# U. S. B. F. Bottle?



## Robby Raccoon (May 15, 2017)

An odd bottle I found recently. Ten-pin shape. Tooled top. Worn out mold embossing of U. S. B. F. 

In the bottling world, I can only find United States Brewers Foundation, 1862 - 1986, as matching this acronym. 

It has these odd little details at the base on two sides.

Any ideas on what this bottle held, and what company it came from, as well as an age and the odd base features? 
Sadly it's chipped, but still an interesting bottle.


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## sunrunner (May 24, 2017)

it's a soda of some sort . maybe some kind of government department .


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## nhpharm (May 24, 2017)

United States Brewers Foundation (though I don't know why they would have a bottle)?  United States Bureau of Fisheries (possibly a sample bottle or a water current indicator bottle?).  Just throwing some things out there.


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## Robby Raccoon (May 24, 2017)

Sun Runner, NH Pharm, thank you for commenting; but, I'm not sure why a government department would have its own bottle, and I'm not sure it would be suitable to sample water or figure out currents.
My guess as the Foundation, but I cannot in my research find any bottles from any event they had.


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## Ken_Riser (May 29, 2017)

Dept of wildlife sample water bottle my uncle sayinsamples of rivers streams ect collection bottle I'm not sure but looking yes water prob 

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## Ken_Riser (May 29, 2017)

I've found in Oklahoma broken one but not many and they were always scattered out town to town so nobody in Oklahoma prob used them or used to work for them my sites I do old small towns the find the older town same name in woods now nobody would ever know if didn't talk to the older folks who used to live there in the iol field boom years way back yea Oklahoma's rich just have to talk to alot older peps oilfield truck driver they tell you there's cross cattle guard look right pastuer see that rock that's old police station yea under that cow patty like so funny how I find old towns sometimes cafe pictures in wynona had wynona Okla tent City on walls wow 9 banks lol all gone except those pictures that was in wynona cafe it burnt down good this picture worth a fortune

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## Ken_Riser (May 29, 2017)

Frank Phillips first well oil Pershing I worked a oul rig drilled another had no idea that was 50 yards from first well ever Frank Phillips till 2 years later yea we hit a good well to just a Pasteur now cattle a few pumpjacks barbed wire the I saw in a park in bartlesville Okla the original wooden pumpjack Frank Phillips lol I was almost redrilling his same well had no idea lol 

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## Robby Raccoon (May 29, 2017)

But why a crown-top bottle, which would require a hand-crimping tool? Why this odd shape, which wouldn't fit well in crates or packs?
I had to Google who Frank Phillips was. Often I go around with old postcards and find out the exact spot the pictures on them had been taken from, in which I retake the picture. Sometimes it's hard to find the spot, like with a resort here where all that is left is a few out-of-place stately oaks and gravel-- once in a while, a brick turns up.


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## CanadianBottles (May 30, 2017)

Could this possibly be an early drift bottle?  https://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/news/features/drift_bottles/  The U.S. Bureau of Fisheries could have been releasing messages in bottles to study ocean currents.  Those did usually have crown tops, because although they didn't have metal caps there was no point in changing the mold for that one bottle, and it wouldn't have mattered that it didn't stand up well because it would have spent its life bobbing around in the sea (or the Great Lakes).

That doesn't explain the notches in the bottom though.  I'm very curious about those, I've never seen anything like that before and it looks very specialized.  I expect that's the key to the mystery.


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## CanadianBottles (May 30, 2017)

Actually, here's a picture of a bowling pin bottle being used as a drift bottle:

https://www.google.ca/search?q="uni...+fisheries+drift+bottle&imgrc=B8nneoDXS7cq0M: 

No visible notches though.


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## whittled (May 30, 2017)

Spirit Bear said:


> Sun Runner, NH Pharm, thank you for commenting; but, I'm not sure why a government department would have its own bottle, and I'm not sure it would be suitable to sample water or figure out currents.
> My guess as the Foundation, but I cannot in my research find any bottles from any event they had.


“_U.S.A._ Hosp Dept” come to mind Bear but even that's unclear.


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## Robby Raccoon (May 30, 2017)

I'm glad you're into the notches as well. They seem unnecessary, but they must have had a function with at least transport or manufacture. 
I guess it is a 'drift bottle', which makes it really cool in my opinion.  An old old one, though? Not sure why they were made just for them, rather than reusing bottles tossed out elsewhere?


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## Robby Raccoon (May 30, 2017)

Too new to be a Hosp. Dept. bottle. I have those.


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## CanadianBottles (Jun 1, 2017)

Spirit Bear said:


> I'm glad you're into the notches as well. They seem unnecessary, but they must have had a function with at least transport or manufacture.
> I guess it is a 'drift bottle', which makes it really cool in my opinion.  An old old one, though? Not sure why they were made just for them, rather than reusing bottles tossed out elsewhere?



Yeah I'm definitely not convinced that's what it is yet, I just can't think of anything better.  Because like you said, there isn't really much of a reason for them to not use bottles that had been tossed out.  And there isn't any clear function for the notches.

The notches seem to imply that it needed to either be in a stationary position at some point or it had something attached to it.  Hypothetically, one potential reason for them would be if the bottle was clad in metal and needed to have an opening that stayed in the same place to display the embossing.  Though I can't imagine what use that would be.


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## Robby Raccoon (Jun 2, 2017)

It will just remain mysterious, I guess. Some things are truly lost to history, however recent the history may have been.


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