# E.L. BILLINGS W/ GRAVITATING STOPPER



## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Feb 11, 2021)

Albert Albertson invented the gravitating stopper and sold the rights to John Matthews. Patented Oct. 11, 1864. I have seen a number of Gravitating stoppers bottles before, but not many with the complete stopper. It is a 2 inch long glass stopper with a rubber gasket on the end. It was filled upside down.  This one is a California. Billings of Sacramento Cal. Hope you enjoy.
ROBBYBOBBY64.


----------



## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Feb 11, 2021)

Here is a great link with some information about subject.








						Albert Albertson patented coiled spring stopper bottle - made by John Matthews
					

The design required a bottle with an over-sized blob to house the spring with a shelf at the bottom of the blob to support the bottom of the spring. From the top of the spring a wire with a rubber gasket dangled through the neck. The spring exerted constant upward pressure so the bottle remained...



					milwaukeebottleclub.org
				



ROBBYBOBBY64.


----------



## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Feb 11, 2021)

The stopper is embossed with something about patented... I can't make it all out. Maybe someone knows off hand. What do you see?
ROBBYBOBBY64.


----------



## Antiques214 (Feb 11, 2021)

Very cool! I've never seen or heard of this type of bottle and stopper before. Very neat piece


----------



## nhpharm (Feb 11, 2021)

Love the gravitating soda bottles...Galveston had several variations from the early wooden stoppered ones to these later glass stoppered ones.  The stopper is embossed with the patent information much like the base of the bottle.  Yours looks like an attic find, which is just awesome even for a fairly common bottle like the Billings!  Thanks for sharing!


----------



## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Feb 11, 2021)

nhpharm said:


> Love the gravitating soda bottles...Galveston had several variations from the early wooden stoppered ones to these later glass stoppered ones.  The stopper is embossed with the patent information much like the base of the bottle.  Yours looks like an attic find, which is just awesome even for a fairly common bottle like the Billings!  Thanks for sharing!


That's what I thought. Mint condition no doubt. Thanks for the info. Thay's what I thought it said. I have seen the wooden ones before but do not own any. I did have the chance to buy one a while back but it did not look like it came with the bottle. An add on so to speak. It was also outside the bottle. Didn't think that was right. So I passed it up. Might regret it someday but time will tell. 
Looking for a coiled spring stopper bottle patented by Albert Albertson. Thanks again for your time and knowledge.
ROBBYBOBBY64.


----------



## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Feb 11, 2021)

Antiques214 said:


> Very cool! I've never seen or heard of this type of bottle and stopper before. Very neat piece


They had more crazy closures than Carter has pills. Some totally useless as far as drinking from the bottle is concerned, as well as being unsanitary. UncleBruce posted a thread asking for members to post pictures of odd bottle closures. I can't remember the title, but it was a good thread.
ROBBYBOBBY64.


----------



## embe (Feb 11, 2021)

Nice, haven't seen anything like it before


----------



## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Feb 11, 2021)

Antiques214 said:


> Very cool! I've never seen or heard of this type of bottle and stopper before. Very neat piece


Here is a link I found to different types of bottle closures. 
ROBBYBOBBY64 




__





						Antique Bottle Closures
					

Examples of different closures for antique bottles.



					www.antiquebottles.com
				








__





						Closure Types
					





					sha.org


----------



## hemihampton (Feb 11, 2021)

I dug one not long ago that still had the Stopper in it. you might remember the thread/post? They seem to be pretty hard to find from Michigan. I've been looking for the one from the Famous Ghost Town of Bodie for Years, but they always get way to much money, highly desirable. LEON.


----------



## DeepSeaDan (Feb 12, 2021)

My only grav thus far; it's a rare one, only two know at this time. Will continue searching diligently for more examples!


----------



## UncleBruce (Feb 12, 2021)

ROBBYBOBBY64 said:


> They had more crazy closures than Carter has pills. Some totally useless as far as drinking from the bottle is concerned, as well as being unsanitary. UncleBruce posted a thread asking for members to post pictures of odd bottle closures. I can't remember the title, but it was a good thread.
> ROBBYBOBBY64.


I put my example of the GRAVITATING STOPPER in the thread mentioned.
Here is a link: https://www.antique-bottles.net/threads/odd-closures-are-so-awesome.693236/page-3


----------



## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Feb 12, 2021)

UncleBruce said:


> I put my example of the GRAVITATING STOPPER in the thread mentioned.
> Here is a link: https://www.antique-bottles.net/threads/odd-closures-are-so-awesome.693236/page-3


That's it! Thanks buddy.
ROBBYBOBBY64.


