Enerst, Otto, and Paul Glass
Hall of Fame – 1976
Ernest Glass (1885-1920) and his two sons Otto (1877-1956) and Paul (1883-1948) are all recognized in the first class of World Concertina Congress Hall of Famers.
Ernest another German who immigrated to the United States around 1900 and began building concertinas in the early 1920s. With his two sons, continuing the art of concertina manufacturing, the Glass Brothers produced instruments until 1951.
A distinctive reed block pattern resulted in a balanced button action which made the Glass Concertina an extremely popular instrument with polka musicians.
The most notable innovations to the internal construction of the chemnitzer concertina were made by German-American instrument builders in Chicago, Illinois: Ernest Glass patented an aluminum action in 1912 (U.S. Patent 1,024,771), which was quicker and quieter than earlier wooden actions; his son Otto further improved this action in 1928.