DATING OWENS-ILLINOIS BOTTLES

[SODAPOPBOB]

~ FLY ON THE WALL SCENARIO ~

Two 1945 factory workers at an Owens-Illinois glass plant are having a conversation in the break room. One employee has been there six years and is named "Smart Guy." The other employee has been there six months and is named "Dumb Guy."

Smart Guy : So, how do you like working here so far?

Dumb Guy : I guess it's okay. But I am a little confused about a few things.

Smart Guy: Oh yeah, and what would that be?

Dumb Guy: Well, for one thing, I can't remember what the dots next to the numbers on the bottom of
the bottles represent.

Smart Guy: Are you kidding me? Just about everything we do around here involves knowing about
those dots and keeping track of the codes. Even the janitors know that stuff.

Dumb Guy: Yeah, I know. That's what the foreman keeps telling me. But I just can't seem to get a
handle on it. Do you suppose you could run it by me again? I sure would appreciate it.

Smart Guy: Okay, but write it down this time so you don't forget. It's really not that complicated
either. All you gotta remember is that the dot next to the number on the right of the
symbol is for ...

In conclusion ...

I have to believe this sort of thing was common knowledge at the time, and that everybody and their brother knew what the codes meant. After all, the codes were put there for a reason of some kind and didn't just mysteriously appear on their own. But figuring this stuff out now sixty-five years later is like trying to answer the question of which came first, the egg or the chicken? I wish I had a crystal ball that could look back into the past.

SPBOB

 

[dmagave]

bottles were returnable and this also helped them determine the 'round trips' a bottle would make

 

[ilovehondas]

i have a question i bought a owen illinois 1 gallon jug because of the texture never seen one like it either on ebay or google it has the logo on the bottem with the numbers 256

 

[fanboy]

I would consider if there was doubt creating a new mold that the maker would provide accurate mold information on it. Dots could simply mean that the information next to it is inaccurate. For example in Canadian coins in 1937 & 1948 new dies were not ready so the mint used the previous year's dies and marked them with a dot. I would not surprise me if an OI bottle marked 40. may have been used/made in 1941 (or later). A dot next the plant might mean that it is the wrong plant number on the mold. It was a time where reuse and waste were minimized. They would use it if it was a little off.

In short the dot may be a date device (next to the date) but is not likely a decade marker.

As for consistency, I would bet that OI employees worked there for decades. Change was slow for some people. Between old habits and mistakes any number of issues will arise from the bottle molds. In my study if Canadian Glass Coke Bottles, there are a distinct change when the mold marks changed wow the month code was done. However you will find some molds that are 2-3 years later that use the old style codes for month. At first I thought it might be a plant that was slow to change but I have examples from the plant that they did make the change. I an only attribute the old code use to old habits.

Food for thought...

Chris

 

[rd1550]

My big ol butt....been lookin at dump debris q....whilr.....since spot was a pup....some of it arrived by mule...thats supposed to imply an 'informed' opinion will follow .....here goes anyhow....try as I might I can't think of one Owens unerring truth.

Maybe the Duraglass 1940 guideline??? I'm reminded.....when did O-I open the Hamlet NC closure plant, 20's?........did it ever produce bottles?

I want to take this opportunity to thank the two B.L.'s ...Bernard the closure gent and Carol Serr for conduct above and beyond.
Refreshing doesn't quite do it....

Can you imagine a kindness done....this day and time.. Several unpaid somebodies actually took time out of their busy day to deal with what typically would turn out to be another inane inquiry by someone too apathetic to read a paragraph or three.

Thanks ya'll ....an orange and a lump of coal in you stocking this year

 

[rd1550]

Wouldn't let me edit previous post.. I realize this thread ia a bit dated, better than duplicating. Theres dots and then theirs stippling. ok I got one quandry in each category.....the '0' rule doesn't take a rocket surgeon to decipher ....splain a med bottle with a '0..' date code. Plus a dram sprinkler top with a stippled concave base....whch precludes the heat dissipation, conveyor travel diatribe as it can't impart physical anomlies on a flat surface. If its 3dot stuff (code) the existing belief as to that conception needs to be backed up to about 1931.

I'll get in the proper forum and relate the series of discoveries over the last 50 yrs that gives insight into the talented youth that roamed my farm and left masterpieces in glass. Rural youths will turn anything stationary into a canvas and its not unusual to find initialed,dated marbles in my farms dump pre 30's . This boy/girl excelled at it.....the old logo marbles he duplicated in relief...his ability to cleave glass and control the extent of the damage was uncanny. ....take a 30x loupe to check out what looks to be a pinprick on an otherwie untouched vintage marble and see a perfect 'Kilroy' giving you the eye in miniature. Bottles are his murals.....he signs o2 or oz, sometimes the date

 

[wisodas]

I've stated this before - the 1 and 1. below the OI mark are two different, but fairly identical molds. At Streator, and maybe other plants, bottle orders were quite often blown in a pair of molds. This was a practice that started with the American Bottle Co. at Streator in the 1910's - at that time the pair of molds was numbered 1 and 2 (the whole indicia would be like 18 S 1 and 18 S 2). By the 1940's the molds were numbered 1 and 1. . When ACL bottles became popular, there was a need for large numbers of generic-looking bottles, such as the 7-ounce G94's which were used used for emerald green 7-Ups and other colorless 7-ounce bottle orders, and pairs of molds were numbered 1 and 1., 2 and 2., 3 and 3., 4 and 4., etc. to blow these bottles.
If you carefully compare the 1 and 1. Dragon bottles, I'm sure that you will be able to spot small differences in the embossing or design. Sometimes it's fairly obvious, other times it's taken me 4 or 5 minutes to spot the differences.
I have never speculated publicly on why they were made in pairs, but I would guess that it had something to do with the mechanics of a bottle blowing machine, and that mold 1 and mold 1. for any particular bottle design would be placed on opposite sides of the machine. That would facilitate sorting of the bottles as they came off the machine. Just guessing on my part.