# 10-sided Evansville, IND Blob? Info Please?



## daeldred (Jan 6, 2010)

We found this pretty sweet 10-sided blob soda from Evansville, IND. There is not a lot to tell except that it is aqua and is 10-sided. It is embossed with A.B. & CO. // EVANSVILLE // IND. Does anyone know anything about it? Is it common or what?


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## jays emporium (Jan 7, 2010)

Looks like a good bottle but could you clean that thing up?


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## sandchip (Jan 7, 2010)

And wash those hands, young man, before you set foot in this house!


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## daeldred (Jan 7, 2010)

This privy was the nastiest privy we have ever dug. There was about 4' of oily mud. It stunk real bad, too. Great bottles though!. We couldn't get any picutres of clean bottles, because it was below freezing and and the mud was impossible to get off. It was like digging in the La Brea Tar Pits!! Check out the story on the link below.


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## mr.fred (Jan 7, 2010)

Some great finds you got there---dirty job but some body has to do it[sm=rolleyes.gif]--good video---thanks for sharing.                            Fred.


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## Poison_Us (Jan 8, 2010)

Wonderful.  Bookmarked to follow the adventures...


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## daeldred (Jan 8, 2010)

Yeah we like to tell our story when we can. We found this 10-sided blob and were pretty excited. We don't know much about Indiana bottles, so we didn't know what we had. I think this one might go upwards of $50. We just don't see many paneled blobs here in Memphis and something like that with Memphis on it would be real good.


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## Indianabottledigger (Jan 8, 2010)

Here is a nice one that sold on ebay awhile back they are cool but fairly common nice find though!

 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200406590918&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.com%3A80%2F%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dp3984.m38.l1313%26_nkw%3D200406590918%26_sacat%3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1


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## BIRDDOG (Jan 9, 2010)

i sold mine on ebay didnt know much about it either it sold for $51.00 and here is what the guy said about in the feedback..............
 (As advertiesed, ultra great bottle, an original Alfred Bernardin from 1874.)
 hope this was some help to you.  p.s. love the site it really makes me want to go dig!!!


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## sandchip (Jan 9, 2010)

Still wanting to see it cleaned up when you get a chance!


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## daeldred (Jan 9, 2010)

I'll try to get a shot of it cleaned up as soon as I can.


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## daeldred (Jan 11, 2010)

Here is a picture of it all cleaned up. You can notice that it has some beads around the neck. I wonder if they are vent hole marks or just part of the design?


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## sandchip (Jan 11, 2010)

Nice!  Thanks.


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## surfaceone (Jan 13, 2010)

> i sold mine on ebay didnt know much about it either it sold for $51.00 and here is what the guy said about in the feedback..............  (As advertiesed, ultra great bottle, an original Alfred Bernardin from 1874.)


 
 Hey David and Dave,

 A really wonderful bottle, you guys! I am shocked, SHOCKED, I say, that this is selling at such a price.

 I think Dave brought the crucial bit of information. I previously tried searching on A.B. & Co., Evansville, to no avail. I did, however, survive all that information about ABBA...






 "One of the well-known bottling industry suppliers apparently infringing Hutchinsonâ€™s patents was the Bernardin Bottle Cap Company in Evansville, Indiana.  The same December 15, 1897 issue of Western Bottler that ran the W. H. Hutchinson & Son advertisement illustrated on the Advertising page also included this advertisement for Bernardinâ€™s â€œCYCLONE Spring Soda Stopper:â€

 It seems strangely ironic that Bernardin had the nerve to attach the â€œWarningâ€ at the bottom of his advertisement.  Bernardin received a patent for his â€œWorld Renowned Bernardin Bottle Capâ€ November 27, 1887, and this warning indicates he intended to prosecute anyone who dared to infringe his patent.  Meanwhile, he himself was ripping off both the Lightning Stopper and Hutchinsonâ€™s Patent Spring Stopper!  Bernardin filed and received a Trade-Mark (No. 30,269) for the â€œCycloneâ€ name, but thereâ€™s no indication he attempted to patent a spring stopper under this name.  Bernardinâ€™s advertising boasted â€œOur Cyclone Soda Stoppers are guaranteed superior to any other make â€“ we use nothing but the highest grade metal and rubber.â€  The button of his stopper was stamped â€œCYCLONE B.B.C.CO.â€ Found @ the Hutch Book.

