facts or myths post

renovation · Posted: Tue, 12 Jul 2005 08:37:34 Post Subject: facts or myths post

When soda first started being placed in glass bottles they used marbles
to seal the bottle until it was consumed. When the person bought the
drink they had to use there finger to break the seal and release the
marble which made a "pop" sound. So that is why people started referring
to soda as "pop".

FOX · Posted: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 01:42:24 Post Subject:

i cant picture that i guess.... myth in my terms

mrweasel · Posted: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 10:25:34 Post Subject:

Snopes doesn't have anything on it, but I thought they used those clamp-style closures like on beer bottles

Hellfire · Rated XXX Joined: 05 Aug 2003 Posts: 3473

Fact...

mrweasel · Posted: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 11:10:06 Post Subject:

but how did they keep the marble on the top with all the carbonation?

heylinder · Posted: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 11:49:36 Post Subject:

I'd say closer to fact than myth according to this info I found ...

In the early days of mineral waters, the closure of choice was the cork stopper. In order to maintain a proper seal, it was necessary to keep the cork stopper moist. One of the methods used most commonly in Europe was to invert the bottle to keep the liquid in continuous contact with the cork. The bottoms of the bottles were rounded to prevent them from standing upright.

As noted, the early bottles were hand blown and rather crude compared with later machine made bottles The first bottles used for mineral and soda waters were called blob tops, named for the mass of glass used to form the lip on the bottle. Tops were applied in a separate operation during manufacture.

In 1857, Henry Putman of Cleveland, Oh, invented a wire clamp retainer for cork stoppered bottles. Putman's "better way" was closely followed by John Matthews, Jr's "gravitating stopper. In 1873, the ball stoppered bottle closure referred to as the "Coda stopper", was patented in the U.S. by Hiram Cold of England. In 1874, Charles de Quillfeldt of New York, patented the "Lightning Stopper".

Finally in 1879, Charles G. Hutchinson, the son of a prominent Chicago bottler invented a spring-type internal bottle closure known as the "Hutchinson Stopper" whose popularity during the period made it almost a standard. In fact, so many were used chat the bottles produced during the years to follow are referred to as "Hutchinson Bottles".

Stoppered bottles were still being used by some small American companies as late as the 1920's, but laws restricting their use because they were unsanitary, brought an end to an exciting era in bottling.

I also remember reading somewhere that "pop" was coined as a phrase for soda during the Civil war period.

Hellfire · Rated XXX Joined: 05 Aug 2003 Posts: 3473

In 1872, Hiram Codd of Camerwell perfected an interesting closure that is now refered to as a Codd stopper. (often called a pig bottle) He went into partnership with Ben Rylands and the idea took off. The Codd stopper, consists of a glass marble inside the neck of the bottle that was held under pressure against a rubber ring inside the lip. The neck of the bottle was indented to prevent the marble from blocking the hole while the soda was poured. There are many variations of the Codd. Some are dimpled on one side of the neck, others on both sides. Another example has the indentations at the bottom of the bottle. The marble was originally aqua but manufactures began using coloured marbles to help identify their bottles (theft from rival manufactures was common). As well Rylands began to put different coloured lips on his bottles for the same reason. Codds came in a wide range of colours, with various colour lips and marbles, especially those produced in Britian. There was a major problem with Codds, however. Children liked the marbles!! Think of it, you're 8 years old and you've just finished drinking your pop. And sitting there is a wonderful marble. That's right, you break the bottle. This practice added to the cost of an already expensive bottle