First use of "hobble skirt" to describe Coca-Cola bottles?

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Does anyone have any idea/source for when the term "hobble skirt" was first used to describe Coca-Cola bottles? We're doing a local challenge asking how the Wright Brothers are connected to the design of Coke bottles, and I'm writing up the answer now. Did the public call them that, or is it just a collectors' term? Thank you for any help!

Jill
Little Rock, Ark.
 

iggyworf

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Little Rock Bottle, From the little that I know, The bottle was called 'Hobbleskirt' pretty soon after it's creation back in 1915. As to who and where that term originated, I'm sorry I don't know. Hopefully some of the other experts can help out.

The 'Hobbleskirt' was a tight fitting dress with that relative shape back in that time period.

hobbleskirt dress coke bottle.jpg
 
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SODAPOPBOB

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I just now saw this discussion and will be back later with more. The earliest nickname for the patent 1915 Coca Cola bottle I can recall at this moment is ...

"Corrugated"

... which was referring to the vertical fluted columns.
 

SODAPOPBOB

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Little Rock Bottle

Welcome to ANTIQUE-BOTTLES.NET

I have some information that might be helpful, but first I'd like to ask if you could please expound on where you found a connection with the Wright Brothers and the Coca Cola hobble-skirt bottle? I have never researched the Wright Brothers, but I believe their first historic flight was in 1903. I know they did a lot of stuff after that, but I'm curious as to how the invention of the Coca Cola contour bottle in 1915 relates to the Wright Brothers?

For starters, here are two newspaper references that use the term "Corrugated" ...

1. The Washington Post ~ Washington, D.C. ~ April 20, 1917

2. The Evening Review ~ East Liverpool, Ohio ~ May 31, 1919


(I'll be back!)


Coca Cola Hobbleskirt Corrugated Washington Post April 20, 1917.jpg

Coca Cola Ad The Evening Review East Liverpool Ohio May 31, 1919 (842x1200).jpg
 

SODAPOPBOB

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Here's a postcard of a "Hobble-Skirt" from circa 1910. I especially like this picture because it is circa dated and actually uses the word Hobble-Skirt, which tells us the term was used at the time and not a nickname that came along in later years ...


Hobbleskirt Postcard  circa 1910.jpg
 

SODAPOPBOB

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This is the earliest use of the term "Hobble-Skirt" I'm aware of in connection with the patent 1915 Coca Cola bottle. But I don't know if it originated with this particular bottler or if it originated with the Coca Cola parent company. However, my guess is that it originated with the parent company.

From ...

The Wichita Eagle ~ Wichita, Kansas ~ March 19, 1919

1. Dateline

2. Advertisement

Coca Cola Hobbleskirt The Wichita Eagle Kansas March 19, 1919 Headline.jpg

Coca Cola Hobbleskirt The Wichita Eagle Kansas March 19, 1919.jpg
 

SODAPOPBOB

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By the way ...

Even though the Coca Cola contour bottle was patented in 1915, it wasn't available to the general public until the spring of 1917. And even then it was only used on a limited basis because it took some of the franchise bottlers several years to switch to it because of the cost of having to buy thousands of the new bottle to replace the straight-side bottles they had been using previously. The earliest dated Hobble-Skirt bottle I am aware of was made by the Root Glass Company in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1917 and is marked ... ROOT 17 ... on the heel.
 

SODAPOPBOB

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Little Rock Bottle

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I suspect this article (and others I have seen similar to it) is the basis for your inquiry ...


Note: I never saw this article until about five minutes ago and was surprised to see that it used the same Hobble-Skirt postcard I posted a picture of. Whether their claim in the article is accurate or not, I do not presently know, but the author says its a myth!


http://www.wright-brothers.org/Info...ily/Katharine_Wright/Hobble_Skirt_Sidebar.htm

Coca Cola Wright Brothers.jpg
 
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