 here's a photo of "The World Renowned Bernardin Bottle Cap" in action: 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 That's it in the upper Right corner. Thanks to The Southeast Bottle Club. Maybe if someone here has David Graci's book on "Soda and Beer Bottle Closures 1850 - 1910", they could provide more information and/or a book report.

 You may be able to find some good information at this Googly book site. My old computer will no longer display those pages, but I did get some strong hits on this book from my searches.

 "Alfred Louis Bernardin, Sr., who founded the Bernardin Bottle Cap Company in Evansville, Indiana (1881), started the first manufacture of metal closures in not only the U.S., but in the world. 

 Since Mr. Bernardin, a wine importer experienced trouble with corks blowing out in ocean shipments, he devised a metal clamp to fit over the cork and down around the neck of the bottle with a metal strap that tightened the clamp and prevented the cork from blowing out. Later, Mr. Bernardin invented many other types of metal closures for glass containers that are still popular and in current usage. He invented the beer cap, or crown cap, for beer and soft drink bottles. 

 He later manufactured METAL SCREW CAPS and still later experimented with applying colored lacquers and enamels to these caps before they were fabricated from sheet form. Others of his inventions were the first double shell cap, first cap to be used on catsup bottles, and many types of machines for the manufacturing and applying of these closures." Found @ yahoo.answers, in response to 'Who invented screw on bottle tops?"

 You can find a couple of more moderrn Bernardin ads over here.

 So who invented the Crown Cap? Was it William Painter, as accepted wisdom would indicate, or was it Alfred Bernardin?






 "Back in the late 1970s I was researching bottle opener and corkscrew patents and I was surprised to come across a patent for a "Bottle Uncapping Tool" that dated almost seven months before the William Painter patent. United States Patent Number 501,050 had been issued on July 11, 1893 to Alfred L. Bernardin of Evansville, Indiana with assignment to the Bernardin Metallic Cork Company.

 I pulled out the Painter patent and noted that Bernardin applied for his patent on March 14, 1893 almost two months before Painter's June 5 application. The major difference was Bernardin's tool was as he wrote "fixed to a counter or other stationary support, to adapt the bottle to serve as a lever in removing the cap" and Painter's tool was a handheld device.

 In early 1982, I located a Mr. Alfred L. Bernardin in Evansville, Indiana and inquire about the patents. In his reply, he writes:

 "The Bernardin Bottle Cap Company was founded in 1881 by A. L. Bernardin, Sr., my grandfather. I have a book of some twenty patents during his career up to his death in 1916, including the bottle cap opener.

 Mr. Bernardin also claimed to be the inventor of the beer crown. When their factory superintendent disappeared for a month and turned up in Baltimore, Maryland, he had been hired by five men who, I am told, were the founders of Crown Cork and Seal Company. Patent applications were filed by both companies and a law suit resulted. Bernardin won the first appeal, which was reversed back and forth through several courts. The superintendent apparently claimed to have been instrumental in the development, which as the basis of the law suits."

 In an undated booklet Background to the Crown, Cecil J. Parker, Chief Chemist at the Southall Research Laboratories of Crown Cork Company, Limited, London, writes:

 "William Painter, of English descent lived at Baltimore in Maryland. By trade he was a Mechanical Engineer and by nature a genius in things mechanical...We cannot know for certain how he became interested in the bottle closure problem, but as so many others were at that time, it is more than likely that his position in the engineering shop brought him into contact with an inventor who was having working models made of some form of stopper."

 Was that "inventor" from Bernardin's factory?

