Applied color labels (acl) - hand painted labels & machines

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SODABOB

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Some Helpful Clues ...

1. The 'K' represents the Hazel-Atlas plant in Zanesville, Ohio where the bottles were made
2. The 'K' is representative of the Kearns-Gorsuch Glass Company (Zanesville) that Hazel-Atlas acquired in 1920

3.
Hazel Atlas Marks.jpg
 
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SODABOB

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This should confirm "Viviano Bitters" was being sold in painted label bottles at least as early as 1935



Viviano Bitters.jpg

[ The Cincinnati Enquirer - Ohio - April 26, 1935 ]

Viviano Bitters Cincinnati Enquirer Ohio April 26, 1935.jpg
 

SODABOB

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Here is a picture of a worker at a pyroglaze machine. From the Star-Gazette of Elmira N.Y. Dated June 20, 1954

View attachment 184598


bottle-bud

I re-read the text part of the 1938 thru 1942 Stenciling machine patents and it appears they were operated by electromagnets and air pressure. However, the 'bottle loading' aspect seems to have been by hand (operator), who also controlled the pyroglaze application levers and switches. According to what I've read, those early operators could process about 25 to 30 bottles per minute.
 
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iggyworf

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The image below is cropped from the 1939 Julian Toulouse article. Notice that none of the ACLs pictured have a shoulder ACL. Now I'm wondering when the first/earliest shoulder ACLs were produced.

Hey, iggy/Rich

You're the 7up guy among us - when did the ACL shoulder emblems first appear on 7up bottles? I'm thinking around 1938, but I'm not certain. If the shoulder ACLs did start around 1938, they might tie-in with the 1941-1942 shoulder stenciling machine I just posted.

View attachment 184568

My earliest 7up with neck label dates 1936.
 

SODABOB

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iggy/Rich

Howz about a pic of your 1936 7up with the ACL neck label - Thanks
 

iggyworf

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iggy/Rich

Howz about a pic of your 1936 7up with the ACL neck label - Thanks

Here is my 1936 7up with neck label. It is actually my white swimsuit bottle! The label is a little lower on the bottle than later yrs. Normally you see the neck label higher up on the neck of 7up bottles. Not sure why that might be. Maybe back then they were trying that area first on the bottle. I have seen other 7up early bottles like this one before. It is not centered on any other part of the bottle either. And with only one neck label on the backside of the bottle.

7up white 8 bubble girl 1936 back.jpg
 
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SODABOB

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iggy/Rich

Thanks for the pic.

Those Downy-Joyce 7up bottles seem to have been produced with a variety of different ACL labels - and possibly (likely?) some of the earliest.

The following U.S. Patent is a little later than your 1936 7up, but its the earliest I can find where the ACL label was applied "simutaneously" to the body of the bottle as well as to the shoulder. I can't say at the moment, and we may never know for certain, if your 1936 7up ACL labels were applied simutaneously or separately. Perhaps with more research we'll be able to determine that someday.

Notice that the first part of the text says "Improvements" - indicating earlier patents ...

https://patents.google.com/patent/US2152356A/en?q=bottle&q=silk+screen&oq=bottle+silk+screen&page=5


" Improvements in decorating glass bottles and the like, and it is among the objects thereof to provide apparatus whereby decorations, lettering or the like, may be simultaneously applied to the body and shoulder of the glass articles."

Filed: March 14, 1938
Granted: March 28, 1939


Silkscreen Machine 1938 1939 Front and Shoulder (1).jpg


 
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SODABOB

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This next part is a little more complex, but I'll do my best. It involves an Owens-Illinois patent ...

Filed: December 20, 1935
Granted: December 15, 1936

... regarding the "Stencil Screens" themselves and not the machines that applied them. Especially notice the words "spread by hand" which is a reference to how the earlier process was performed as opposed to this particular Patent that employs a built-in (automatic) squeegee for spreading the paint.

*I'm thinking this might have been what Julian Toulouse meant in his 1939 article when he referred to "hand-painted" ACL labels. And not so much that they were "hand-painted" but rather that they were 'hand-squeegeed" ???

https://patents.google.com/patent/US2064764A/en?q=bottle&q=silk+screen&oq=bottle+silk+screen&page=7


Silk Screen Patent Owens Illinois 1935 1936 (1).jpg

Silk Screen Patent Owens Illinois 1935 1936 (2).jpg

Silk Screen Patent Owens Illinois 1935 1936 (1B).jpg

Silk Screen Patent Owens Illinois 1935 1936 (3).jpg

Silk Screen Patent Owens Illinois 1935 1936 (4).jpg


I posted this Hazel-Atlas ACL Bitters label earlier - and think it might be an example of the "imperfect, uneven pattern" mentioned in the above Patent that was a problem with the earlier processes. If so, the imperfect, uneven pattern of the Bitters label might be an example of a hand-painted / hand-squeegeed ACL label - and possibly a clue to recognizing other so called "hand-made" ACL labels. ???

Hazel Atlas Bitters 3  K 278 Front.jpg

Footnote: "Squeegee / Squeegeed" is one weird word! :rolleyes:
 
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