7up 3-1-3 bubble bottle!

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SODABOB

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P.S.

I forgot to mention the San Bernardino Inc. bottle has a Swimsuit label and not a Shield label
 

SODABOB

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P.S. ~ P.S.

I can't recall if this has been fully established yet, but the following newspaper snippets should confirm that the San Bernardino Seven Up bottling plant was ​built in ...

1937

The San Bernardino Daily Sun ~ February 21, 1937 (Two columns)


7up San Bernardino Daily Sun Feb 21, 1937.jpg


7up San Bernardino Daily Sun Feb 21, 1937 page twenty three.jpg
 

SODABOB

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I just found another 3-1-3 San Bernardino bottle - but its not the "Inc." bottle I'm still researching.

Compare the two ...

The San Bernardino 3-1-3 that was posted earlier

7up Bottle San Bernardino 3 1 3 (2).jpg


The San Bernardino 3-1-3 that I just found


7up San Bernardino 3-1-3.jpg
 

iggyworf

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Bob that is an excellent coke bottle! Congrats on that one. I have been running into dead ends with anything I try to search for. Hopefully the 'Inc.' lead will turn into something.
 

SODABOB

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Here's the eBay link to the San Bernardino Inc. bottle I was researching ...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/292747460350?ul_noapp=true

I found it by doing a random search on eBay. Originally it did not include any mention of a date nor a picture of the base, and still doesn't. I contacted the seller for the information and they sent me the base pic in an email. I don't know why they haven't added the info and pic to their listing, especially when you take into account they are asking $259.96 for what I consider to be a $5.00 bottle. Anyway, it turned out to be another dead-end because the bottle was made in 1952 and does not help all that much in our pursuit of solving the 3-1-3 mystery. As for the other 3-1-3 San Bernardino bottle I found, the seller has been contacted to see if its still available. As soon as they are heard from it will be posted.

Here are the pics of the so called San Bernardino Inc. bottle - or what I am now calling the over-priced dead-end bottle ... :(

7up San Bernardino Inc Front.jpg

7up San Bernardino Inc Back (2).jpg


23 <(I)> 52 = Owens Illinois Plant #23 Los Angeles 1952 Duraglas

7up San Bernardino Inc Base 23 52.jpg
 
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SODABOB

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Common Denominators

Most of us have heard the story that goes something like this ...

"At some point someone in the Seven Up Company noticed that eight bubble bottle labels were out of sync with the brand name Seven Up and that it would be better if the bottle labels depicted seven bubbles instead of eight"

Unless someone has evidence to the contrary, it appears the earliest use of seven bubbles with anything related to the Seven Up Company is the Bakersfield, California sign that was possibly conceived in 1938 and definitely erected in 1939. As far as the bottles themselves are concerned, iggy's 1941 3-1-3 Los Angeles bottles are currently the earliest known and confirmed examples of seven bubble bottles. Of course, if any pre-1941 southern California 7up bottles are ever found it could change things. But as it stands now, 1939 seems to be the earliest date. As for the various 3-1-3 wood crates we've seen, I have put them on the back-burner for the time being until more substantial evidence is presented to explain what I consider a very confusing timeline regarding the so called date marks.

Which takes me to the reason I started this commentary with the words "Common Denominators" and included the brief story about someone noticing eight bubbles vs. seven bubbles. We may never know for certain if the 8 bubbles vs. 7 bubbles story is true, but regardless of whether its true or not, they definitely changed their bottle labels for some reason. Assuming the story is true, we may never know who that "someone" was. But regardless if it was a janitor, secretary, or someone in management, the final decision to change the labels on millions of bottles surely came from the upper management somewhere along the chain of command. And because the change seems to have originated in southern California, the one individual who was in charge of that particular region at the time and would have been the major decision maker was none other than ...

D. K. Washburn

Hence, he currently gets my vote as the person most likely to have suggested the change from 8 bubble to 7 bubble bottles and other related items. With that said, I am going to shift my focus entirely to Mr. Donald K Washburn and see if there is any hint or clue about him that will possibly point to him as being the "someone" in the changeover story.

So, without further ado, Meet ...

D. K. Washburn


7up D K Washburn The_Los_Angeles_Times_Sun__Oct_31__1937_ (2).jpg
 
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SODABOB

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The following is copy/pasted from one of Bill Lockhart's articles and will be the cornerstone I will be working from in my attempt to discover the who, what, where and when 7up bottle labels changed from 8 bubbles to 7 bubbles ...

"During 1938, someone noticed that eight bubbles did not match well with Seven-Up. As a result, the labels from 1938 on contained seven bubbles"
 

SODABOB

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P.S.

If Bill's research findings are accurate about the 1938 date, that eliminates Bakersfield as a contender because the Bakersfield bottling plant wasn't built until the Spring of 1939. Which switches the focus to Los Angeles or possibly San Bernardino who were both in operation during 1938. Another contender I will be focusing on is the Seven Up Bottling Company of San Francisco who built and opened a new bottling plant in 1938.
 

SODABOB

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P.S. ~ P.S.

If this Bakersfield bottle with the embossed neck logo was actually bottled at the Bakersfield bottling plant and was not some type of "distributed" bottle from another location such as Los Angeles or San Bernardino, then the earliest it could possibly date to is 1939 or later

7up Bottle Bakersfield embossed neck (2).jpg
 

SODABOB

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And, no, I haven't forgotten about our list of 1941 eight bubble bottles - which contradicts Bill Lockhart's claim about the change from 8 bubbles to 7 bubbles occurring in 1938. Bill's 7up article was written in 2007 for the Soda Fizz magazine and if you read the entire article you will see where he mentions variations and that his observations leave open exceptions to the rule. In other words, 1938 was the year that 7 bubble labels first appeared but that it took time for bottlers nationwide to switch from 8 bubble labels to 7 bubble labels. If I'm not mistaken, I believe the changeover was pretty much complete by 1944.

Here's the list again of the 1941 mostly 8 bubble bottles ...


Los Angeles, California = 7 Bubble (3-1-3) = ACL Neck
San Bernardino, California = 7 Bubble (3-1-3) = ACL Neck
Clarksdale, Mississippi = 8 Bubble = ACL Neck
Epping - Louisville, Kentucky = 8 Bubble = Emb Neck
Aberdeen, South Dakota = 8 Bubble = ACL Neck
Houston, Texas (Amber) = 8 Bubble = ACL Neck
St. Joseph, Missouri = 8 Bubble = ACL Neck
Lincoln, Nebraska = 8 Bubble = ACL Neck
Jamestown, North Dakota = 8 Bubble = ACL Neck
Reading / Lancaster, Pennsylvania = 8 Bubble = ACL Neck
Epping/Louisville.Lexington Ky - 8 bubble - ACL neck
Iowa/7up Iowa Co. - 8 bubble - ACL neck
Bay City/Saginaw Mich - 8 bubble - ACL neck
Houston, Texas = Amber Stubby = 8 Bubble = Emb Neck = Duraglas
Joliet/Chicago = 8 Bubble = ACL Neck
No Location = 8 Bubble = Emb Neck
 

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