# Orange crush bottle



## Bumpa66 (Apr 25, 2013)

I found this orange crush bottle in an old cellar hole I have been digging. It's embossed on the front with "Orange Crush Bottling Company, Greenville KY". It also has 6 1/2 FLU OZS. There is a big "L" embossed on the bottom. It is a light aqua color. Any help on the age or the history would be great.


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## Bumpa66 (Apr 25, 2013)

Close up.


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## Bumpa66 (Apr 25, 2013)

Bottom


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## zecritr (Apr 25, 2013)

cool bottle
 course I'm in KY  lol
 1920's probably or that era is about all i know at this point,still cool bottle


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## zecritr (Apr 25, 2013)

The Orange Crush Bottling Co. has been incorporated at Greenville, with capital of $50,000. Officers are J. S. Salley, president; J. W. Culler, vice-president, and A. C. Watson, secretary and treasurer.

 Tis under North Carolina....So did the writers get it wrong in exactly were that Greenville was?

 http://books.google.com/books?pg=RA1-PA66&lpg=RA1-PA66&dq=orange+crush+bottling+company,greenville,KY&sig=s2iJk3o8uEH8Y9fsp1Ln2VauAio&ei=MLd5Ua-8BYLoqAGvpYHIBQ&id=LZZRAAAAYAAJ&ots=hFVy5Z2N0M&output=text


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## MisterSilverSearcher (Apr 25, 2013)

Sweet, never seen a crush with a slugplate before.


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## madman (Apr 25, 2013)

nice find!


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## GACDIG (Apr 26, 2013)

I found one many years ago here in NC. I always wonder was it an Orange Crush flavor bottle or a pre date bottle of the 1920 bottle we all know of.  [8|]


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## RCO (Apr 26, 2013)

neat bottle , so it has nothing to do with the larger orange crush company but in fact a smaller independent that existed in that area ? i guess orange flavoured drinks were popular back then so it wouldn't be uncommon for bottlers to use orange in there name . never seen one use crush though .


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## morbious_fod (Apr 26, 2013)

It is most likely that it is a soda water bottle from the Orange Crush Bottling Company of this particular town, which would have held various possible brands or flavors; however, that being said it is also possible that it was used in a Pre-Krinkle bottle era to bottle Orange Crush. As this 1919 ad shows below, prior to the creation of the famous krinkle deco bottle it was bottled in a straight side bottle with just a paper label. The Krinkle was introduced in 1920.


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## celerycola (Apr 26, 2013)

Ward's Orange Crush was bottled and sold nationally for five years before the krinkly bottle was introduced. A lot of existing bottlers for Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Chero-Cola and other national brands added Orange Crush to their lineup. There are several variations of paper labels used before the krinkly bottle.


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## celerycola (Apr 26, 2013)

South Boston VA bottler of Orange Crush, Pepsi-Cola, Nu-Grape, etc.


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## sunrunner (Apr 27, 2013)

you are right.[]


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 27, 2013)

I can't explain this one, but it's a Ward's Orange Crush straight-sided bottle that has a paper label showing three images of the krinkly bottles. I don't own it and do not know the date.

 Bob


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 27, 2013)

Here'a a picture of the entire bottle. I do not know what's embossed on the shoulder ...


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 27, 2013)

B66 ~

 You might find these of interest. Angelfire shows a bottle similar to yours with some info, but the images sometimes take a minute to load.

 Angelfire:

 http://www.angelfire.com/tn/traderz/crush.html


 eBay: Label pictured below at $99.99 each ...

 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-1920s-Wards-Orange-Crush-Chicago-IL-w-bottles-Label-Tavern-Trove-/190754783086?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c69deff6e&ssPageName=RSS:B:SHOP:US:101


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 28, 2013)

Although I have researched this to some extent by gleaning information from the following links, I am still somewhat confused and wondering ...

 If Bumpa66's embossed slug-plate bottle is pre 1920, then why doesn't it have the name *Ward's* on it? 

 ( As far as I know, the name Ward's was used between 1916 and 1921 and was even embossed on the first krinkly/ribbed bottles ).

