# Question about round bottom bottles



## ShowMeStateBottles (Sep 18, 2007)

What years were the Torpedo/round bottom bottles made?

 I met a man today that traded me two round bottom bottles for some old pocket knives that I had.  I don't know much about these bottles, as I collect old crown tops.

 Thanks for any help!


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## digger mcdirt (Sep 19, 2007)

I don't know the year spread on them I guess they were made over many years but here I dig them in a Toc (turn of century dump) . I dig them mixed in with 1900 era bottles and a few in a older area of the dump say 1890's. But I know some round bottoms went back much earlier. Post a pic most of the latter ones are just plain unembossed aquas.


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## ShowMeStateBottles (Sep 19, 2007)

One of the bottles is unembossed, and the other says Ross's Belfast on it.


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## digger mcdirt (Sep 19, 2007)

I have dug several of the Ross's they come out of 1890's era sites here. Most of the Ross have Belfast on them also. Cochran is another fairly common one.


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## #1twin (Sep 19, 2007)

I have one embossed CANTRELL& COCHRANE BELFAST& DUBLIN MEDICATED AERATED WATERS and another with CANTRELL & Co BELFAST MEDICATED AERATED WATERS. They are BIM. Not sure of the age though[8|]
 Thanks, Marvin


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## GuntherHess (Sep 19, 2007)

> What years were the Torpedo/round bottom bottles made


 
 They were made over a long time span, at least as early as the 1840s, up into at least the 1920s



 ___________________________

 Revolution #9


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## sunrunner (Sep 19, 2007)

showmestate:tropetos,and round bottom minerl waters date to the 1850s,very few were made in the u. s must came from england and ireland.


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## ShowMeStateBottles (Sep 20, 2007)

Thanks for the help guys!


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## capsoda (Sep 20, 2007)

And then there are always the hybreds of these with the Codd stoppers but late 1840s to the early 1920s in England and Australia. When in the US I don't know.


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## baltbottles (Sep 20, 2007)

First we have to sort out the difference between torpedo and round bottom. Torpedoes are generally more egg shaped with a long neck and highly sloping shoulders. The invention of these type of bottles is credited to Nicolas Paul He was an engineer and designed  a community water works in Geneva Before moving to London to manufacture mineral water. He probably used the ovate shape for his bottles for the inherent strength of the form. To hold the pressure of carbonated mineral water. Thought the bottle design was never patented by Paul there is an 1809 patent granted to William Halimiton of Dublin for a new method of making soda and other artificial mineral waters. Thought no bottles are mentioned in this first patent in a latter 1814 patent by Hamilton their are included drawings of his machine for preparing mineral water and for filling bottles. These drawings show an ovate bottle attached to his machine. So it can be deduced that the form was already in use as early as 1809. And there were some firms that were still using these type of bottles as late as 1900 or so. Now for the bottles use in America we have a slightly different set of dates. The earliest American torpedo bottles date to the early 1840s however the form never really caught on here and very few companies used the bottles.  By the 1860s there were even fewer American mineral water companies using this type of bottle. Though a few companies were still using the torpedo form as late as the 1880s So the hay day for the American torpedoes is 1840-1860 The hight of the pontil soda era. Even though very few are pontiled. They had already been blowing smooth based torpedoes in england by the early 1830s By the 1840s this technology had made it to the larger American glasshouses.

  As for round bottom bottles these are the long cylindrical ones with a round base and short neck. They first show up in england and Australia in the 1840s. The form was also used to bottle artificial mineral and soda waters. Its a form that also never really caught on here in the USA most American examples date from around 1865-1885 by the 1870s many other patent type closures used on standard shape soda bottles help make bottles that lay down to keep the cork wet obsolete. However this form of bottle was used to about 1920 in other parts of the world particularly in Ireland and England where many bottles of mineral water were imported into the USA. from the 1880s-1920

  I hope this helps 
  Chris


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## cowseatmaize (Sep 20, 2007)

> Torpedoes are generally more egg shaped with a long neck and highly sloping shoulders.


 That does tend to be the common description but I thik the "round bottoms" look more like torpedoes.


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## cc6pack (Sep 20, 2007)

Here's another discussion whe had on the C&C


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## ShowMeStateBottles (Sep 20, 2007)

Baltbottles,

 That helps a lot, thanks.  Do the round bottom bottles have a name other than round bottom bottles?

 Thanks!


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## Gunsmoke47 (Sep 20, 2007)

Not to jump in on Chris (Baltbottles) question, but round bottoms are also frequently refered to as Maughms. They are also refered to as Hamiltons. They are , however totally different from Torpedo's or Ten Pins. This is just what I have learned over the years. Someone with much more knowledge(Like Baltbottles)
  will come along shortly I am sure.


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## baltbottles (Sep 20, 2007)

Kelley,

 Generally The term Hamilton is used to describe the more egg shaped or pointed torpedoes and Maughams Patent is used to describe the long cylindrical round bottoms. In reality Maughams patent was actually for a process used to make Carrara Water using Italian carrara marble in the process. Its unknown if he actually designed the cylindrical round bottoms for use with his filling machine or addopted someone elses bottle designe. Similar to Hamiltons patent for making artifical mineral water. Where he used a bottle probably designed by Nicolas Paul in his drawlings and it became a common folklore that he designed these bottles for use with his filling machine. So the term Hamilton became used to describe egg shaped mineral water bottles.

 Chris


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## sweetrelease (Sep 20, 2007)

chris nice job with this "round bottles" thing i learned alot from it thanks ,matt


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## Gunsmoke47 (Sep 20, 2007)

Thanks for clearing that up for me Chris. I had heard that the Maugham patent was not actually for the bottle itself although a lot of people refer to to it as a Maugham bottle. I was unaware that a Torp and a Hamilton was basically the same thing.  Kelley


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## TROG (Sep 22, 2007)

Chris has explained these bottles particularly well.

 This is one I dug several years ago and dates from around 1850 and was found in a privy in Adelaide South Australia. The earliest of these Maughams we have found have had a registration date of May 1845


 Generally The term Hamilton is used to describe the more egg shaped or pointed torpedoes and Maughams Patent is used to describe the long cylindrical round bottoms. In reality Maughams patent was actually for a process used to make Carrara Water using Italian carrara marble in the process. Its unknown if he actually designed the cylindrical round bottoms for use with his filling machine or addopted someone elses bottle designe. Similar to Hamiltons patent for making artifical mineral water. Where he used a bottle probably designed by Nicolas Paul in his drawlings and it became a common folklore that he designed these bottles for use with his filling machine. So the term Hamilton became used to describe egg shaped mineral water bottles.

 Chris

 [/quote]


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## TROG (Sep 22, 2007)

This is a reproduced photo of a unusual shaped Hamilton bottle that is found over here in very limited numbers

 Generally The term Hamilton is used to describe the more egg shaped or pointed torpedoes and .

 Chris

 [/quote]


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