belron was first founded as a family business in 1897 as jacobs & dandor in cape town, south africa. the company was purchased and renamed plate glass bevelling and silvering in 1899. in 1917, city glass bevelling & silvering works bought plate glass; the companies were merged in 1919 and went ahead to gain success in the windscreen industry by securing the business rights to the curved windscreen production technology in 1953 and introducing laminated rear windows in 1958.