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![]() The patent was for a combination blowpipe and snap case that permitted a pressed pitcher with attached handle to be inflated. Pitchers and creams were specifically identified in the “Cincinnati Patent”, which refers to the important patent issued to William T. Sugars and spoon holders were offered in the “Cincinnati” pattern. Goblets, champagnes, wines, cordials and egg cups were available in the “New York” pattern. The earliest known Franklin Flint Glass Works catalog, which is undated but dates from the Gillinder and Bennett partnership, lists chimneys, peg lamps, opal smoke bells, and potichomanie vases besides a small select grouping of pressed glass patterns. For the sake of his family and probably his investment in the glass factory, Bennett moved his family to Philadelphia and became William Gillinder’s partner. In 1863, Bennett had difficulties of his own, due to the proximity of the Civil War to Baltimore. However, Gillinder still faced financial problems, which forced him to borrow more money from Edwin Bennett. The chimney lamp business boomed and the factory moved to a larger site diagonally across the street. He again somehow found enough money to purchase the old Samuels bottle factory site on Howard and Oxford Streets and called the new venture the Franklin Flint Glass Works. Gillinder Thynne Gillinder was forced to move. The factory’s neighbors complained about the soot from the furnaces, which covered clothes that were hung out to dry. But, most of Gillinder’s production was “coal lamps and chimneys of every description.”Īlmost immediately, William Gillinder faced more difficulties. Also available were “Apothecaries, Chemical and Philosophical” glassware. The trade card for the Philadelphia Flint Glass Works declared that the new firm manufactured “Plain, Moulded and Cut Flint Glass Ware, Fancy Colored Glass, and Silvered Glass Table Ware, Door Knobs, Curtain Pins and Reflectors”. Even with the dark economic times of the Civil War looming on the horizon, Gillinder went forward. He also probably borrowed the money from his new friend, Edward Bennett. Family history recounts that he again pawned the watch given to him by the Friendly Society. Just where Gillinder found the money to launch his own enterprise is not known. That same year, William Gillinder established a glass factory on Maria Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets in Philadelphia and called the new business the Philadelphia Flint Glass Works. He also found employment across the Delaware River at the Kaighn’s Point Glass Works in Camden. Still seeking a stable position, Gillinder arrived in Philadelphia in 1861 and briefly worked at the Philadelphia Glass Works. But, he did form an important friendship with the highly regarded potter, Edwin Bennett. Gillinder established his first factory, which failed, in Baltimore. ![]() Constantly in search of employment, he moved to St. In 1855, Gillinder pawned the gold watch and moved his family to Pittsburgh, where he found limited work at the O’Hara Glass Works operated by James B. Gillinder family history recounts that there was so little work at the Cambridge factory, the manager had the workers line up each morning and he chose who would work that day. Unfortunately, glassmaking circumstances were not better at the New England Glass Company and the promised job was not available. With optimism, Gillinder sailed to New England with his wife, the former Elizabeth Emery, and their four children, Agnes, James, Frederick and Elizabeth. As a parting gift, the Society presented Gillinder with an engraved gold watch and 40 guineas. In his farewell address to the Glass Makers Friendly Society on August 17, 1854, he reviewed the difficulties the union had faced under his tenure and hoped he had not disappointed the members. The well-respected and highly skilled Gillinder chose to depart for America with the promise of a position at the New England Glass Company of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Friendly Society helped raise funds to send its members to America and Australia in search of glassmaking jobs. The 1850s were difficult times for English glassmen due to a lack of employment in the industry. Previously, he had represented Birmingham and the Midlands in the Society for several years. He was elected Central Secretary of the National Flint Glass Makers Friendly Society of Great Britain and Ireland in 1852. By 1851, William Gillinder had published a book on glassmaking, titled The Art of Glassmaking, which he had reprinted in 1854.
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