 Note: I acknowledge the comments regarding ... *Independent Bottler* / *Flavor Bottle* ... but I am still confused as to whether or not it was an actual Orange Crush bottle? After all, it does say "Orange Crush Bottling Co." and not "Greenville Bottling Co."

 Bob

 http://www.collectorsweekly.com/advertising/orange-crush

 http://www.metnews.com/articles/2006/reminiscing052506.htm

 http://www.angelfire.com/yt/soda/Rosman-OC-amber.html

 http://www.etsy.com/listing/119446397/vintage-very-rare-orange-crush-bottle?ref=exp_listing

 http://clubout.voila.net/bouteille_crush.htm


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## zecritr (Apr 28, 2013)

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 Thursday, May 25, 2006

 Page 15

 REMINISCING (Column)

 Orange Crushâ€”a Soda Pop Developed in Los Angeles

 By ROGER M. GRACE

 Coke was invented in Atlanta, Georgia; Pepsi in New Bern, North Carolina; Dr. Pepper in Waco, Texas; 7-Up in St. Louis, Missouri; and Vernorâ€™s Ginger Ale in Detroit, Michigan.
 Was any major soft drink first concocted in Los Angeles? Yes. Orange Crush.
 Before getting to the productâ€™s local beginnings, hereâ€™s what Cadbury-Schweppesâ€”the British Company that now owns Orange Crush and just about every non-cola brand you can think ofâ€”says on its website:
 â€œIn 1916, Clayton J. Howell, president and founder of the Orange Crush Company, partnered with California chemist Neil C. Ward to incorporate the company. Ward, a beverage and extract chemist, perfected the process of blending ingredients to create the exclusive formula that yielded the zesty, all-natural orange flavor of Orange Crush. J.M. Thompson of Chicago is recognized as the original inventor of Orange Crush in 1906.â€
 The website continues:
 â€œC. J. Howell was not new to the soft drink business, having earlier introduced Howellâ€™s Orange Julep. Soft drinks of the time often carried the surname of the inventor along with the product name. Howell sold the rights to use his name in conjunction with his first brand; his partner, Ward, was given the honors and Crush was first premiered as â€˜Wardâ€™s Orange Crush.â€™ â€
 Howel (spelled with one â€œlâ€) did form the Orange-Crush Company (incorporated Aug. 16, 1916). A 1917 opinion of the Supreme Court of Missouri shows that he had not been the inventor of â€œHowelâ€™s Orange Julepâ€; rather, he had been secretary and manager of the Jersey Creme Company and, in that capacity, oversaw the development of the drink by an employee. The name â€œClayton James Howelâ€ had been registered by the company as a trademark in connection with its product and rights to the trademark were assigned by Howel to the company.
 Neil Callen Ward was a chemist who had injured an eye in an explosion. He developed the formula for Orange Crush in 1915, at the age of 34. Ward and his wife lived in an apartment on Virgil Avenue.
 There may have been a J.M. Thompson who had developed an earlier product known as â€œOrange Crush,â€ but it would appear that Wardâ€™s formulation was unique.
 Widespread advertising of Wardâ€™s Orange-Crush got underway in 1919.
 An ad appearing in the summer of that year in numerous newspapers said that â€œ[t]he process of preparing Orange-Crush was perfected in Los Angelesâ€”in the midst of the beautiful orange groves of Southern California.â€
 The ad recounted that the â€œalmost insurmountable difficulty which had to be faced at the start was the quick deterioration of orange-juice.â€ It could only be preserved by keeping it at a temperature 18 degrees below the freezing pointâ€”or one to three degrees above that point if the juice were sterilized, ruining the flavor, according to the ad.
 The answer was found to be use of â€œtiny, fragrant globules of oil artfully concealed in minute cellsâ€ in the outer skin of the orange, which contained the â€œdominant flavorâ€ of the juice.
 The ad continued:
 â€œIt was only after many patient years of experimenting that the exclusive process, whereby the delicately flavored globules of oil are successfully introduced into the drink, was achieved. The discovery and perfection of this remarkable process was accomplished by N.C. Ward, a soft-drink chemist of national repute. The process is known and used only by Orange-Crush Co. It is the presence of these minute and delicious particles of oil, distributed by the Ward process uniformly throughout the drink which gives the inimitable flavor and the fruit-cloudy appearance to Orange-Crush.â€
 While the company was headquartered in Chicago, its laboratories were in Los Angeles.
 Initially, there was no orange juice in the beverageâ€”only the oil from the skins. But by 1921, juice was added to Orange Crush (as well as to the newer beverages, Lemon Crush and Lime Crush).
 A 1924 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia listed what was contained in the Orange Crush bottles:
 â€œA compound prepared from oil of orange, orange juice, citric acid and purest sugar syrup. Colored with harmless food colors.â€
 Today, by contrast, labels read:
 â€œCarbonated Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup and/or Sugar, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Gum Acacia, Natural Flavors, Glycrol Ester of Wood Rosin, Yellow 6, Salt, Brominated Vegetable Oil, Red 40.â€
 Wood rosin, but no mention of orange juice.


