The American Society ofMechanical Engineers

1898

TheCrown CorkCap andCrown SodaMachine1892 and

ASME International HistoricMechanical Engineering Landmark

ASME Region III Baltimore Section25 May 1994

INTERATIONAL HISTORIC MECHANICAL ENGINEERING LANDMARKTHE CROWN CORK CAP AND THE CROWN SODA MACHINE

1892 AND 1898

ALTHOUGH BOTTLED CARBONATED BEVERAGES WERE POPULAR BYTHE 1880S, SEALING THE BOTTLE WAS A CONSTANT PROBLEM.MOST STOPPERS WERE OF METAL AND INTENDED FOR REUSE.NONE SEALED ADEQUATELY, AND CONTACT WITH THE CAP OFTENCONTAMINATED THE DRINK. WILLIAM PAINTER PATENTED A CHEAP,SINGLE-USE METALLIC CAP, CRIMPED OVER A LIP FORMED ON THE

BOTTLE NECK AND LINED WITH A THIN CORK WAFER THAT BOTH

FORMED A LEAKPROOF SEAL AND SEPARATED DRINK AND METAL.

SOON THEREAFTER, HE PATENTED A MACHINE THAT FILLEDTHE BOTTLE SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH SYRUP AND CARBONATED WATER,

THEN APPLIED THE CAP. THE TWO INVENTIONSCOMMERCIALLYDEVELOPED BY PAINTERS CROWN CORK & SEAL CO.IN BALTIMOREWERE THE FOUNDATION OF TODAYS VASTBOTTLING INDUSTRY.

THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS 1994

International Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark

Figure 1.William Painter (died in 1906), founder ofthe present-day Crown Cork & SealCompany.

IntroductionPick up a bottle of soft drink or beer andyou may never think about theconsiderable creativity, effort, design,and machinery it took to put that bottleinto your hands. This brochure changesthat by describing two mechanical itemsthat played significant early roles inshaping todays beverage bottlingindustry. These two items reflect thehuge effort it took to invent, develop,and produce the bottled and cannedproducts we use almost every day of ourlives.

In the late 19th century, one problemwas acute for the bottling industry. Thebottle caps (stoppers, as they then werecalled) usually leaked or were not tightenough to hold the carbonation gas.Some stoppers weremade from metalswhich interactedwith the contents ofthe bottle, causingchanges in theircolor and flavor. Bythe 1880s therealready were some150 US patents forbottle stoppers,and techniques anddesigns for sealingbottles came in allsizes, shapes, and costs. None waseffective, simple, or economical toproduce. Stoppers were also made to bereusable, to be returned with the emptybottles after the drink had beenconsumed.

The 1892 Bottle Cork CapThe carbonated soft drink ideasurprisingly is not new. Carbonateddrinks were popular by the 1880s, andthe first Convention of Bottlers andExhibition of Bottlers Supplies datesback to that period.

William Painter (Figure 1), an inventorwith at least 85 patents to his name fordevices ranging from a counterfeit coindetector to a railroad car seat, was notsatisfied with this situation. In 1882, heobtained a patent for a bottle seal thatwas designed for a single use and thendiscarded. His idea was to create astopper that consumers would throwaway, thus insuring future demand and acontinuing business. A business associateof Painters bought all rights to sell thisPainter bottle stopper, and by 1889 hadformed the Bottle Seal Company.

Figure 2.The Original Cork-lined Bottle Cap.

Painter still was not satisfied. In 1891 heinvented the crown cork cap (Figure2), a metal cap with a corrugated-flangeedge, lined with a thin cork disc and a

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Figure 3.From the 1892 patent for the CrownCork Cap.

special paper backing both to seal thebottle and prevent contact between thebottle contents and the metal cap thatcrowned it. Patent number 468,258 wasissued February 2, 1892, and a new pagein the history of the bottling industrywas written. Some drawings from thepatent are shown in Figure 3. TheCrown Cork & Seal Company Inc. wasestablished later that year in Baltimore,Maryland.

The crown cork seal design required thebottle to have a specific neck tip with arecess for the cap to grip, and Painterhad to work hard to convince the manyindependent glass bottle makers toconform to that design. He succeededduring the following decade as the bottlemakers came to realize the effectivenessof the cork cap design and adopted it.

The 1898 Soft Drink Mixing andCapping MachineWith the newly-invented cork cap andspecific bottle tip design in hand,William Painter worked on designing abottling machine to use it. After hardwork and many trials, he obtained apatent in 1898 for the Crown SodaMachine, shown in Figure 4. This wasthe first machine of its kind to use asyrup-fluid line and a carbonated-waterline where both fluids were mixed onlyat the outlet orifice where the operatorheld the glass bottle lip for filling. Withthe bottle filled, the operator inserted acrown cork cap by hand inside thebottom of a press - also part of themachine - placed the filled bottle underthe press, and pushed down on the pressfoot-pedal. This crimped the cap overthe bottle tip and the bottling process(mixing, filling, and capping) wascomplete. It is claimed that a fast workercould fill and cap eight bottles perminute, but the average worker isbelieved to have done about half thatnumber.

