The first comprehensive biography of the visionary and craftsman who defined the modern glass industry. With nine companies and 49 patents bearing his name, Michael J. Owens is a paradoxically inconspicuous influence on daily life. His invention of the Owens Bottle Machine revolutionized the container industry, making mass-marketed food and beverages both sanitary and consistently proportioned. A big-picture, true-to-life Horatio Alger character, his automated inventions were vital to electric lighting, food and beverage packaging, advanced optics, and automotive safety. The reduction of child labor was a direct and significant outcome of his inventions. Born in 1859 to an Irish West Virginian mining family, Owens, himself a child laborer, ultimately became known as the father of project management. Quentin Skrabecs engaging account is the first biography on this unpretentious, resourceful, colorful, and dynamic industrialist and inventor.