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## zecritr (Apr 28, 2013)

OC1


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## morbious_fod (Apr 28, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  SODAPOPBOB
> 
> Although I have researched this to some extent by gleaning information from the following links, I am still somewhat confused and wondering ...
> 
> ...


 Because it is a bottler created slug plate bottle not an Orange Crush company bottle. The Wards would have been on the paper label. The information on the bottle was just to inform the customer/retailer who to return the bottle to.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 28, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  SODAPOPBOB
> 
> I can't explain this one, but it's a Ward's Orange Crush straight-sided bottle that has a paper label showing three images of the krinkly bottles. I don't own it and do not know the date.
> 
> Bob


 
 That is because while there is a hard date for the introduction of the Krinkle bottles, there is no hard date for the adoption of Krinkle bottles by bottlers; however, the company was using the three krinkle bottles in their letterhead. In fact they were still trying to sell the idea of adoption of Krinkle bottles as late as 1923, and still hadn't gotten to 100 percent adoption according to the in company magazine.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 28, 2013)

As this quaint graph from the magazine shows the process of adaptation of the Krinkly bottle took some time it wasn't instantaneous.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 28, 2013)

Orange Crush letterhead from the early 1920's, note that the graphic closely matches the label in question.


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## zecritr (Apr 28, 2013)

can the bottles be identified to the year? the krinklies that is?


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## morbious_fod (Apr 28, 2013)

Sometimes there are dates, usually krinkles come in eras. The Ward's "Patent applied for" era from about 1919-1920, the Pat'd July 20, 1920 bottles 1920-1930, the crushy Orange Crush embossed label krinkle 1930-1938 (actually I have one dated 1945 so their demise wasn't set in stone), tall amber acl krinkle 1938-mid 1940's, squat amber acl Krinkle mid-1940's-mid-1950's (but they were used longer than that) which saw the introduction of the Mae West style bottles and the eventual demise of the Krinkle.

 The O-C Beverages variation of the Krinkle can run the gambit having not been changed much over the years.


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## zecritr (Apr 28, 2013)

Ahhh cool thanks for the info help 
 chris


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## celerycola (Apr 28, 2013)

*RE: Orange Crush origin*

Neil Callan Ward was a native of Greenfield, TN, and a 1906 honors graduate of Harvard University. He worked briefly for a company in St. Joseph, MI, before returning to Greenfield in 1907 to become a partner with druggist J. L. Shannon. Shortly after joining Shannon, young Neil developed his first commercial soft drink: Celery-Ade. With investment from Ward's Michigan friends, Celery-Ade was advertised nationally and sold in the South and Midwest. After a couple of years Ward sold his interest in Shannon, Ward & Company and moved to Los Angeles hoping to improve his wife's health. Ward became a soft drink chemist at Los Angeles Ice & Cold Storage Company where he developed a process to extract flavoring extract from orange peel. That flavor became the basis for Ward's Orange Crush.


> ORIGINAL:  zecritr
> 
> Metropolitan News-Enterprise
> 
> ...