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Figure 4.The first Crown Soda Machine for softdrink mixing, filling, and capping.

The Crown Soda Machine depicted inFigures 4 and 5, is approximately fivefeet high by three feet wide. Themachine has a cast iron body and leftand right extended trays, allowing theoperator to pick an empty bottle fromone side and place the filled and cappedbottle on the other for other workers tocollect. The foot pedal can be seen at thebottom of the machine, and the handbar at the top is raised by the operator tolet the fluid flow. The machine is fed bytwo separate lines (not shown in thephotographs), one for the syrup and theother for the carbonated water. The toppart is made of brass, which was thesanitary metal of the time as stainlesssteel was not yet invented. The supply ofloose cork caps was put in a bowl nearthe machine. This bowl with sampleloose caps can still be seen today nearthe machine at its exhibit.

There are only a few Crown SodaMachines known to exist today. Two areat the Crown Cork & Seal CompanyMachinery Division at 1200 SouthNewkirk Street in Baltimore. They bothare silent now and are on exhibit in thelobby of the company. A brassnameplate on one machine readsPatented 1898 (Figure 6). The twomachines were restored for thecompanys centennial celebration held inFebruary of 1992 to commemorate theCrown Cork Cap patent of 1892. Onemachine has recently been loaned to theCoca-Cola Company museum inAtlanta, Georgia.

The historical importance of thesesurviving machines is that they were thefirst machines that combined the fillingand capping of bottles at the same timefor faster and more economical bottling.The prevailing technology of their timewas to put the syrup into the bottom ofa bottle, move the bottle to another lineto fill the bottle with carbonated water,

Figure 6.The brass name plate of the 1898 CrownSoda Machine.

then move it to another machine forcapping. The cap almost always leaked,rendering the soft drink distasteful.The Painter cork cap changed thatand the Crown bottling and cappingmachine offered the first completebottling process technology for industry.

The Crown Soda Machine of 1898 isthe ancestor of all of todays automatedcarbonated drink mixing and cappingmachines. By 1902, Painter hadintroduced the eight-head automaticelectric Crown bottling and cappingmachine with a capacity of 60-l00bottles a minute. The Crown Cork &Seal Company has been the leader inmanufacturing soft drink bottlingmachines of all sizes and purposes to thepresent day.

The Crown Cork & SealCompanyAfter the 1902 introduction of the eight-head machine, the Crown companybuilt cap-making factories in Germany,England, France, Japan, and Brazil.When Painter died in 1906, thecompany had a strong presence in the

Figure5Close-up the brass top die of theCrown Soda Machine.

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global market. Painters son-in-law thenmanaged the company for sixteen years,although not particularly well. Also inthis period, World War I(1914-1918)interrupted the world economy, and thesupply of tin and imported cork. Thepassing of the Prohibition Amendmentin 1919 killed the bottled beer industry,which then dominated the soft drinkindustry, and by 1925 the Company wason the verge of financial collapse.

Under a new company president(C. McManus), a patented cork-substitute was introduced to avoid thecost and unavailability of natural cork.Because of Prohibition only soft drinkswere being processed. When the GreatDepression hit late in 1929, thecompany diversified to include cork forcar mats and engine gaskets, amongother products. The company also beganto manufacture tin cans for coffee, tea,biscuits, and pharmaceuticals, andacquired the Western StopperCompany to add the Mason Jar Capproducts to its line. When Prohibitionwas repealed in 1933, the company wasalready growing again, and by 1936management saw that the beer industrywas shifting from glass bottles to tin cansand acquired the Acme Can Companyof Philadelphia to move into that field.In 1937, Crown was producing103,680,000 crown caps a day, and alsointroduced the quart cone-top beer canwith its crown corrugated metal cap.

In 1941 the company shifted to militaryproduction for World War II, producingmetal cartridge links for ammunition,antiaircraft guns, tail fins for flares,aluminum fairings for fighter planes andother products. McManus died in 1946,and by 1954 the company was once

Figure 7.The Crown Company Machinery Divisionin Baltimore (top), and the MainHeadquarters in Philadelphia (bottom).

again on the road to bankruptcy. J.F.Connelly took over in 1957 focusing onbusiness and economics, and in 1960the company moved its headquarters toPhiladelphia where it remains today(Figure 7). The bottling machinemanufacturing division stayed inBaltimore where it is still located(Figure 7).

