The crown cork (also known as a crown seal, crown cap or just a cap), the first form of bottle cap, was invented by William Painter in 1892 in Baltimore. The company making it was originally called the Bottle Seal Company, but it changed its name with the almost immediate success of the crown cork to the Crown Cork and Seal Company. It still informally goes by that name, but is officially Crown Holdings.
Overview
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The crown cork was the first highly successful disposable product[citation needed] (it can be resealed, but not easily). This inspired King C. Gillette to invent the disposable razor when he was a salesman for the Crown Cork company. The firm still survives, producing many forms of packaging.[1]
Prior to the invention of the external crown cork bottle stopper, soda bottles had ordinary internal cork bottle stoppers and often had rounded bottoms so they could not be stored standing upright. Corks have a tendency to dry out and shrink, allowing the gas pressure in the bottle to cause the cork to "pop", so bottles were stored on their side to prevents the corks from drying out. After the invention of the crown cork bottle stopper, this problem was eliminated, and soda bottles could be stored standing upright.[2]
Crown corks are collected by people around the world who admire the variety of designs and relative ease of storage.[3][4] Collectors tend to prefer the term "crown cap" over "cork".[citation needed]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Crown Brand-Building Packaging: Crown History". Archived from the original on 2015-02-15. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
- ^ Nickell, Joe (2011). "'Pop' Culture: Patent Medicine Becomes Soda Drinks". Skeptical Inquirer. 35 (1). Committee for Skeptical Inquiry: 14–17.
- ^ The Crowncap Collectors Society International
- ^ Crowncaps.Info - Crown cap Central for Crown cap collectors
External links
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- Live Counter of produced crown corks
- U.S. patent 468,226
- U.S. patent 468,258
- The Crowncap Collectors Society International
- Bottle Cap Index
- Davide's Crown Caps Homepage
- Collection of Alex and Gemma Archived 2018-12-29 at the Wayback Machine
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