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## celerycola (Apr 28, 2013)

If you want details about Orange Crush bottles, history, and values you need a copy of Mike Rosman's book "Krinkly to Mae West, History and Description of a Soda Pop Bottle." It is 265 pages and profusely illustrated with full color pics of bottles and advertising. You can contact Mike at mrosman@sympatico.ca.


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## Bumpa66 (Apr 29, 2013)

I appreciate everyone's input on this bottle. I appologize for not replying, but I have been traveling since I posted the original post. After reading all the comments, I have recieved a great amount of info and history on orange crush. But I am still confused as to what bottle I have here and who made it. After doing research myself, I could only find one other bottle on Etsy that looked like mine, but It just said it was pre-krinkly. I'm not sure where he got his info from, but he was selling it as rare. I'm still not sure if this bottle is a pre-krinkly bottle, or if it is made from another company, which produced an orange drink. After looking at all the ads with the paper labels, I am not convinced this bottle ever had a paper label. Would it have been on the opposite side of the slug plate? From everything I have read so far, this seems to be from the 1920's period? This would be in line with the age of the other bottles I am finding in this cellar hole. I still have a ways to dig, so maybe I will find some older stuff further down. Does anyone know how deep these cellar holes can go? I'm still not sure if it's a cellar hole or a root cellar. I am continuing to do research on companies in Greenville, KY that would have produced this bottle.


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## celerycola (Apr 29, 2013)

The only Greenville KY bottling plant listed in the 1923 and 1925 Blue Books was the Orange Crush Bottling Company owned by James E. Long.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 29, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  celerycola
> 
> If you want details about Orange Crush bottles, history, and values you need a copy of Mike Rosman's book "Krinkly to Mae West, History and Description of a Soda Pop Bottle." It is 265 pages and profusely illustrated with full color pics of bottles and advertising. You can contact Mike at mrosman@sympatico.ca.


  Indeed


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## morbious_fod (Apr 29, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  Bumpa66
> 
> I appreciate everyone's input on this bottle. I appologize for not replying, but I have been traveling since I posted the original post. After reading all the comments, I have recieved a great amount of info and history on orange crush. But I am still confused as to what bottle I have here and who made it. After doing research myself, I could only find one other bottle on Etsy that looked like mine, but It just said it was pre-krinkly. I'm not sure where he got his info from, but he was selling it as rare. I'm still not sure if this bottle is a pre-krinkly bottle, or if it is made from another company, which produced an orange drink. After looking at all the ads with the paper labels, I am not convinced this bottle ever had a paper label. Would it have been on the opposite side of the slug plate? From everything I have read so far, this seems to be from the 1920's period? This would be in line with the age of the other bottles I am finding in this cellar hole. I still have a ways to dig, so maybe I will find some older stuff further down. Does anyone know how deep these cellar holes can go? I'm still not sure if it's a cellar hole or a root cellar. I am continuing to do research on companies in Greenville, KY that would have produced this bottle.


 
 Yes the paper label would have been placed on the opposite side of the slug plate.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 29, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  celerycola
> 
> The only Greenville KY bottling plant listed in the 1923 and 1925 Blue Books was the Orange Crush Bottling Company owned by James E. Long.


 
 Ya know I took a quick look on Google books, but didn't even think to look in the Blue books.


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## JBinNC (Jan 17, 2022)

I just found 1 of these bottles in a creek the other day (exactly like the original post) Does anybody know the significance of the single letter on the bottom of the bottle. The original post had a "L" on the bottom, mine from Gastonia NC has a "C", I found a sold listing on ebay with a "M" on it from Morrilton AR. I was wondering if it had anything to do with the dates of the bottles or if it is just a mold code? Thanks


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## Jstorm (Jan 17, 2022)

JBinNC said:


> I just found 1 of these bottles in a creek the other day (exactly like the original post) Does anybody know the significance of the single letter on the bottom of the bottle. The original post had a "L" on the bottom, mine from Gastonia NC has a "C", I found a sold listing on ebay with a "M" on it from Morrilton AR. I was wondering if it had anything to do with the dates of the bottles or if it is just a mold code? Thanks


Very nice


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