Towards the end of the 19th century, the American engineer Michael Owens (1859-1923) invented an automatic bottle blowing machine which only arrived in Europe after the turn of the century. Owens was backed financially by E.D.L. Libbey, owner of the Libbey Glass Co. of Toledo, Ohio. By the year 1920, in the United States, there were around 200 automatic Owens Libbey Suction Blow machines operating. In Europe, smaller, more versatile machines from companies like O'Neill, Miller and Lynch were also popular.

Added impetus was given to automatic production processes in 1923 with the development of the gob feeder, which ensured the rapid supply of more consistently sized gobs in bottle production. Soon afterwards, in 1925, IS (individual section) machines were developed. Used in conjunction with the gob feeders, IS machines allowed the simultaneous production of a number of bottles from one piece of equipment. The gob feeder-IS machine combination remains the basis of most automatic glass container production today.