Single serving size Fire Extinguisher bottle

[downeastdigger]

Went digging at a local spot again with my son Quincy today and found a few cool things, local druggist, Doct Marshals snuff etc. But I think the coolest is the embossed fire extinguisher bottle. Not sure if it was for inside an automobile, or if it is a sample bottle? Hard to figure, as its so puny, 3 1/2" tall. I guess it would be for on the mantle of a fireplace maybe, but I can't imagine it would put out much of a fire.

It has a tooled lip, and is embossed ' FOX FULTZ & WEBSTER / NEW YORK & BOSTON - DIAMOND BRAND trade mark.

Of course it's probably worth $5, but in my head I'm thinking it's a super rare salesman's sample fire grenade bottle. Anyone ever seen one? I've googled it to death, and fire grenade stuff is hard to get "readable" info on, compared to bottles.

First time I've ever had to drag Quincy away from a dig, it was a nice cool day, and he was finding marbles and bottles, ( he found the Doct Marshalls )

 

[downeastdigger]

nice embossing. thanks for looking

 

[swizzle]

I believe that was for kitchen use. Those are very nice to find because they were made to be destroyed. If a fire started to get out of hand you chucked the bottle at the fire and hope it busted. The sudden release of chemicals was meant to extinguish the flames. Swiz

 

[JOETHECROW]

Bram,...Great little fire extinguisher bottle!....It seems awfully small to me as well. Please let us know if you do find some info on it. That is great that your son dug a Doct. Marshalls (Cattarah snuff)? bottle. Thanks for sharing your dig. Joe

 

[swizzle]

As far as I know Fire Extinguishers weren't fill your own. I didn't catch that on the embossing. I'd go with what lobeycat says. Its still a sweet little shelf bottle. Swiz

 

[RED Matthews]

Well I am back again, I don't know what I did a while ago but this letter became a long wide form so I canceled and started over again.

I do not think this is a fire grenade. I have studied a lot of them and have a few. One that interests me a lot is the three leaf one made by the Clyde Glass House in Seneca Falls. It was called a fire dowser and had a bursted off finish. The mold carried three lion heads and they were also on the hand blown stopper that went with the dowsers. The burst off finish was left rough To my knowledge they were filled by the buyer but I do not know what the put in them other than water. They used to put them on the bread warmer of the old kitchen stoves and on the fire place mantels.

The ones that had Carbon Tetrachloride in them had a sealed top and are very collectible. They also made long ones for the train cars and trolleys.

I will be back later - the wife needs help. RED Matthews

 

[surfaceone]

Hey Bram,

That's a little gem. I did find a bit on Fox, Fultz & Webster:

"An example of the famous “murder bottle†that was first introduced into
use in the 1850s. This particular example, this FF&W Nursing Bottle is
unembossed even though the blank circular slug plate is visible on the
front of the bottle. It was manufactured in 1895 by Fox, Fultz & Webster,
No.18 Blackstone Street, Boston Mass. as noted on the lid of the box in
the photo below. Of additional interest it might be noted that the nipple
section could be removed from the hose at a later time and used as a
pacifier if desired. It could also serve as a pacifier, in situ, after the milk
had been sucked out of the bottle by the infant." From FOHBC. (It's the caption of the bottom photo on the left of the nurser with the rubber hose and nipple.

Tod of Sodas and Beers has them listed as "Glass Ware Dealers" in an 1885 Boston directory: "Fox, Fultz & Webster, 34 Commercial" In the 1886-1890 directories they were @ "Fox, Fultz & Webster, 18 Blackstone" In the 1891-1899 Directories they were listed as "Glass (Flint) Manufs." "FOX, FULTZ, & WEBSTER, 18 Blackstone (see page 1783)" They were not listed in 1900, but returned to the listings in 1901-1911. From Sodas and Beers.

 

[surfaceone]

Hey again Bram,

Got timed out on the edit function. There's more on Fox, Fultz & Webster, mainly in Googlybooks, I'm unable to read their pages, but this googlypage was a strong hit. I hope it has bearing...

 

[lexdigger]

I'm going with atomizer on this one to. The "fill to this line" is a dead give away. The only fire grenade I ever dug had a ground top and was permanatly sealed. As a general rule of thumb, they are almost always brightly colored. The one we dug had one of the "feet" broke off, but the shard was right there and glued back into place nicely!

 

[lexdigger]

Cleaned up Super!!!