Birmingham Canal between Birmingham and Wolverhampton in England....
canals near the Spon Lane locks and has several Grade II listed warehouses and adjacent canal bridges on the BCN New Main Line. The works lies within the Smethwick Summit - Galton Valley Conservation area
Conservation area
A conservation areas is a tract of land that has been awarded protected status in order to ensure that natural features, cultural heritage or biota are safeguarded...
. There is also a listed memorial to James J. Chance, one of the partners, in West Smethwick Park.
Commenting on the Taking Chances project, Anne Jenkins, the Heritage Lottery Fund regional manager said:
The Chance Brothers Glassworks was a large employer in the 1800s and had a huge impact on the social history of Smethwick. This project aims to capture, preserve and share this history to ensure local people can learn about the history on their doorstep.
Chance Brothers Ltd Archives
The archives of Chance Brothers Ltd are held at Sandwell Community History and Archives Service. In June 2009, a Project Archivist was appointed to catalogue the collection. By June 2010, they aim to have catalogued around a third of the collection including corporate, financial, legal, employment and lighthouse records. They have also set up an online blog to record the progress made during the project.Further reading
- Chance, J. F. (1919) A History of the Firm of Chance Brothers & Co., Glass and Alkali Manufacturers. London: Printed for private circulation by Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co. (a postscript was added in 1926)
External links
- Taking Chances, a history of Chance glassworks: Heritage Lottery Fund. Retrieved 7 June 2009
- The Infinite Uses of Glass, West Midlands industrial history project. Retrieved 7 June 2009
- Chance Brothers Archive. Retrieved 15 October 2009
- Chance pyrex and precision glass tubes, Malvern. Corporate website. Retrieved 7 June 2009
- The Domestic Glassware of Chance. Retrieved 7 June 2009
- Toby Chance web site of the Chance family. Retrieved 7 June 2009
- Society of Glass Technology web site. Retrieved 7 June 2009
- History of Lighthouses. Retrieved 7 June 2009