EARLIEST KNOWN CROWN CLOSURE SODA BOTTLE

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

The following is the result of a great deal of time and research I was involved with in an attempt to establish a date for the earliest known crown-closure soda bottle. But for my purposes here I will focus primarily on the end result and not everything that led up to it.

For starters, the term "closure" refers to the lip or top of the bottle, which is also known as a "finish" and a "seal." Closure types have varied over the years, but it was the "Crown" that was the most successful and the one that is still being used today. Some of the closures that proceeded the crown were the Hutchinson and the Blob, just to mention a couple of the many hundreds that came and went over the years.

The crown closure (and the cap that went with it) were invented in 1892 by an individual named William Painter, who was from the Baltimore, Maryland area. (See illustration below). Painter designed and patented other closures, but it was the crown that won him the most success and acclaim.

As a collector of soda bottles for the past thirty years, I have always been interested in various aspects of bottle making and design. So I asked myself one day, who - what - where - and when was the first crown closure introduced? To my surprise I soon discovered that no one really knew the answer. Not even the leading experts that I contacted. All anyone knew was that the crown was invented in 1892, but other than that no one had ever done much if any research as to which company was the first. I also discovered there was very little information to be found on the internet or elsewhere pertaining to specifics about my inquiry. So I started digging and digging, until ...

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SBB



[ William Painter Closure Patent ] + [ The Cap ]

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

... eventually it started to look as if Hires Root Beer or possibly Moxie were the first. But the earliest confirmed dates for when these two companies started using crown closures was around 1896-1897. But since I knew the crown was patented in 1892, it just seemed logical to me there must have been someone to use it earlier than this.

During the course of research I discovered there was a sort of depression that swept the country around 1893. It hit so hard that many investors tightened up their purse strings and held back from spending large sums of money until times got better. And this was right at the time when William Painter came along with his patent that he was sure would take the bottling industry by storm. And it would have except for one minor detail. Which was, that in order for glass factories to switch over to the new molds and everything else required to make the newly invented closure, it meant a healty investment that few were prepared or willing to make at the time because of the so called depression. Plus, many of the glass factories were not convinced just yet that Painter's new invention was the best thing since buttered bread as Painter himself believed it was. So the bottling industry just sat on their hind quarters and waited out the depression until ...

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[SODABOTTLEBOB]

... along about 1894-95 a bottler by the name of Murdoch & Freeman of Portland, Maine placed an order with a yet unknown glass factory in the area, for an undisclosed number of the new crown closure bottles. Very little is known about Murdock & Freeman, and I am still researching both of them and their bottles. To date their 1895 bottles are the earliest known and confirmed examples having the crown closure. There may be others, but their's are the first to be confirmed. And the only reason we know this is because they actually had the date placed right on the embossed fronts of their bottles. Which was a practice that did not last long and was soon discontinued.

Shown below are two Murdoch & Freeman bottles. Notice that both are dated 1895, but one is a blob-top/cork type, and one is a crown. Plus they both have the old-school signature type of embossing that was somewhat common at the time.

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[SODABOTTLEBOB]

And here are a few more Murdoch & Freeman bottles ...

1st picture ... 1901 and 1899
2nd picture .. 1904 - 1903 - 1902

[ Bottles are not mine and pictures are courtesy of a fellow collector that I know]

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[SODABOTTLEBOB]

I sent this information and pictures to a group of well known bottle collectors and researchers about a year ago. And after doing some follow up research of their own, it was unanimously agreed by them that the 1895 Murdoch & Freeman bottles are the earliest known and comfirmed examples of crown closure bottles in existance. If there are 1892 thru 1894 examples of crowns out there somewhere, they are not presenty known to exist.

Additionally, the research group I am referring has acredited me as being the first individual to introduce this bottle to them. They also said at some point in time that my name will be mentioned in one of their articles.

However, I can not take full credit for the discovery, as it was actually another collector I know of who brought the Murdoch & Freeman bottle to my attention. He just didn't realize at the time that he had such early crown.

Since then I have acquired a 1895 Murdoch & Freeman of my own which I found on e-bay and paid about $20.00 for. I have not seen another one since. They make a handsome addition to any bottle collection. I hope you find one someday. And please, please let me know if you have or find a crown soda (or beer) bottle that you think might be earlier than 1895. If you have or find one, it will change bottling history.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you found this topic to be both interesting as well as helpful.

