RARE SODA BOTTLE BOOK ~ By J. L. JONES ~ COPYRIGHT 1972

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David Boyle bottled both beer and soda and dated his bottles every year from 1897 well in the teens, there is also a 4th style dated 1911 that I've named a "CRUTCH". As you can see it's the exact size and form of a hutch, but with a long neck and crown top. The really strange thing is the 1911 blob is ABM, but the 1911 crown top is tooled and the 1911 crutch is also ABM.

You'll also notice that he had a 1910 crutch, tooled lip, but I have never seen or heard of a regular 1910 crowntop.

Feel free to ask me any questions

 

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All four 1911 bottles side by side...

 

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Boyles earliest known crowntops are the 1908 and 09 ambers that you see here, I have not seen one earlier than 1908. As you can see they are different in both shape and color...

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Jim ~

Question:

Why do you think David Boyle would use four different bottles in 1911?

Thanks

Bob

 

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I'm thinking the hutch and crutch were for soda or mineral water and the blob and crown champagne styles were for beer...

I do find it odd that the two I figure are for beer have the TBNTBS embossing but the hutch and crutch do not.

 

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I have 60 different Boyle bottles in my collection counting seltzers, I know of at least 10 others, he's the true cornerstone of any Paterson collection...

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Jim ~

Thanks

Another question ... (Because at this point I would rather not assume anything even if the answer seems obvious)

So does the use of four different bottles in 1911 mean the David Boyle Company had different equipment to handle different bottles?

Bob

 

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You would think so Bob but it's possible that he didn't, he also built some of his own equipment, so he may have made improvements to adapt one machine to perform multiple tasks on different styles of bottles. I have no way of knowing for sure, and he may have had multiple machines, anyone who takes the time to have his molds reworked or redone every year could have done anything. He designed, built and sold this bottle cleaning machine as well...

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Jim ~

Great information - Thanks a million.

~ * ~

I'm currently researching bottle handling equipment and came across the following from a 1926 Illinois Glass catalog. Scroll to the bottom of the page under the heading ...

"Machinery Division"

... where you will find numerous pages devoted to various types of bottle handling machines including washers, fillers, corkers, cappers, etc. But in order to easily read each page, you might have to increase the zoom to about 200% or larger. I'm still reading through it myself and was surprised to discover how many different machines were available to bottlers. Even more surprising was how little space was required to use the equipment in a typical bottling room. I realize the catalog is from 1926, but it leads me to suspect that earlier bottlers could have used similar equipment to handle a variety of different needs, within the same bottling plant. Which in turn suggest the Augusta, Georgia Coca Cola bottling company could very possibly have handled every type of bottle including Crowns as well as Blobs.

Check it out!

http://www.sha.org/bottle/igco1926.htm

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

P.S. ~

For those who are not familiar how to change their zoom, on my computer all I have to do is click on the "page" option on my taskbar and a box pops up with various options including the zoom change option. But be sure to change it back when you're done or else everything you do afterwards will be super-sized.

Bob