Suwannee milk bottle opener.Dacro Crown cap:pasteurize in bottle.$2.50

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Suwannee milk bottle opener.Dacro Crown cap:pasteurize in bottle.$2.50

Price:

Location:

Columbus, OH

Description:

SUWANNEE DAIRY PRODUCTS is on one side.Purity Protected DACRO Sealed milk is on the other side. Dacro was a very early process of pasteurizing directly in the bottle, so this opener is especially old. See below.Not sure how we ended up with a Suwannee Products bottle cap opener at our Ohio dairy farm, family owned since 1855.DACRO: Dacro Crown cap promoted the fact that milk in bottles sealed with these caps could be pasteurized in the bottle. This is how beer is pasteurized today. The advantage of this was that the milk did not have to be handled after pasteurization and the chance for recontamination was eliminated. Milk in bottles with cardboard milk caps in a cap seat could not be pasteurized in the bottle.The crown cap was patented by William Painter of Baltimore, Maryland. On February 2, 1892 Painter was granted three patents dealing with the crown style closures. He formed the Crown Cork and Seal Company to market this new closure. On April 26, 1892 he patented a machine for installing crown caps and on February 6, 1894 he patented a crown cap bottle opener. He was granted many more patents for improvements in the crown cap, equipment to make and install them and gluten compounds to use as a seal inside the metal cap. Advertisements for the company as early as 1911 referred to the crown cap used on milk bottles as the Dacro Crown. The trade name "Dacro" was a shortened version of "dairy crown". The company remained in business for many years.The crown top milk bottle was not used in great numbers however. Initially there were problems with the cork lining inside the metal cap imparting a flavor to the milk during pasteurization. This was solved by switching to wood or paper linings. The crown caps were slower to cap than conventional milk bottles and required a specialized capper. The cost of a small hand capper was 20 dollars in 1914 and rose to 25 dollars soon after but even this was a large expense for a small dairy. Chipping of the glass bottle lip was also mentioned as a drawback. If there was any damage to the bottle lip the crown cap would not make a tight seal. Milk delivery men did not like the crown caps for one of the very reasons they were recommended. With the crown cap they could not tamper with the cap without it being obvious to the consumer. This prevented milk delivery men from opening quart bottles and splitting them in to pints while on their route (or combining pints into quarts) since the crown cap could not be replaced in the field like the paper disc cap could.Crown caps were more popular with soda works and breweries because carbonated beverages required a tight seal like the crown cap supplied. With milk however the paper milk cap was sufficient. Also the cost of the capping machines was probably easier for a larger brewery to justify than a small creamery.

Category:

Antiques

Posted:

January 8 on Americanlisted