law of diminishing returns. A concept in economics that if one factor of production (number of workers, for example) is increased while other factors (machines and workspace, for example) are held constant, the output per unit of the variable factor will eventually diminish.
History of glass. The history of glassmaking can be traced back to 3500 BCE in Mesopotamia, but Mesopotamians may have created second-rate copies of glass objects from Egypt, where this complex craft actually originated. Other archaeological evidence suggests that the first true glass was made in coastal north Syria, Mesopotamia or Egypt.
Five brothers founded Ball in 1880 with a $200 loan from their Uncle George. In the beginning, they made wood-jacketed tin cans for products like paint and kerosene, but soon expanded their offerings to glass- and tin-jacketed containers. In 1884, the brothers began making glass home-canning jars, the product that established Ball as a household name. The brothersâEdmund, Frank, George, Lucius and Williamâmoved the company from Buffalo, New York, to Muncie, Indiana, in 1887 to take advantage of abundant natural gas reserves essential to making glass. Ball grew rapidly in the ensuing decade and has been in more than 45 businesses since its founding.