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

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SODABOB

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Howdy

I haven't been around for a while (computer/wifi problems-long story) but was recently involved in a thread that sparked my interest - which consequently inspired me to start this new thread. What I'd like to take a look at (with your help) involves two primary topics that I have just now started to research in depth. They are ...

1. In search of the possible existence of very early (1930? to 1935?) "hand painted" ACL bottles, which I found a reference to recently, but never knew existed. And still not sure if they exist - hence the reason for this thread.

2. The first/earliest ACL labeling "machines"

I'll be back with more tomorrow, and hope this will be a fun and informative discussion.

Bob
 
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SODABOB

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For starters, I'd like to point out that my availability to the Internet is limited these days (poor wifi connection), and that I won't be able to devote as much time to the necessary research as I used to do (sometime 8+ hours a day) but will do my best to keep things moving.

With that said, the first thing I'd like to focus on is the source where I found a reference to 'hand-painted' ACL bottles. The following link will take you to a site where you'll find an article by Julian Harrison Toulouse* published in 1939. The article appeared in a periodical called the ...

"First Annual Blue Book of the National Carborator and Bottler"

*Toulouse later (1971) published the 624 page book "Bottle Makers And Their Marks," that many of us are familiar with, and is considered the most comprehensive book of its kind.

http://www.bottlebooks.com/acl%201937/bottles_applied_color_labels.htm


Notice in the fourth paragraph where Toulouse says ...
[FONT=&amp]
"While these colors may be painted on bottles by hand, and frequently were in the early days of this type of decoration, the present generally used method involves employment of silk screen of very fine mesh."

Important note: It has been confirmed that the first ACLs were on Milk Bottles as early as 1931. And the earliest confirmed ACL soda bottle was in 1934 - "Jumbo - A Super Cola"

However, its also possible that some of those so called "hand-painted" bottles might have been soda bottles. And I suppose the only way to determine that is to ...

1. Take a close look at some of the earliest ACL soda bottles.

2. Invite members to take a close look at any early ACL soda bottles in their collections that that might qualify as having been "hand-painted" as opposed to silk-screened.

Note: I can't say for certain at the moment, but suspect that if any hand-painted soda bottles exist that they will be lettering only and not contain any detailed graphics.

(To be continued)


[/FONT] Bottle Makers Book (289x411) (2).jpg


[FONT=&amp]

[/FONT]
 
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SODABOB

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Continuing with a little more reading, then I'll will post some pictures of some early acls. These snippets are from Rick Sweeney's 2002 book ...

ACL Soda Bottle Book (447x600) (2).jpg

ACL BOOK PROCESS  A.jpg
ACL BOOK PROCESS  B.jpg
ACL BOOK PROCESS  C.jpg
ACL BOOK PROCESS D.jpg
 

SODABOB

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We'll discuss these bottles in more detail later, but I can tell you that both the images and dates were contributed by forum members several years ago. At present they are considered some the earliest acl soda bottles known.

ACL STACKED (3).jpg
 
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iggyworf

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Great to hear from you Bob. Look forward to your research and hope to help in any way I can.
 

SODABOB

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But first and foremost we need to take a close look at some early ACL/Pyro milk bottles. Please note that Julian Toulouse didn't necessarily say hand-painted "soda" bottles in his article, but rather, "bottles" in general. And because we know that milk bottles were the first to use ACL labels, that's probably a good place to start.

This first image is of a "Kolb's" milk bottle and has been confirmed to have been made by the "Thatcher Glass Company" in 1934. But whether its a "hand-painted" label, I can't say at the moment. Nor can I say if the so-called hand-painted bottles were done by the bottlers themselves or by glass manufactures.

[Kolb's - 1934]

Kolb's Dairy acl bottle 1934 (2).jpg

This next one I found at random - but thought it was interesting because it has the dairies name embossed on one side of the bottle and an ACL label on the other side - possibly suggesting an earlier bottle that was re-purposed. Unfortunately there was no date mentioned regarding this particular bottle.

Does the ACL label look hand-painted to you?

[ White Clover Dairy ]

Milk Bottle Embossed and Pyro 2.jpg

Milk Bottle Embossed and Pyro.jpg


Question(s) of the day ...

1. Did Toulouse mean hand-painted with a paint brush?

or ...

2. Hand-painted by some other means of application such as a stencil?
 
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SODABOB

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Great to hear from you Bob. Look forward to your research and hope to help in any way I can.

Gracias' Amigo

I just hope my computer/wifi problems don't get in the way - but so far, so good
 

Canadacan

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Interesting topic Bob!...hope all is well! I don't think any of my Canadian bottles are quite early enough to qualify as hand painted, 1938 being the earliest dateable bottle I have, I may have one ACL Whistle bottle that is a tad earlier but has no date. Odd thing on it was that the process used two colors and the blue came up semi transparent! Definitely not hand painted.


20180427_145603 - Copy.jpg
 

bottle-bud

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Very interesting story Sodabob, I would think the hand painting would have been done with a stencil rather than just a brush. I do realize that there are talented people out there that could perhaps paint a label on a bottle simply using a brush, but to me that would be too time consuming, a stencil would be much faster.
A far as your White Clover bottle goes it is too close for me to tell if it is hand painted or ACL
Canadacan, That Whistle bottle is a gem, haven't seen one like that before!
 
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