NORTHWESTERN

[tftfan]

.

 

[tftfan]

OH.....PURDY !!

 

[tftfan]

Got here late afternoon, huh...they musta forgot we was coming, for they was closed. Kind of a cool place, but... dont use up any vacation time. Could not find a throw or a dump. Thanks !!

 

[fishnuts]

Nice photo showing two identical bottles from O/I.
Same year.
One with a dot.
One with no dot.
Dot not related to date.
How interesting.

 

[morbious_fod]

The dot is on the mold number code, not the date code. Yes that dot has nothing to do with the dating, it has to do with the mold, but that doesn't disprove that the dot on the date code, the one to the right of the logo not the one below the logo, is an indicator of dating. Those two are identical mold numbers but one is a 1931 and the other is a 1932. There appears to be a 1930 just under them. Don't tell me this has all been about the wrong dot.

 

[bottleopop]

I wish I lived closer to this bottle house! It's over 700 miles from here though. It would be fun to try to identify bottles from those bases!

More to the point at hand though, this house would be an interesting test of the date-dot research ideas. The house was built in 1941. John Makinen died in 1942. So the house should have no bottles newer than 1941 (or maybe a couple from 1942, depending on the exact date the house was finished, but it sounds like that was 1941). I doubt that any bottles in the house have been replaced with newer bottles.

So, if the date-dot theory (about the digit to the right of the O-I mark) is correct, there should be no dots on digits to the right of the O-I mark except for "1." or "0." on any bottle on the walls of the house.

The house's porch might have been added on after 1941 by a subsequent owner, so any investigation of date marks should be done only on the main part of the house, or at least any documentation should specify: porch or not.

Any dots on the number below the O-I mark (occasionally above it instead) should be ignored of course. The date-dot theory is not about that position. Perhaps the statement about a dot being about quality control applies to the digit below the O-I mark, especially if that particular position indicates a bottle-mold number.

For what it's worth, I have 6 Owens-Illinois bottles with a dot on both the digit to the right of the O-I mark and the digit below the O-I mark. I don't believe that in the case of these bottles, both dots are codes about quality control.

I currently favor the theory that a dot on the digit to the right of the O-I mark indicates that one should add 1940 to that digit to get the date. I believe that this date is the date of the mold, not necessarily the date of the bottle itself. I don't know how long a mold lasted. Unfortunately, it appears that some O-I plants may have never used any dots, but definitely O-I plants 3 and 9 did, and this bottle house obviously does include O-I plant 9 bottles!

Whatever theory I currently favor, I am definitely interested in that theory being tested, and this bottle house is an example of one way to test the theory. One of the bottles in the picture looks like it has a 3. to the right of the O-I mark. But that's a picture of a transparent dot on a transparent bottle, so it should be viewed in person to confirm or deny that it's a 3. on that bottle.

So, who's willing to go to this glass house to look at digits on the right of any O-I marks seen to determine if any of them have a dot next to a digit greater than 1?

 

[tftfan]

uh.... next question

 

[ironmountain]

wow!! I have a friend that lives in Kaleva but he's never mentioned this house. Going to have to visit him soon so I can see this place. Looks like a trip back home to Grand Rapids is in order.