History of Windshield Repair

Auto Glass Repair History

The history of windshield repair is filled with entrepreneurs and individuals that
overcame great many hurdles to become successful. While this history mainly deals
with the companies that manufacture the tools required to produce a repair, it is not
meant to downgrade the activities of service technicians who actually did the repairs.
Without the great efforts of individual pioneering retailers the industry would not have
prospered and grown. People like Pat McClane(Houston), Bill Batley (Seattle), Bruce
Quande (Missoula) and Cindy Rowe Taylor (Harrisburg) were responsible for talking
to consumers and doing repairs. Also, this brief history deals only with work that was
started in the United States. Many of these companies later spread around the world,
forming other companies and associations. Without the efforts of all these people
windshield repair would not be where it is today.

Automobile glass repair or what is generally called windshield repair is a recent
innovation when compared to the history of the automobile. The technology needed
to repair glass relates to the introduction of multiple layers of glass (laminated safety
glass) in windshields. Laminated glass allows the windshield to remain basically
intact, and for a repair to be done by removing the air in the damaged area and
replacing it with a resin. Although laminated glass in automobiles dates back to the
1930’s, real improvements came in the 1960’s with the improved plastic inner layer
of Poly Vinyl Butyral (PVB). Prior to the early 1970’s when the first windshield repair
process was invented, the only improvement that could be done was purely
cosmetic. Typically, an oil-based fluid was poured into the area to fill the damage and
to "hide" the break. It has been said that some used car dealers did this to try to sell a
vehicle without installing a new windshield. It should go without saying that this was
not a permanent repair.

The first company to produce a repair system was Minnesota Mining and
Manufacturing (3M) Company in St. Paul, Minnesota. The 3M Company first
introduced a system they called "Scotch Weld" in 1971. This system employed ultra
sound vibrations to clean the break and a syringe to inject a resin, or adhesive into
the damage. The equipment successfully repaired "bullseye" type damage, but
unfortunately was very large (filling the bed of a pick-up truck) and was very expensive
to build and thus to lease to others. It is said that 3M did a good job of introducing the
concept of windshield repair to insurance companies, but decided to pursue other
products when the repair equipment failed to attain the volume that they required.

In 1972, Origin Inc., a Research Company founded by Dr. Frank Warner in Jackson
Hole, Wyoming developed a process for repairing stone damaged windshields. Dr.
Warner had personally experienced stones breaking his windshield, and had
directed work on a solution to repair the glass, rather than replace the entire
windshield. A key member of Dr. Warner’s company, was Bill Wiele, a chemical
engineer who developed adhesive resins that would be clear and optically match the
windshield glass. Dr. Warner decided to license his invention to a former associate,
Gerry Keinath. Keinath had recently started a small company, Novus Inc. to market
innovative products. Novus was responsible for much of the early pioneering work
with insurance companies and fleet operators to convince them of the merits of
repairing windshields. During the early days of Novus, the efforts were concentrated
towards selling equipment to glass replacement shops and automotive dealers.
While a significant amount of equipment was sold, not many repairs were being
done. At the same time, Keinath noticed that there was a small and growing group of
individuals who were offering the service of windshield repair using the Novus
equipment. He decided to concentrate on working with "repair only" specialists. He
began by licensing the process to these individuals, and later in the mid 1980’s
moved into full-fledged franchising of the business.

In the mid 1970’s, as Novus was establishing its "repair only" specialists, another
company began by selling a "vacuum" windshield repair system within the glass
replacement market. Mort Gallub in suburban Philadelphia founded Glass Medic.
Gallub owned one of the largest auto reconditioning operations on the East Coast
and found that replacing windshields meant his profit margins on used vehicles
became very slim. He had heard of the early progress of repair, and experimented
with various systems. Mort hired a research engineer to improve on the system and
eventually developed a "vacuum pump" process that he used within his
reconditioning business. Gallub hired, Bill Matles, a young glass replacement
specialist to market the product. In the 1980’s Glass Medic became the largest
selling product within the glass replacement industry.




