Bottles on their side?

[stdunbar]

Hello,
I've recently opened a box that of bottles I dug up in Connecticut in the 1970's. I'd like to start with two bottles that confuse me quite a bit and wondered if anyone might have some ideas about them. There are no markings on either bottle.

Thanks in advance for any help. I'll attach the second one in the next post.

 

[stdunbar]

And the next one...

 

[GuntherHess]

A funny cartoon from the 1880-1890 period showing your style bottle. It was used for a variety of carbonated beverages.

 

[stdunbar]

Thank you - any idea who made this drink? It looks like the label says Lemonade.

 

[capsoda]

Hey Scott, The first one Has a lot of names; bowling pin, bat, ballist pin just to name a few. I guess it depends on what area your in. The other is commonly called a torpedo.

Both bottles were often used for ballist in the wooden ships of that period, 1870s to just after the turn of the century.

they were mainly used for flavored drinks and mineral water. They are a very common bottles. A buddy of mine had a 3ft high by 10ft long fence in a flower bed made of them. Some guy bought them for a buck a piece.[]

 

[stdunbar]

Cool - thanks for the information - interesting use of the bottles!

 

[southern Maine diver]

Hey Scott...

Welcome to the forum and I have a little bit more to add to Warren's info.

I'm from Southern Maine and I dive a lot in New England. Your first bottle is commonly reffered to (up here) as a "Torpedo" and also a "Tear Drop" bottle. The second one is called a "round bottom" Most of them had carbonated beverages in them, Ginger Ale, soda water.

They were intentionally made with round or pointed bottoms so that they would lay on their sides. They had corks in them, and the corks in other sodas/ginger ales, would dry out, shrink and the pressure build up in the bottle from the carbonation, would blow the corks out. The inventors of this type of bottle, purposely made them to lay on their side so that the cork would stay wet and expanded inside the top of the bottle to prevent it from drying out, shrinking and "blowing its' cork"

That's probably where that old, old saying came from..."blowing your cork."

They were reffered to as "Ballist bottles" because hundreds upon hundreds of thousands came over to this country from England, Europe etc in the bottoms of ships. The old wooden ships needed as much weight in their bilges to help balance the ship when it was under sail. These bottles were extremely thick and sturdy so they were layed on top of one another and that helped to add additional "ballast" (stability) to the vessel.[] Many shipwrecks have been discovered with rows upon rows of these "Torpedo" and 'Round bottom" bottles below decks, along the keels and in the bilges.

Ballast: anything heavy carried in a ship or vehicle to give it stability [8|]

The most common ones are the deep aqua, and many are unembossed, however; There are a lot of different colors and shades to some of these bottles that are quite collectable and many are embossed. In the bottle books they will be listed under "sodas"

Hope this helps you out a little more. The "bottle bug" done bit you again? Welcome back. Now go out and find some more.[]

Wayne

 

[IRISH]

Torpedos (the pointy ended one) and round bottoms/sausage bottles or whatever you like to call the other one where used by many thousands of different companys around the world. They are an interesting category to collect.

This is a nice local to me torpedo bottle from J.P. Hill Lilydale, fairly rare bottle this one.