Auto Glass Specialists Inc history

The original windshields debuted in approximately 1904.

For his part, British inventor John C. Wood created a similar type of glass in 1905, one that was later sold under the name Triplex.

In 1909, they were granted the first patent.

Oldsmobile was the first manufacturer to offer a windshield as a standard piece of equipment in 1915.

1917: Beardmore and Brodie merge their companies as Plate Glas s Bevelling & Silvering Company.

Lubner also was responsible for the company's first diversification, adding plywood and lumber s ales in the 1920s.

Lubn er quickly proved himself an industrious salesman, and by 1922 had be en taken on as a partner in the Johannesburg branch.

The Ford Motor Company began using Triplex in its cars in 1927.

The company began producing its first safety glass in 1931, a move dr iven by Harry Brodie, who went to England to acquire the manufacturin g rights to the new windshield type, called Shatterproof.

And in 1934, Chrysler sold the first car with a curved windshield comprised of just one piece of glass.

Further, American inventor Carleton Ellis fabricated an artificial resin that could block ultraviolet rays and keep windshields from discoloring; he patented that resin as polyvinyl butyral in 1938.

1947: The company goes public as Plate Glass & Shatterpruf e Industries (PGSI).

The influential General Motors LeSabre, a show car that debuted in 1951, had a panoramic windshield for a better view of the road.

In 1953, the compan y acquired the rights to a new process for producing curved windshiel ds.

In 1959, Pilkington initiated the float style of glass-making, in which glass components are melted, mixed, and pushed through a narrow opening onto molten tin.

Morris Lubner became chairman of the company after Emmanuel Brodie's death in 1961.

In 1962, Ronald Lubner convinced his father to buy up a fast-growing glass company, Express Glass.

In response to Nader’s concerns, the United States government formed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in 1970 to oversee safety recommendations in American vehicles.

The 3M Company first introduced a system they called “Scotch Weld” in 1971.

In 1972, Gerald Keinath bought the patent rights for windshield repair, and then strategically designed the business plan that would bring windshield repair to the general market for the first time.

The company then renamed its vehicle glass interests outside of South Africa as Solaglass in 1982.

In 1984, Walt and Darlene Deines formed Delta Kits in Oregon.

The name of the business was later changed to NOVUS – the Latin word for “new” or “innovative” – and, in 1985, NOVUS Glass became a full-fledged franchise company.

1988: The company acquires the Carglass brand in France and Be nelux.

1994: VGRR operations are regrouped under the Belron holding c ompany.

1996: The company merges Windshields into Vistar Inc.

1997: Vistar is merged into Safelite, which becomes the VGRR m arket leader in the United States.

In 1998, the company convinced rival United States autoglas s group Safelite to merge the two companies' operations.

In early 2002 another of the large United States auto glass replacement dealers, Harmon Auto Glass, founded its own repair only division under the name RepairOne to concentrate on windshield repair.

Then, in 2003, the company acquired Norway's H urtigruta.