Ten arm automatic bottle machine, 1912. The automatic glass bottle manufacturing machine was designed by Michael Owens (1859-1923), an American glass manufacturer. His invention revolutionised the industry, the machines being able to produce up to four bottles per second. Mechanising the glass-blowing process eradicated the need for child labour in glass-blowing factories, which he had experienced himself since the age of ten. In 1903, Owens formed the Owens Bottle Machine Company in Toledo, Ohio. Photograph taken on the 17th August, 1912.