In the 1960s and 70s growth continuedfor the can-making market and Crownopened many overseas can-makingplants to be close to the bottling andcan markets. In 1980, the companyopened its own aluminum Drawn-N-Ironed (D & I) can manufacturingfacility. Today the Machinery Divisionin Baltimore manufactures high speedstainless steel bottle- and can-fillingmachines (Figure 8) which can fill 2000cans or 1200 bottles per minute. Thesehuge, fast machines all have their originin the simple and modest 1898CrownSoda Machine, the first completemachine for the soft drink bottlingindustry.

Article prepared by: Ameer G. Mikhail,P.E., Past Chairman, History & HeritageCommittee, 1992-1993 ASMEBaltimore Section

Cover (from Reference 1): Some of thesoft drink and beer bottle caps of theworld.

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Figure 8.The present day Crown high-speed automated soft drink/beer can filling machine.

AcknowledgmentsThe ASME Baltimore Section thanks Neill Mitchelland Frank Vanik, P.E.. of the Crown Cork and SealCompany Machinery Division in Baltimore, for theircooperation and review of this article to ensure itshistorical and technical accuracy. ASME and the authoralso thank the Crown company for providing andallowing the use of pictures and material for this article,taken from the material given in Reference 1.

The photographs of Figures l-3, and 7-8 and the coverwere taken from Reference 1. The photographs ofFigures 4-6 are by Dr. Jonathan Bornstein, pastchairman of the ASME Baltimore Section.

1 - One Hundred Years, A Company DevelopmentHistory Booklet issued by the Crown Cork & SealCompany, Philadelphia, Pa., in late 1991 in preparationto commemorate its 100-year anniversary in February1992.

2 - Capping a Century in Baltimore Crown CorkThrives with No-Frills Approach, Baltimore Sunnewspaper, Sunday February 2,1992.

Picture Credits

References

Additional Reading1 - Form Follows Failure, by Henry Petroski,American Heritage of Invention & Technology, Vol. 8,No. 2, Fall 1992, pp. 54-61. An article describing theserious design challenges and development of soft-drinkmetallic (steel and aluminum) cans of today.

2 - The Razor King, by Howard Mansfield, AmericanHeritage of Invention & Technology, Vol. 7, No. 4,Spring 1992, pp 40-46. An article detailing the historyand development of the Gillette mens razor blade.King C. Gillette started his career about 1892 toPainterc Crown company as a bottle cap salesman.Gillette was strongly influcnccd in his thinking anddesign philosophy by William Painter. Gillette leftCrown to exablish his own career and leave his ownmark in history.

The History and HeritageProgram of ASMEThe ASME History and Heritage Recognitton Programbegan in September 1971. To implement and achieveits goals, ASME formed a History and HeritageCommittee, initially composed of mechanical engineers,historians of technology, and curator (emeritus)) ofmechanical engineering at the Smithsonian Institution.The Committee provides a public service by examining,noting, recording, and acknowledging mechanical

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engineering achievements of particular significance. TheHistory and Heritage Committee is part of the ASMECouncil on Public Affairs and Board on PublicInformation. For further information please contactPublic Information, American Society of MechanicalEngineers, 345 East 47 Street, New York, NY 10017-2392, 212-705-7740.

The Crown Cork Cap and Crown Soda Machine is the41st International Historic Mechanical EngineeringLandmark to be designated. Since the ASME HistoricMechanical Engineering Landmarks Program began,163 Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmarks,6 Mechanical Engineering Heritage Sites, and6 Mechanical Engineering Heritage Collections havebeen recognized. Each reflects its influence on society,either in its immediate locale. nationwide. orthroughout the world.

An ASME landmark represents a progressive step in theevolution of mechanical engineering. Site designationsnote an event or development of clear historicalimportance to mechanical engineers. Collections markthe contributions of a number of objects with specialsignificance to the historical development of mechanicalengineering.

The ASME Historic Mechanical EngineeringRecognition Program illuminates our technologicalheritage and serves to encourage the preservation of thephysical remains of historically important works. Itprovides an annotated roster for engineers, students,educators, historians, and travelers. It helps establishpersistent reminders of where we have been and wherewe are going along the divergent paths of discovery.

The American Societyof Mechanical EngineersJohn H. Fernandes, P.E., PresidentRobert A. Ellson, P.E., Vice President, Region IIIDale E. Woomart, P.E., Chair, Region III

History and HeritageThomas D. Pestorius, Senior Vice President,

Public AffairsErwin Fried, P.E., Vice President, Public InformationDavid L. Belden, P.E., Executive DirectorCarolyn Davis, Director, Eastern Regional Office

The ASME History and Heritage CommitteeEuan F.C. Somerscales, ChairRobert M. Vogel, SecretaryRobert B. GaitherR. Michael Hunt, P.E.J. L. Lee. P.E.Joseph P. van Overveen, P.E.William J. Warren, P.E.Richard S. Hartenberg, P.E., EmeritusDiane Kaylor, Staff Liaison