Hazel-Atlas Glass Company


The Hazel-Atlas Glass Company was a large producer of machine-molded glass containers headquartered in Wheeling, West Virginia. It was founded in 1902 in Washington, Pennsylvania, as the merger of four companies:
By the 1900s, Hazel-Atlas had 15 plants and was a large glass manufacturer. Hazel-Atlas manufactured large quantities of "depression" pressed glassware in a wide variety of patterns throughout the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. They also produced many of the white milkglass "inserts" used inside zinc fruit jar lids, and many types of milkglass cold cream jars and salve containers. They were also maker of a large variety of bottles and jars for the commercial packaging industry. "Atlas" was the name brand of their most popular line of fruit jars for home canning. Hazel-Atlas, at that time the third largest producer of glass containers in the US, became a subsidiary of the Continental Can Company in 1957. The acquisition was challenged under the Clayton Antitrust Act in a case that was eventually decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Continental Can Co.. It continued to make containers, glassware and tableware into the 1960s. In 1964, 10 of the 12 H-A plants in operation were sold to Brockway Glass Company, and it is unclear if the remaining two plants used the H-A trademark after that year.

Patterns

Hazel-Atlas produced dozens of different patterns, with unique names. The Hazel-Atlas mark, usually placed on the back of the product, is an "A" nestled underneath an "H". The mark was reportedly first used in 1923, according to trademark office records quoted by Peterson.