Steph

I phrased that wrong. I made it sound like I thought the marble companies made their own machines. I was thinking about them using local machinists. Lots of the 1940's machines seem traceable to one particular WV shop, iirc. Tell us more about the Miller machines Peltier had. Also, I'm still fuzzy on what constitutes a "machine"? Rollers, tanks, feeders? Varies depending on context?

I want to start archiving again. Say, threads which are three months old or more? If there's anything I move over which you were still wanting to add to, just let me know and I can move it back. Also, you can add to things while they're still in the archives if you would prefer less fanfare. Suggestions/reminders of threads to move to the archives are welcome.

Hi there, Rog. Nice tribute. Hope you had good Christmas. ( :

Here's a link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280605750726

Good find, Mon. I should have remembered where that was! The posts in the archives survived the storage crunch. Glad that one made it through.

Glass was big business - all kinds of glass articles. Miller had plenty to keep himself busy without and/or before branching into machines which made spheres. I don't think there was the kind of marble espionage which you might be imagining at that time. The person who stole the designs from MFC was a trusted family friend and an officer of the company. One thing to keep in mind is that much of Miller's emphasis was on how to feed glass into/onto the devices which would shape the final product. That was good for much more than marbles. A possibly interesting question would be to track down the companies Miller sold marble machines to. That 1948 story specifically mentioned toy marbles but most toy marbles were made in West Virginia, and didn't most West Virginia companies make their machines locally? I wonder if Miller's clients might have tended to have more of an industrial bent. For instance, from whom did people who made things such as fiber glass ingots get their machines?

Some additional dates: I'm fairly sure - pretty much certain - that Miller wasn't making marble machines at the beginning. Martin F. Christensen filed the patent for his groundbreaking glass marble making machine in 1902. Blobs of glass would be dropped by workers onto the machine, and the machine would make them round. Akro was the 2nd company in the U.S. to use machines to manufacture marbles. They started making marbles in 1914, with machine designs stolen from Martin Christensen. I assume that whichever marble machines Miller made would have been built with technology he learned and/or developed after 1914. Before that time, Martin Christensen had a pretty solid monopoly on the market. To the best of my understanding.

Sure thing. If anything in that batch explains the "Miller swirls", I don't know about it. I can't remember seeing anyone explain the Pelts which go so wild that you might not be able to find their seams. That's where it seems the problem with the Miller legend is, if I understand correctly. Miller made machines ... but did they have anything to do with swirly Pelts?

Patents and other items involving the name "Miller", to be sorted later. 1. Process and apparatus for feeding glass Inventor: William J. Miller Assignee: Hartford Empire Company Patent number: 1717802 Filing date: Jan 31, 1921 Issue date: Jun 18, 1929 2. Machine for Manufacturing Marbles and Similar Articles Inventor: William J. Miller Assignee: Victor J. Greene Patent number: 1601699 Filing date: Dec 12, 1924 Issue date: Sep 28, 1926 3. Was this the one which is called THE Hartford-Empire patent? Process and Apparatus for Feeding Glass Inventor: William J. Miller Assignee: Hartford Patent number: 1942035 Filing date: Dec 20, 1929 Issue date: Jan 2, 1934 Material still to be sorted: Some history as told in 1948 Marble making machinery is mentioned in connection with the William J. Miller Company in Golden Progress: History and Official Program of the 50th Anniversary Celebration of Swissvale, Pennsylvania, 1898-1948. I hadn't realized he had his own company. Was he also affiliated with any particular marble manufacturer? The book online is broken into parts. The marble mention is on p. 81, found in Part 7. Title page: Part 2 (click to enlarge - it's kinda large, might need to double click to get to full size) Mr. Miller had many patents on glass. Plugging in the keywords, miller, glass and swissvale at the Google patents page pulls up many entries. http://www.google.com/patents?q=miller+glass+swissvale Leave out the word "glass" and you get bunches more. He apparently did a lot of work with pottery also. And had a "pottery engineering company", also in Swissvale? Which if any of his other patents might be connected with marble making? Reminder to self: Did we once have something specific about a Miller machine being used by a lithographer?

The times I remember the word "checking" with glass, it was said by contemporary marble makers describing some sort of cracks in the marbles.

I might remember seeing the story Mon is talking about, about the cache of previously unrecognized types found in the east. If I did, it might only have been once and it might not be on the board anymore. A couple of years worth of posts were lost during a storage crunch.

Wow, they make great looking eyes! Kudos to whoever realized they would!

Hiya Sue! And a special Merry Christmas just for you!

This patent filed in 1947 is interesting in different ways. It's about the creation of aventurine in batch glass. The patent itself is about stopping the aventurine from crystallizing. However, it also points out that some people would try to achieve the crystallization on purpose in their batches, for art glass. Green-Colored Opal Glass

OMG, yes. That is gorgeous. I think Mike made a point worth underscoring in the other thread: That made me think of how we sometimes ask newbies to go outside to check to see if their marbles sparkle. Workers were sorting marbles and boxing them up and maybe never seeing them in the sunlight. I wonder if there were some people in the factories who never realized that their marbles had aventurine in them at all.

Merry Christmas. Safe travels to all who are on the roads.

Sorry, Bob, I don't get it. That doesn't really look like it would be an effective diaper for one amphibian, much less three. Bad Stephanie. Merry Christmas Bob! And if you want to enlighten me about nappies, I'd love it.

Looks like a number of Peerless Patches. And a blue and white mib near the top which I wanna pick up to see if it's an NLR. Not at all sure it is but would like to check.

Thanks Cees. I think that's it.

Ausgezeitnet! ...... did I spell that right?

That's hot.

Interesting. Here's the full ad that was clipped from. It shows two different bags with a waist up character. [insert intelligent comments here when/if I can think of any] edit: I've never paid much attention to bag styles, only the marbles. Entering watch and learn mode.

My principle concern at this moment is that Ron not feel intimidated. He's a new member to this board. I want him to feel welcome. Other members are long time participants in the greater marble community - much longer than I - so I'm a little intimidated myself by some of the give and take and undercurrents. ( : Thus, I have locked the thread for the time being and am forwarding the link to Lou for consideration.

Why does he need to? He put a reserve on it. If no one meets it, no sale. If someone does meet it, then hopefully he'll honor the sale. He has no other obligation. That's how auctions with reserves work. No foul has been committed. Edit to add: oh my gosh, if anyone is including that auction as part of their Christmas budget then wow. Doesn't seem prudent. Christmas Holiday Hug for David. And Edith.

Here's a 1936 ad. Hard to be sure with the black and white but might those be silver oxbloods? p.s. I'm pretty sure others will vouch for finding that style in popeye boxes. I think they came mostly in yellow boxes. iiuc.