Out of the Mold (1990 exhibition) — Wheaton Arts, history of the glass bottle mold-making trade

Source: https://www.wheatonarts.org/7926-2/past-exhibitions/1990-to-1999-exhibitions/1990-out-of-the-mold/ Ingested: 2026-07-26 (WebFetch extraction)

In-house vs. independent moldmakers

Glass companies initially relied on external sources for molds, but “most glass company owners quickly established their own machine shops not only as a way to produce their own molds but also to safeguard against the competition.” As time passed, larger glass factories started their own mold departments, while “small companies depended on ordering molds from private moldmakers, who had set up business in the major towns of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Boston.”

Named independent firms

• Pittsburgh became the moldmaking center (iron/steel foundries). Washington Beck’s shop (1859–1887) was “probably the most prolific,” shipping molds to Canada, Japan, and Europe. Others: Henry Franz, William S. McKee, Julius Proeger, Andrew Thompson; Stephen Hipkins (Martins Ferry, Ohio, 1884–1940s).
• Philadelphia: Philip Doflein (first mold shop ca. 1842, Calabash flask design). Charles Yockel (from 1862; sons ran it until 1946) advertised in 1891: “We are the largest mould manufacturers east of Pittsburgh and make more Bottle Molds than any two mould shops in the United States” — supplying Whitney Glass Works, Union Glass Works, Ellenville Glass Works, Swindell Brothers, Gillinder & Sons. 1883 prices: ~$10 simple bottle mold, $22 quart mold; lettering plates 6¢/plain letter, 10¢/fancy.

The chipper/engraver — the trade’s artist

Finishing intricate designs required specialized artisans called chippers (or vice hands) — “artists who possessed the sculpting skills necessary to carve intaglio designs with chisels, riffles and files.” Monroe Husted’s drawings record 87.5 hours for a simple “Colonial” punch-cup mold, 228 hours for an “Aztec” covered butter lid, 378 hours for another lid pattern.

Lettering plates, ownership, alterations

Gustavus Storm (Philadelphia) patented removable lettering plates in 1875, so a private-mold customer “had to pay only the cost of the slug or lettering plate” rather than a full custom mold; Whitall Tatum offered 68+ lettering-plate designs by 1880. Mold-alteration cases (the Doflein Calabash mold, altered three times across owners; the misspelled “Millfora” left uncorrected) show molds were long-lived capital assets — “it must have cost considerably less to have a skilled moldmaker alter a mold than to have your own mold design produced.”

Mechanization made moldmakers more essential

The mechanical press (from 1825) eliminated glassblower jobs but elevated the moldmaker into “the creative force in the glasshouse.” The Owens Automatic Bottle Machine (1903) “eliminated the jobs of the glassblower and his team, but it did not do away with the need for molds and moldmakers. The moldmaker was still essential to these newly automated glass factories.” Wages: $2.43–$3.33/day (Pennsylvania, 1879–1883); 75¢/hour by 1931. Cast iron remains the preferred mold metal today.