5 Matthews gravitational glass stoppers

[blobbottlebob]

Another slight difference is the shape of the stopper. The Matthews stopper has a ridge on the end meant to hold the rubber to the stopper. The Roorbach looks like it has a smooth end because the rubber fits tightly on the neck.

 

[cyberdigger]

I found this.. scroll down a bit and it has something about the matthews stopper..

http://www.sha.org/bottle/closures.htm

..or if you aren't in to scrolling:

http://www.sha.org/bottle/closures.htm#Gravitating%20Stopper

..oh, this website is right here on ABN under "resources" ..now I know[]

 

[blobbottlebob]

Thanks for the links. Bill Lindsey has a great site. If I'm not mistaken, he has some of my stoppers pictured there. (I could be wrong). He does mention Albertson. Specifically, that Matthews was an associate of his. As far as how it worked - If I may quote;

It consists of an elongated glass plug with a flared knob on one end. A rubber gasket was placed on the upper end of the knob which when placed in the bottle sealed the contents by pressing against the inside surface of the bottle at the juncture of the neck and shoulder. The bottle was "...filled in an upright position, then inverted so the stopper would gravitate into closed position, and be held there by the inside pressure when the bottle was removed (from the filling machine)."

Another thing that he mentions is that the stoppers were not always glass (like the ones in this auction). They could be made of other things like hardwood. Here is an example from my collection.

 

[blobbottlebob]

Interestingly, this stopper was found from a bottle that has both names Albertson and Matthews on it. The bottler was Otto Zwietusch from Milwaukee.

 

[blobbottlebob]

So, Sweetrelease, my final guess is that Roorbach was a competitor with a bottle closure that didn't catch on (nationally) quite as well. That makes them an oddity. If you have one, there's some joy in collecting a local oddball that nobody else made. In my experience, even regular Matthews bottles are hard to find. Those Roorbachs have got to be near impossible for national collectors to get. Unless the guy bottled zillions of them and somebody dug up many many many examples. Then, all bets are off. . . []

 

[sweetrelease]

bob i wish i had one of the stoppers. i do have a bottle that used it though. it is a penna bottling & supply co bottle that i thought was a hutch for years.. the bottle has an embossed roorbach stopper on it. when i was looking around for info on this bottle an old timer showed me the article about roorbach and my bottle only in squat form was pictured in it. ~matt

 

[blobbottlebob]

That's still pretty cool Matt. There was a a local bottler that used a spiral spring stopper here and the things are just about impossible to get. Just having the bottle is really something.

 

[blobbottlebob]

About one hour left on this auction for the site . . . High bidder gets the five glass Matthews stoppers shipping included. Thanks for the great discussions too everybody.

 

[sweetrelease]

thanks bob ,you seem like a good dude![] lookin forward to more of your post! ~matt

 

[blobbottlebob]

Red Matthews is the winner! Thanks for your bids everyone.

Hey Red. I will also include a fragment of one of those broken bottles if you want. I could cut it down into a pen holder??? (This will have the Matthews embossing on the bottom). Just let me know. As far as payment, we can do it however you would like. You can donate righ to the site or send it to me and I will. Also, you will need to PM me your mailing address. Thanks again!