----------



## hemihampton (Feb 12, 2021)

DeepSeaDan said:


> My only grav thus far; it's a rare one, only two know at this time. Will continue searching diligently for more examples!
> 
> View attachment 218833



Nice one, I bet the Canadian Collectors would like that one. Congrats. LEON.


----------



## DeepSeaDan (Feb 13, 2021)

hemihampton said:


> Nice one, I bet the Canadian Collectors would like that one. Congrats. LEON.



Yes indeed, I've had considerable interest in this one. There were 3 local bottlers in that town, each producing a grav soda bottle, so I'm keen to look for the other two. One of my diving buddies had all three at one time, but let them go over time and now has a few pangs of regret over the decision:


----------



## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Feb 13, 2021)

DeepSeaDan said:


> Yes indeed, I've had considerable interest in this one. There were 3 local bottlers in that town, each producing a grav soda bottle, so I'm keen to look for the other two. One of my diving buddies had all three at one time, but let them go over time and now has a few pangs of regret over the decision:
> 
> View attachment 218950


Amazing trio. Diving for bottles must be great. Thanks for the pictures Dan.
ROBBYBOBBY64.


----------



## hemihampton (Feb 13, 2021)

all 3 are nice. it always seemed to me that older bottles from 1870's or older from Canada are even harder to find then they are here in USA. Wonder why? Thanks for pic. LEON.


----------



## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Feb 13, 2021)

hemihampton said:


> all 3 are nice. it always seemed to me that older bottles from 1870's or older from Canada are even harder to find then they are here in USA. Wonder why? Thanks for pic. LEON.


Population probably was a factor. 1870 Census Bureau states U.S population at 38,558,371 while Canada's population was 3,485,761.
ROBBYBOBBY64.


----------



## DeepSeaDan (Feb 14, 2021)

hemihampton said:


> all 3 are nice. it always seemed to me that older bottles from 1870's or older from Canada are even harder to find then they are here in USA. Wonder why? Thanks for pic. LEON.



I think RB 64 hit the nail on the head; in fact today, Canada's population is close to the number RB gave for America in the 1870's comparison!

An exception to this rule occurred in Toronto back in the mid-80's, when Skydome was built. The excavation for that build uncovered an enormous amount of booty, as the area encompassed the location of the old waterfront docks, plus countless old city dumps. A buddy of mine managed to get special permission to collect from the site; they gave him a safety vest, hardhat & an I.D. ticket! He told me he'd head home in the evenings and the arse-end of his station wagon would be near scraping the asphalt, so loaded down it was with bottles, crocks and other assorted loot!

For me, as an underwater hunter, such largess doesn't exist. I must spend many, many hours traversing the underwater landscape, to find something of significance. My J. Broad grav I found in 3' of water; it was laying on a small, lonely patch of sand, adjacent to the ballast stones of an old dock, surrounded by acres of thick weed growth. 99.9% of that particular lake has bottom material the consistency of loon poo - anything dropped in it would sink away forever, thus my find was exceptionally fortunate.

Good thing for me that I absolutely love being underwater - the hunts are always a joy!

Happy Valentines Day to all you lovers of significant others and...your collections of treasures!

DSD


----------



## Marc26 (Feb 17, 2021)

Very cool!


----------



## relic rescuer (Feb 17, 2021)

ROBBYBOBBY64 said:


> Albert Albertson invented the gravitating stopper and sold the rights to John Matthews. Patented Oct. 11, 1864. I have seen a number of Gravitating stoppers bottles before, but not many with the complete stopper. It is a 2 inch long glass stopper with a rubber gasket on the end. It was filled upside down.  This one is a California. Billings of Sacramento Cal. Hope you enjoy.
> ROBBYBOBBY64.


Makes me wonder how they put that stopper together, with it in the bottle? Or did they just lube it up and shove it thru?


----------



## UncleBruce (Feb 17, 2021)

relic rescuer said:


> Makes me wonder how they put that stopper together, with it in the bottle? Or did they just lube it up and shove it thru?


 Read the area inside the yellow.


----------



## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Feb 17, 2021)

relic rescuer said:


> Makes me wonder how they put that stopper together, with it in the bottle? Or did they just lube it up and shove it thru?


I wondered the same thing. I looked at mine and I think it would go in with a little elbow grease. Definitely.  How they did the hutchinson stoppers is a total mystery to me.
ROBBYBOBBY64.


----------



## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Feb 17, 2021)

UncleBruce said:


> Read the area inside the yellow.
> View attachment 219355


Your the man UncleBruce! Thanks.
ROBBYBOBBY64.


----------

