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Paint Can Marbles-Industrial Marbles


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Originally, when you shook a spray paint can, it had a metal ball as an agitator. The metal ball agitator was heavy and it rusted inside the can decreasing shelf life.

Jack Bogard owned a marble company called the Bogard Co. He realized that the metal agitators were heavy and rusted. He also knew marbles would work as an agitator. He knew that marbles were lighter than metal so it cost less to ship to the paint factories and it cost the paint factories less to ship the paint to the retailers. He also knew that glass marble agitators wouldn’t rust so the shelf life of the paint cans would be significantly longer.

Jack started calling on the paint companies. Soon, they were buying his marbles as agitators. He had created a new market, a new use for glass marbles.

Over the life of Bogard Co., Jack probably made and sold more glass marble agitators than all of the other American marble makers combined (except for JABO.)

Jack eventually sold off the assets of Bogard Co. and became a partner of Joanne Argabrite. They formed JABO. A couple of years later, they brought David McCullough in as a partner.

JABO has made over 8,000,000,000 (8 billion) paint can marbles. They also make agitators for nail polish.

In the last three years, JABO has run either 1 or 2 industrial marble machines for about 10 months a year. Whether 1 or 2 machines were run has depended on demand. The number of jobs has increased.

Most of the industrial marble market has moved to Asia. American manufacturers are unable to compete as a function of the cost of goods sold. However, some orders are still given to American companies. To this day, it appears that JABO still makes the vast majority of industrial marbles that are made in America.

The private runs of kids play marbles have represented about 10% of their sales while consuming about 5% of manufacturing time.

The JABO Classic private runs of the last three years have produced about 8,000,000 kids’ marbles (or about 1 ½ years production of Classics in better times.)

In the heyday, JABO was running 16 machines, had about 140 employees and subcontracted the total production of 4 machines from another manufacturer.

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I DO NOT!!!!!!!!!!----PSSSSSST,,,,,,,There in the basement of my garage.

I might have a few of the classics------How many is in 30,five gallon buckets,anyway?

Guess: 71,000

Disclaimer: No marbles were harmed in the creation of this baseless estimate.

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There is currently only one Jabo factory and just north of Reno Ohio. They have been running industrial marbles steadily,along with some expierments and the private runs. Unfortunately it has not been the 12 or 16 machines that they once ran steady. A few years ago Jabo did have another factory site near Williamstown WV. It was closed due to goverment regulations that many of the foreign countries do not have. I was at Jabo this week,the gas was flowing and the rolls turning.

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i would bet that beri meant that mk is the only place that makes marbles for play.....ill ask her next time i see her...the show is a political show and her purpose on there was as a small business model...shes been active here in the wheeling area and has won numerous awards from the business sector...the questions were obviously slanted towards obamas side which that show is albeit in a comedic way...ill bet the producers coached her what to say and prob the reason she was on there was her stand on level the playin field...her product was way secondary but her opinion is right up there with the show...and what they preach

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Ahhh, ok. I thought that the plant that closed down was the only one. Clearly I stand corrected. Thanks for clearing that up!

I too am interested in how much pre-planning went into her statement. I guess I'l find out the next time I see her.

The Williamstown plant has been closed for years and was sold about 4 years ago.Only industrials were made there.

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