As the 1970’s came to a close, the word of windshield repair began to spread, a
number of other companies began operations. Many began by first doing repairs,
and then by producing their own equipment. Tony and Gerry Jacino started Clear Star
in New York, Hap Alexander founded Glas-Weld Systems in Oregon and John
Surdich started Kemxert in Pennsylvania.

In the early 1980’s two companies that were very big in auto glass replacement
produced and sold repair equipment. Harmon Glass in Minneapolis manufactured a
system they called the "Harmonizer", and Auto Glass Specialist under Bob
Birkhauser formed a division called AEGIS which produced and sold their equipment.
In 1984, Walt and Darlene Deines formed Delta Kits in Oregon. Their son Brent
Deines now runs Delta Kits.

In 1981, Gene Curwick started doing windshield repair in Minneapolis and in 1985,
he started marketing his own resins and tools. In the mid to late 1980’s more
companies started producing equipment. Dan Wanstrath produced equipment that
was automated and formed Glass Technology in Colorado. Tom Sloan, Steve
Ameter, and Steve Beck formed Liquid Resins International in Illinois with
specialization as an independent supply house with multiple resins. Joyce
Newsome started Tri Glass in Washington State. Ken Einiger, concentrating on
sales to people wanting to start their own businesses, founded Glass Mechanix in
Florida. Rich Campfield started Ultra Bond in California by specializing in equipment
to repair long cracks. Rich later moved his company to Colorado.

In the 1990’s windshield repair continued to grow with more companies entering the
business, and some changing ownership. While we can't list all of the new
companies and changes, here are a few of the more prominent ones. Keith Surdich
left Kemxert and formed his own company Poly-Lite W/R Supplies in Pennsylvania.
Dave Casey founded Super Glass Windshield Repair with Bill Costello and became
one of two companies offering windshield repair as a franchised product and Bill
Penrod formed US Windshield Repair in Orange, CA. In the very early 90’s Glass
Medic was sold to its largest international customer, Belron International, the largest
glass replacement retailer in the world. The North American rights were sold to Dave
Schuh, a former manager of Novus. Dave operated the company until the late 1990’s
when Belron purchased it back. It is now operating as Glass Medic America under
the leadership of Paul Syfko. Also in the 90’s, the Keinath family sold Novus to Trans
Canada Glass International (TCGI).  And in 1995 PATSCO windshield repair was
formed by P. MClain in Houston, Texas specializing in repairing cracks up to 24
inches and rockchips.

By the year 2000, significant changes occurred in the repair versus replacement
marketing. Although repair had been done by independent replacement dealers, and
to a limited amount by some of the larger US retailers, many replacement dealers,
and most large retailers did not devote a major effort towards repair. While repair
was being done by leading replacement companies in Europe, such as Belron’s
Carglass and Autoglass divisions, it was not done to the same extent in the U.S. In
1998 the marketing of windshield repair changed dramatically when Safelite Auto
Glass, the largest glass replacement retailer in the US, decided to embrace
windshield repair by forming a unit specializing in repair. Safelite’s Repair Medic
program was developed under the leadership of Paul Gross. The Repair Medic
operation spread to major markets in the United States offering repair directly from
Safelite. In early 2002 another of the large US auto glass replacement dealers,
Harmon Auto Glass, founded its own repair only division under the name RepairOne
to concentrate on windshield repair.

While companies concentrating on "repairs only service" continue to do the largest
number of repairs, windshield repair has also proven itself as a viable alternative
product offered by most retail service companies in auto glass. And the predictions
are that repair will continue to grow as insurance companies and consumers
understand the cost and product benefits. Today windshield repair is an accepted
product, not only in the United States, but also within almost every country around the
world.
Patsco Windshield Repair, Houston, TX