SODABOTTLEBOB


[ 1895 Murdoch & Freeman Bottle By Itself ] [ At Present It Stands Alone ]

{ Ceramic/wire cap may or may not be original }

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

Currently I am researching "Moxie" which appears to be one of the earliest 'major/national' brands to use a crown closure. But so far the earliest believed dates for when they started using the crown was sometime between 1897 and 1899.

SBB

[ A broad sampling of Moxie bottles ]

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

Hires Root Beer is another one. But the earliest crown for them is also around 1897.

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

The ability to properly date an early hand blown (BIM) crown bottle is not an easy task. In many cases it requires knowledge of the bottling company itself to determine various dates. But one thing I have discovered about most of the very early crowns can best be illustrated by the picture below. Notice on the very top of the lip of the example on the right where there is an ever-so-subtle slopping that tapers downward. This is one clue that has assisted me in my own research. In the later crowns like the one on the left, this feature is flatter on top without the tapering.

I realize this isn't much to go on. But should you ever study examples of your own, you will gradually come to recognize this feature in greater detail. Of course this will not automatically date a bottle, but it will help to identify it as a possible candidate for an early crown. Now go back to the William Painter patent image and you will see that it also points out this feature. By the way, the crown on the right is my 1895 Freeman. The one on the left is a 1950s bottle. The top-most lip of the 1895 Freeman crown is also slightly thicker than that of the 1950s example.

[pat-tekker-cat]

Sodabob, I have so enjoyed your mini-college course on bottle crowns. That's what got my attention, we used to have an RC/Crown bottling plant, on the river, in my Ga hometown. Also had a Coca-cola plant, we took many tours of, as kids.

I absolutly LOVE that Coca-cola bottle in your picture! One of my most prized possesions, is a 1923 Christmas Coca-cola bottle, from Americus Ga, given to me by a dear, now departed friend, when I turned 18.(he said even tho I was old enough to legally drink, best if I stuck with these, LOL!) It was supposedly, the only day, they ever worked the employees on Christmas Day.
The date stamp reads: Dec.25,1923.

Now you got the cat scratching, to get back to Ga, and go though all her old milk crates full of her old bottles. I just dread having to try and GET to them, in an old shed. There's a hundred years of junk, just been thrown in there! The doors will barely open, (I love those old sheds and barns). I'll let ya know when I do get up there, tell ya what all I re-found! LOL!
Thanks again for the great info!

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

Pat-cat ~

Thanks a lot. That was most kind of you. I love the action video of the cat. I will look forward to seeing what you find in that spider filled, dark, damp, and rather spooky sounding shed. In the meantime, below is a little something I thought you might like involving early crowns. (By the way ... even though the 1923 Coca Cola bottles are dated as such, they actually didn't go into distribution until about 1927 thru 1938).

[ This is one of earliest crown ads that I am aware of - Circa 1900 ]

[pat-tekker-cat]

Thanks again too, Sodabob. The cat is a gift from a friend across the pond.
After my scavenger hunt in the shed,(I may need my respirator! LOL!), I'll keep my findings, "under cap", so to say, till I get back with you. It may be a few months, but ya never know.

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

Sounds good! Maybe you will find one of these ...

[ Patented appx three months after his initial closure patent ]

[[ It does no good to have a cap without some method of putting it on the bottles ]]

[pat-tekker-cat]

Sodabob, I'mma gonna hafta put a bullet in myself to shut me up about these things!

I've seen those! We, or someone, has some! I may had a mistaken 'em for reloaders! LOL!
(that got packed away too, after a "hot" shell, split and shattered the stock, on the double barrel, so glad the right side fired 1st, I'd be minus another friend)!

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

If it turns out (do to some unforeseen shooting accident) that you are ever in need of a new job, I hear the Moxie Company is looking for a few good people ... Lol

[ Reference to Crown machinery. Exact date unknown, but likely turn-of-the-century ]

[pat-tekker-cat]

I ain't gonna work on Chritmas DAY!
Luckily, when I go psycho kitty, I try to do it on line. Not with my guns and bottles.
How much that ad say they'd pay! LOL!

