Corning Incorporated history

1864: Houghton and his sons buy the Brooklyn Flint Glass Co.

1868: The glass company is renamed Corning Flint Glass Co.

The company first called upon scientists at Cornell University in 1877 for help in improving the optical quality of its lenses.

1880: Thomas Edison asks Corning to make bulbs for his electric lights.

Corning has a long history of innovation beginning in 1897 with the development of a bulb-shaped glass encasement for Thomas Edison's new incandescent lamp.

In the year 1908, under the leadership of Dr Eugene Sullivan, a glass research centre was set up which became Corning as a name synonymous with Glass research.

In 1912, American railroads faced a situation where the glass globes of signal lanterns which are needed for safe transportation shattered due to thermal expansion which happened due to changes in temperature.

In 1915, Corning creates an improved glass formula under the PYREX® brand.

In the postwar years, demand for Corning products led to the invention of a ribbon machine in 1926, which produced blanks for incandescent lamps at the rate of 2,000 bulbs per minute.

In 1932, George Ellery Hale approached Corning with the challenge of fabricating the required optic for his Palomar project.

Later, in 1933, the ribbon machine is used to manufacture radio bulbs.

In the year 1934, Dr J Franklin Hyde, an organic chemist working for Corning developed Silicones which are cross between glass and plastic.

In 1935, Doctor George McCauley, a Corning physicist, designs and directs Corning’s production of a 200-inch mirror blank for the Hale Telescope at Mount Palomar- the world’s largest piece of glass at that time.

Owens-Corning Fiberglas was organized in 1938--a year after Pittsburgh Corning Corporation began producing glass blocks.

In 1943, Corning would develop an electrical process to seal the bulbs, enabling the production of more than 3 million large tubes for this application.

In 1944, Corning Chemist Dr Charles F. DeVoe developed Optical and Ophthalmic glass by the process of continuous melting of glass with improvised stirring techniques which made way to manufacture 100 pounds of optical glass per hour.

Amory Houghton Sr. continued to lead as the first chairman of the board, an office created in 1945.

By 1948, Corning would begin its journey into the television market by manufacturing television glass.

Corning Glass Works Foundation became a free-standing non-profit organization in 1952, responsible for administering the company’s charitable donations to educational, cultural, community, and civic organizations.

1953: Corning introduces color television tubes.

The process for producing Pyroceram, or glass ceramics, was developed in 1957 and led to the marketing of Corning Ware cookware the following year.

1958: Corning Ware cookware is marketed.

In 1961, Corning had an opportunity to be a part of Mercury Spacecraft where it created heat resistant windows for the spacecraft.

Another problem involved Signetics, a semiconductor manufacturer, purchased in 1962.

Sales of bulbs, globes, and panels, Corning Ware, and televisiontube blanks grew especially fast in the early part of the decade and led to record earnings of $9.28 per share by 1966.

One of Corning’s greatest achievements was the invention of low-loss fiber optics in 1970, which helped launch the age of optical communications.

The latter permanently bonded active catalytic materials, such as enzymes, to inorganic substrates, or carriers, leading to the development of radioimmunoassay products for diagnostic testing in 1974.

Corning had never developed an expertise in electronics and in 1975 sold Signetics, absorbing a pretax loss of $9.5 million.

In July 1976, Corning filed suit against ITT Corporation and its customer, the United States government, charging patent infringements.

In 1977, considerable attention was given to Corning's Z Glass project.

In 1982, Corning Labs worked on manufacturing of Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) which was formed by Corning’s Fusion Process, this made way for LCD to be used in various flat panels TV and many other accessories.

The company did not begin market research until 1984.

Corelle products designs had not changed in more than a decade, and Corning had not advertised, until 1985, that its products had always been suitable for the microwave oven.

Hazelton Laboratories, purchased in 1987, became one of the world’s leading independent suppliers of services for biological and chemical research.

Cultural and educational programs, infrastructure improvements, and disaster relief are just a few ways the Foundation — renamed Corning Incorporated Foundation in 1989 — has helped answer community and humanitarian need.

In June 1990, Corning joined with a company in India to form Samcor Glass.

By 1991, workers spent 5 percent of their time in paid training.

Corning's earnings were negatively effected by the ordeal and the subsidiary eventually declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1995, after a highly-publicized $4.25 billion class-action lawsuit.

In 1997 James Houghton retired, naming Roger Ackerman his successor.

In 1998, the firm’s consumer products division was sold to Borden Inc.

According to a 1999 Business Week article, “Ackerman began building up other businesses that supplied the almost boundless demand for broadband telecommunications.

Hyde would be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2000.

Mehta, Stephanie N., "Can Corning Find Its Optic Nerve?" Fortune, March 19, 2001.

In 2003 Corning and bankrupt joint venture subsidiary Pittsburgh Corning Corporation agreed to settle all legal claims from lawsuits over asbestos in insulation products made by the latter, resolving cases that dated back 30 years.

In early 2004 Corning began a massive multiyear expansion of LCD glass production capabilities, spending nearly $2 billion on projects that included a new plant in Taiwan.

In early 2005 James Houghton handed the title of CEO to president Wendell Weeks, while retaining the role of chairman.

With these many discoveries and upgrading of technologies, Corning did not stop with what is provided to humankind, in the year 2006, Corning developed revolutionary Epic label-free technology that helped pharmaceutical researchers to identify drug compounds for treating a specific disease.

In April 2007 James Houghton retired as chairman and CEO Wendell Weeks added the title, with Peter Volanakis named president.

In 2010, Corning Developed Synthemax surface which provides Synthetic and animal-free surface for stem cells culture.

In December 2011, it acquired Mediatech, Inc.

In November 2012, Corning acquired the majority of the Discovery Labware business from Becton, Dickinson and Company.”