Interesting Bottle

cambria09 · Jun 5, 2016

Hello All. Found a garbage pit behind an old house this week. It is about 8-IN in length and says "Davis Tru-Fruit" on it.

I cannot find any thing on the net listed for "Davis Tru-Fruit". It is not real old, I am guessing 1940's, so it seems odd that I can't find any info on it.

Thanks for the view and let me know if you can tell more about it. HH C9

Btoots · Jun 5, 2016

Company founded by a guy named Dave, and he thought the fruit was really true to the flavor offered, and there you are......

jude061 · Jun 5, 2016

My guess is jam or preserves.

cambria09 · Jun 5, 2016

Btoots said:
Company founded by a guy named Dave, and he thought the fruit was really true to the flavor offered, and there you are......

Nice

Anduril · Jun 5, 2016

Can you confirm the Design Pat# is "86,037"?

If so, here's what the USPTO has for that registration number:
The design patent was issued to Frank L. Lloyd, Baltimore, MD, and assigned to Crown Cork & Seal Company, also in Baltimore.
(Perhaps Mr. Lloyd was an owner or employee?)

It's a bottle, so that's a start, but the image on file doesn't really look too much like yours. (?)
Maybe Crown Cork & Seal took a bit of poetic license here?

Here's the image on file at USPTO. (Patent granted on Jan 19, 1932)

And just to mention, another bottle was patented on the same date by a Charles Davis Little (Chattanooga, TN).
It's looks closer to yours, and note that the "Davis" portion of the name matches your bottle, but it's Design Pat# is 86,036.
I mention it only because maybe there was some screw-up on the bottle manufacture? It's only off by one digit.
Anyway, here's the USPTO file image for 86,036.

Here's the direct link if you want to poke around some.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89048465280;view=1up;seq=706

Anduril · Jun 5, 2016

History of Crown Cork & Seal, Co. -- still in business today.
History and Timeline | Crown

Bruce R · Jun 5, 2016

Probably held pectin, it's the stuff that makes jams and jellies gel.

bradyboy · Jun 5, 2016

nice bottle
Brady

cambria09 · Jun 5, 2016

Anduril said:
History of Crown Cork & Seal, Co. -- still in business today.
History and Timeline | Crown

Hello Anduril. Thanks for the replies and excellent research. In response to your 1st post: The patent number is as advertised 86037.

I think this may have been an unpopular short lived brand. This bottle is very heavy for its size as if it made to be refilled and reused.

Good Luck out there. C9

unclemac · Jun 5, 2016

post in the bottle forum...someone there will know

Back-of-the-boat · Jun 5, 2016

Very cool bottle.

Itsmine · Jun 5, 2016

O.K. This one took a little digging. (sorry bad pun) It looks like it's a jelly jar from the Davis Mercantile Co. ,Topeka, Kansas. The link is from a Google book, that's actually from the Kansas board of health. This volume is from 1914. If you scroll up and down a couple of pages you'll see the ingredients in the jelly. (the pages your interested in is p. 163 to p. 168) I don't know how long they were in business, but its a start......Here's the link.....https://books.google.com/books?id=t...Q6AEIRjAH#v=onepage&q=DAVIS TRU-FRUIT&f=false I believe the "truth in advertising" law had been passed in 1911, I think...anyway, they had to list all the ingredients contained in the jelly. Looks like the Kansas board of Health had the job of cataloging all this stuff.....The thing that struck me, was the spelling on the bottle, matches what they have in the b.o.h. volume.