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

I'm not sure how much it paid, but I suspect it wasn't much. Of course, if that particular individual was the only person in the factory who was familiar with Crown Cork systems, then I'd say he could probably write his own ticket.

Crowns were not just for soda bottles either. Take a look at the beer ad below. It shows a guy struggling with a cork stopper, but the gal is having it easy-smeasy with a simple bottle cap opener. (By the way, there are patents on early openers, too).

But what I really wonder about, is why the ad is showing a women drinking beer? I would have thought the temperence movement of the time would have frowned on such things.

[ Another unknown date - circa 1900 ? ]

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

I just figured it out ... the woman is opening the beer for her hubby who is just about ready to "blow his cork" trying to open that other bottle. What was I thinking? Women don't like beer! And neither do I, now that I think about it. I prefer rum & Coke.

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

By the way ... in case anyone is wondering about my spending so much time on this thread today, it's because I am battling a dang cold and have nothing better to do.

With that said, I would like to move on to another interesting aspect of crown closures that deals with the caps themselves. In the patent illustration below, notice that the cap has 24 "points." (If necessary use your cursor to count them). As far as I know all of the pre-1900 caps had 24 points. However, I have yet to come across one. The closest I have come so far is shown in the first picture which is a Moxie cap with part of an original label. But the jury is still out on this one because some people I've shown that picture to see 24 points while others see the standard 21 points. 21 points is the norm on every cap I have ever looked at in person. I have several hundred of them in my collection.

Take a close look at the Moxie cap below and see how many points you come up with. I might add that I am in search of true 24 point caps. So if you have one, I sure would like to see it.

Thanks,

SBB

[ I am uncertain of the date - but convinced this is the earliest cap I have ever seen ]

{{{ 21 - 22 - 23 - or 24 Points ? }}}

[Harry Pristis]

This advertisement suggests that in 1896 the trade was still not overly familiar with crown caps. I've reproduced the text below the image.

With the Bar Opener you insert the heard of the bottle in the
Opener and press the Bottle downward, when the Crown is instantly
removed. The Bar Opener is especially adapted for use in Bars, Res-
taurants and other places where the rapid opening of Bottles is des-
sired. When desired, the Bar Opener can be screwed on the under-
side of the Bar, Counter, etc., instead of on the edge, as cut shows.
-----------------#-----------------
The central cut shows the crown taken off with the Regular
Opener, which is quick and easy, removing the Crown with one
movement. Catch the Blade in the edge of Crown, as shown
in lower middle cut, and then pry upward. The best way is to grasp
the Bottle Head with the Opener in the hand, as in large cut. In this
way the Crown comes off in the hand.
-----------------#------------------
The other cuts show the use of a Corkscrew, a Scissors Blade
and a Table Knife Blade. Almost andy pointed instrument can be
used. When any of these is used, the point must be inserted in under
the rim, where there is ample space for the point to enter, and the rim
pried outward all around; the Crown being thus loosened, is readily
lifted off by hand.
-----------------#------------------
With the regular opener you can pry upward, lifting off the
Crown at once. With any other instrument this cannot be done;
you must pry downward instead of upward, and loosen the rim by
prying it outwardly, all around, as described.
---------///////////\\\\\\\\\\\------------
The Company furnishes 40 gross of Stopper Openers
(which can be used for the seal as well as for the Crown
without charge with the first 1,000 gross of Crowns
ordered. The object of this is to enable the Trade to supply
the Openers liberally to users of Crown goods.
CIRCULARS, PRICE LIST AND SAMPLES OF CROWN
ON APPLICATION.
(from The National Bottlers' Gazette, 1896)

[pat-tekker-cat]

Sorry Sodabottlebob, I'm counting 21, but we may have to confer with my opthamologists! LOL!
I even got a loop, no help. I did got scrounge up something for ya, to try and be some help here! LOL!

Of course, the one on the bottom is only 'bout half as old, as the King, Turner & Seymour mfg. co., Torington Conn. Tempered Steel Blade opener. It was moms. I finally confiscated it, but it was already a little gone.
I'll hafta start counting the points on all those caps I find! But, I will keep an eye out for you, in my travels!

These are the some of the folks to blame for my bottle obsession, my grandparents! Can you figure out why?

Hope you get to feeling better soon. Lotsa fruits, vegetables and liquids. Good luck whipping that cold!