Manufacturing bottles as a 'cottage' industry ca 1910-1920s

[Roadstar]

I came across Dominion Soda Water Co in some research, and aside from their bigger plants, people appear to be making their bottles in regular homes, in various locations, circa 1910-1920s. I saw that the Hamilton location was in someone's house. There was a Dundas location too. How would they have made bottles in their homes? With huge machines? Furnace? I have a hard time imaging it?
If anyone knows, let me know.

 

[Len]

Hi Roadstar,
Hard to believe. Possible, what isn't? Likely,--Nah. Kind of dangerous. Sure there are those that like playing with fire, but probably not for home glass making. Moulds have ended up in private hands before sure. Usually if ever used, only once or so. Maybe the research was referring to the refill of already existing bottles? Anyway, like the way you try to get the whole story, and welcome to our club. --CT Len
PS- New Englanders love the cool Canadian air you send us this time of year. HAPPY JULY 4th to EVERYONE!

 

[Roadstar]

None the less, there it is. There are bottles with Hamilton and Dundas embossed on them so they were doing it for sure. And doesn't make sense to have people only fill bottles at home. The bottles are machine made not blown. It is interesting.

 

[Len]

Hires, and others were famous for their concentrate "makes 5 gallons" bottles. These were really popular with large families in tough economic times. Maybe some old, already made, full size bottles were filled with at home production liquid from concentrate bottles? ..I'm not familiar with Dundas. If there was a company plant there it would exist in the local tax records. If not, you might just have a mystery that more seasoned bottle minds than ours' can help with. ..Btw, love Murdoch Mysteries! Do they ever shoot any of it actually in your city? --CT Len

 

[Roadstar]

Yes it is in the tax assessments, but just the company name, for a regular house. So ya, a mystery. I saw that someone here had posted that they were looking for a Dundas bottle, so I'm hoping someone out there knows something. He said they were "machine made only in pints and quarts."
Not sure about recently, but I did see a MM episode from the past filmed at Webster's Falls (a location so precious that, thanks to over tourism, you now have to make an appointment to go there in a shuttle bus).

 

[Len]

Hi Roadstar,
Congrats on being a fellow nighthawk. ..Here are my last thoughts before I leave the pc. It sounds like Dundas was a regional business hq and a place to crash for the local rep. Somehow Dundas made it to embossment. The mould maker might have been from Dundas.--Was there another bottle maker nearby who took in side jobs? Does the Dundas bottle's style/design look like someone else's? Your approach to finding out more and more accurately is likely indeed, local. One has to wonder if that house is still there/if the site has been developed?? A satellite view may also come in handy. ..Sorry about any crowds from our side of the line. MM is a superior show. Keep loving Murdock. --CT Len

 

[DavidW]

Hello Roadstar and everyone,
I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding your post..... The Dominion Soda Water Company (I presume) only made the soda water. They (as nearly all soda bottling companies) did not make the bottles , they ordered glass bottles from a glass bottle manufacturer......... who made bottles FOR the soda company, with whatever custom embossing the soda company wanted on the bottles.
What glass company made those bottles? If there is no glassmaker mark on them, do any collectors in the area know what glass manufacturer made the bottles? Perhaps more than one Canadian bottle glass company? Dominion Glass Company?

And normally a city or town name on a bottle doesn't mean the bottle was actually made there. It usually means there is a local soda bottling franchise located in that town or city, where the bottles would generally circulate.
Just for an example...... Coca Cola Bottling Company never made a single glass bottle. They had bottles made FOR them with over a thousand different town and city names marked on the bottom. But they were made by glass companies - such as Owens-Illinois or Chattanooga Glass, or Root Glass, to name a few. More bottles were made for the larger cities that had a bigger refilling/bottling plant location. Smaller bottling plants had smaller numbers of soda bottles made for them, embossed with the town name on the bottom.

Machine-made mass-produced bottles were made in large, sophisticated glass factories, not in private homes.

 

[CanadianBottles]

Hi Roadstar, welcome to the forum! I agree with David, I think you've gotten confused between the people who filled the bottles and the people who made the bottles. The two processes were entirely unrelated. But while no one was making bottles in their houses, they were often filling the bottles in their houses or in a workshop next to the house. Basic carbonating and bottle cleaning equipment didn't take up that much space. In the case of your Hamilton address, which I think is 308 John Street North, the house has a large warehouse addition behind it which includes a loading bay, and 310 next door is a small industrial building which could have been built to expand their operations. That would be more than enough space for a local bottling operation. The Toronto address is 105-107 Manning Avenue, which is a pair of small houses, but behind them is a large building which could definitely have been a bottling plant, and the houses would have served as offices, as well as possibly the owners' residences. Not sure where you got the Dundas address from, but I assume it's a similar situation.