World War One abruptly cut off the American supply of optical instruments and high-quality optical glass, which were largely products of Germany. In 1914, Bureau of Standards Director Samuel W. Stratton ordered furnaces and apparatus for the Bureau's Pittsburgh laboratory, where investigation of clays and ceramics was ongoing, and set it to work studying the manufacture of optical glass. The Bureau of Standards supplied American needs during the crisis of World War One and continued to produce optical glass into the 1940s and World War Two. In fact, between the wars, NBS was the only organization in the United States engaged in optical glass research and production of optical glass.