 Parker continues:

 "In the summer of 1891 William Painter took a holiday and while staying at a seaside resort on Rhode Island he drew up the design for an 'over the top' sealing cap, which was destined to revolutionize the bottling industry. In other words the 'Crown' was born."

 _____________________________________________

 Did the crown cap ideas originate in Evansville, Indiana? Did someone from Bernardin's factory find Painter in Maryland and present him with Bernardin's working models? It is apparent that both firms were manufacturing bottle closures during the time they came up with "bottle openers." Was it coincidence that they both filed their applications around the same time?

 And most importantly, given the fact that Bernardin filed for his bottle opener patent first, is he not truly the inventor of the "Crown Cap Lifter"? You be the judge."






 Bernardin Bottle Cap Comapny New building addition; photo dated 1918 Found here.
 *Footnote to the Bernardin Story

 Here is the full Bernardin copy from Barnhart and Carmony's 1954 publication Indiana: From Frontier to Industrial Commonwealth

 " The Bernardin Bottle Cap Company, Inc., of Evansville, is America's first manufacturer of metal closures for glass containers. Alfred Louis Bernardin, II, is the third generation from the founder to be president of this notable enterprise, whose story is worthy of preservation in print as the record of an historic industry and of the men who labored for its success.

 Born in Battle Creek, Michigan, September 22, 1910, Alfred Louis Bernardin, III, is the son of Alfred Louis Bernardin, Jr., and the former Mary McNally. His father, who died in 1922, was president of the Bernardin Bottle Cap Company, Inc. After graduation from high school and the LaSalle Military School at Oakdale, New York, their son completed his education in the Catholic University, Washington, D.C., and the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

 The Bernardin Bottle Cap Company was founded in 1881 in Evansville, by Alfred Louis Bernardin, Sr. This started the first manufacture of metal closures in not only the United States, but as far as is known, in the world. Since Mr. Bernardin was in the wine importing business and they experienced trouble with corks blowing out in ocean shipments, he devised a metal clamp to fit over the cork and down around the neck of the bottle with a metal strap that tightened the clamp and prevented the cork from blowing out the in transit. Later, Mr. Bernardin invented many other types of metal closures for glass containers that are still popular and in current usage. He invented the beer cap, or crown cap, currently used on beer and soft drink bottles. He later manufactured metal screw caps and still later experimented with applying colored lacquers and enamels to these caps before they were fabricated from sheet form. Others of his inventions were the first double shell cap, first cap to be used on catsup bottles, and many types of machines for the manufacturing and applying of these closures.

 The plant was located on Northwest Fourth Street in the block immediately north of the Court House. Mr. Bernardin, Sr., died in 1916, leaving a daughter Emma, and a son, Alfred Louis, Jr. The latter continued to operate the company until his death in 1922. During this period an additional product was manufactured, consisting of metal cans for food products that were used during World War I. Later on the company added new products, such as the nationally known line of Bernardin two-piece mason caps for home canning.

 Alfred Louis Bernardin, II, entered the business in 1933, and he is now its president. In 1948 a new and larger plant was built on West Maryland Street, occupying ninety thousand square feet, to accommodate larger production and afford manufacturing economies. Lithographing equipment and ovens were installed for the coating and lacquering and designing of sheets of tin. Machinery for manufacturing plastics caps was also installed. Recently some diversified lines have been added, such as metal typewriter ribbon boxes, aluminum containers for home freezing and storage of food leftovers, fabrication of aluminum foil for household use, and other diversified products. The employment currently averages approximately four hundred, and the products of the Bernardin Bottle Cap Company, Inc., are shipped into the forty-eight states."

   Found at this revealing Corkscrew site. and here, too.

 Lastly, for those gluttons for punishment, you can read part of the Supreme Court decision on one of Mr. Bernardin's Patent suits here. My eyes glazeth over...


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## daeldred (Jan 13, 2010)

WOW. That is all I ever wanted to know about this guy. Thanks a lot Surfaceone!!


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