Plumbata · Jun 6, 2016

Bottle digger here, that piece looks like a returnable juice bottle, sealed with the same sort of improved cap that many milks used by the 40s.

cambria09 · Jun 6, 2016

Itsmine said:
O.K. This one took a little digging. (sorry bad pun) It looks like it's a jelly jar from the Davis Mercantile Co. ,Topeka, Kansas. The link is from a Google book, that's actually from the Kansas board of health. This volume is from 1914. If you scroll up and down a couple of pages you'll see the ingredients in the jelly. (the pages your interested in is p. 163 to p. 168) I don't know how long they were in business, but its a start......Here's the link.....https://books.google.com/books?id=t...Q6AEIRjAH#v=onepage&q=DAVIS TRU-FRUIT&f=false I believe the "truth in advertising" law had been passed in 1911, I think...anyway, they had to list all the ingredients contained in the jelly. Looks like the Kansas board of Health had the job of cataloging all this stuff.....The thing that struck me, was the spelling on the bottle, matches what they have in the b.o.h. volume.

Hello Itsmine. Thanks very much for the great research! I love discovering the secrets of obscure finds like this one. Good Luck out there. C9

Anduril · Jun 6, 2016

Respectfully, I think this link to Kansas State Board of Heath is just a coincidence:

1) The spelling of Tru-Fruit is incorrect. KSBH has it without the hyphen, the bottle has the hyphen.
2) There are actually several "Tru Fruits" (with & w/o hypen) worldwide at the time, and even today. (Why pick this one listed in KSBH?)
3) Per KSBH, the Manufacturer is Corn Products Refining Co, NY. The jobber is "Davis Mercantile Co., Topeka, and the retailer varies according to the inspection report (and flavor) in question. A "jobber" is just a middleman, who buys in wholesale bulk from manufacturers and resells goods to retailers. There is no compelling reason (or even suggestion) provided in KSBH that Davis Mercantile private-labeled the products in question, or re-packaged the product in any way.
4) We know for a fact that the Design Patent for the bottle in question was applied for on Oct 7, 1931 and granted on Jan 19, 1932. This post-dates the "Tru Fruit" in KSBH by at least 17 years. (longer than the term of the actual patent!) The USPTO would not have accepted the patent application in 1931 for a bottle that was already disclosed to the public 17 years prior (and thus, could never overcome a USPTO Section-103 objection for novelty - i.e., it's not a new invention in 1931).

There may indeed be a link between the Kansas health inspections and the bottle in question, but the Biennial Report (Vol-7) does not establish it.
More likely, it's just a different Tru-Fruit. A coincidence.

diggummup · Jun 7, 2016

I can't find anything related to Davis Tru Fruit either. It was probably a short lived local named brand.

I can find several Tru fruit products throughout the years.

There were many Bottling Companies and Soda Brands in Jacksonville, Florida.

Don't know if they have anything to do with Davis Tru Fruit though.

1933-34 Tru Fruit Distributors
1936-38 Tru Fruit Distributor
1942-51 Tru-Fruit Bott. Co.
1959 Tru-Fruit Flavors

There was also a Tru-Fruit in Miami located at 207 ne 39 st., 5th one down on left.

Jewish Floridian

Here is a Tru-Fruit Sunny-Fruit Wonder Orange Drink bottle that resembles yours though not exact.
Antique Tru-Fruit Sunny-Fruit Wonder Orange Drink Glass Juice Bottle Milk Top

hisdimple · Jun 7, 2016

I can't get a real good look at the bottle but you could come pretty close to the date diggin around here. I use the site a lot.
https://sha.org/bottle/index.htm

Anduril · Jun 8, 2016

diggummup said:
...
There was also a Tru-Fruit in Miami located at 207 ne 39 st., 5th one down on left.

Jewish Floridian

Some of the other ads on the newspaper link threw me. New Year's ads in September?!
But then it occurred to me they are ads for Jewish New Year. Duh!

CaliGal · Jun 11, 2016

Thanks for posting that link to the Kansas Health Board inspections, Itsmine. Fascinating reading! Had a flash back to reading Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" in seventh grade!!! Almost half of Nabisco's walnuts were found to be spoiled -- oh dear! And, what, I wonder is "imitation vinegar"!!??!! Fun read! Lovely to find fascinating stuff without having to leave the comfort (& air conditioning!) of home. :laughing7: