Ben Rylands became a partner at the age of 24 in the Mexborough Flint Glass Works in 1849, which a year later became the Don Works. In 1852 he started the Swinton Glass Works along with J.Tillotson & J.Wilkinson, both former partners of the Don Works.
In 1867 he built his own works, namely the Hope Glass Works next to the Stairfoot Railway station, Ardsley near Barnsley. The site that he chose was ideal, with ample space for expansion, railways passing through it and the Dearne and Dove Canal alongside. It became sufficiently profitable for him to lease a second works in 1872, the Dearne & Dove Glassworks at Wombwell a few miles away.
He took out a license in 1874 to manufacture the CODD bottle and in 1877 went into partnership with Hiram Codd, Hiram held one-fifth of the share capital and Ben retained four-fifths and the responsibility of management.
On August 29th 1881 Ben died aged 56 and his son Dan then 31 took over and Hiram forced him to pay a huge premium to keep the partnership agreement in force.
The policy of Hope Glass Works was embodied in its trademark "4", embossed on all its glassware. This signified four qualities considered by the firm to be of paramount importance with regards to the manufacture of glass bottles - accuracy, cleanliness, neatness and strength.
Late in 1884 after Dan and Hiram stopped their partnership Dan Rylands' name alone was moulded on the Rylands bottles.
In 1885 Dan brought out his Premier Patent design (although I have a premier embossed "CODD'S PATENT / PREMIER / CODD AND RYLANDS"). In July of the same year 'The Useful Patents Co. Ltd. of London (owned by Hiram Codd) won a court case against Dan for infringing the Codd and Foster patent of 1873, which covered the tool used to produce the groove in the neck of the bottle. Dan retaliated by patenting another tool for the same purpose - bottles produced by this method are embossed: "PATENT SAFE GROOVE". Also that year Codd's 1871 patent expired and Dan again took advantage and brought out his Reliance Patent, early examples of this are embossed: "MADE BY THE RYLANDS' PATENT PROCESS".
In 1885 Dan Rylands was supplying Codd's Patent Globe-Stoppered bottles to the whole of the UK (which included London - no other maker was allowed to do this - a part of Codd's license agreement) & for export and his sole agent in London was W.Barnard , 62 Kings William St.
The manufacture of marbles became almost a secondary industry and Rylands had works in London solely for that purpose but in 1895 Tomlinsons of Manor Flint Glass Works, Stairfoot near Rylands Hope Works also produced them for him.
In July 1888 a company named 'Dan Rylands Limited' was formed to acquire the business of 'Dan Rylands' for the sum of £136,400. Dan took at least £66,600 of this in shares, and to remain as chairman and managing director. In June 1888 a prospectus pointed out that 'since paying out the late Hiram Codd in 1884, Mr.Dan Rylands had increased by 66% the bottle manufacturing capabilities of the Hope Glass Works.
The Works in 1888 comprised of two large continuous regenerative glass melting furnaces, three smaller ones, two ordinary coal furnaces, forty-two annealing kilns, four sets of Rylands & Potter's patent kilns, with sixty patent trucks and four double pairs of rail for the same, eight Rylands patent gas producers, sixteen other gas producers, nine sorting and packing warehouses, three engine houses, large box factory, wire spinning shed and stores, engineers' - mould fitters' and blacksmiths' shops, pattern makers' shop, mould stores, sand - limestone - chemical and mixing stores, globe stoppered grinding room - to grind 3,000 gross weekly, clerks office, draughtsman's office, stables, about 400 light gas works, also thirty-three workmen's cottages and two managers houses.
Dan Rylands at the time was sole owner of ninety-four British and Foreign patents. New capital was raised in 1889 for the erection of glass melting furnaces specially adapted for the manufacture of bottles by Rylands Patent Bottle-Making machine, this was capable of making 6 bottles per minute. By 1897, the company was known as 'The Rylands Glass and Engineering Company Limited' and from this time their bottles were marked simply "The Rylands".
Many factors brought about the collapse of Rylands in 1928 but over-specialisation in pursuit of manufacturing Codds' bottle was the main cause. In the 1920's the Codd Bottle suddenly went out of fashion in favour of new screw caps. The firm was totally unable to respond and paid the penalty in its failure to find an alternative product.