Glass milk bottle celebrates 100th birthday
ROSEMONT, 111. Even though
George Orwell didn’t mention it in
his prophetic book, “1984,” this is
the 100th anniversary of the first
successful glass milk bottle. Ac
tually, the first glass milk con
tainer was patented in 1878 by
George H. Lester of Brooklyn, New
York. Properly called the Lester
Milk Jar, it was a glass container
topped with a rubber gasket and a
thumbscrew to hold down the glass
cover.
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But the first nationally-known
milk bottle was patented by Dr.
Hervey D. Thatcher of Potsdam,
' T ew York, in 1884. A druggist and
inv.-'tor, Thatcher worked to
develop a total system of milk
handling. He invented several
“milk protectors” to keep milk
clean during milking and filling
processes.
The first Thatcher quart-bottle
was similar to other bottles of that
time. It was 10” high and 4” in
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diameter. The words “Absolutely
Pure Milk/The Milk Protector”
and a Quaker milking a cow were
embossed on the front of the bottle.
The original bottles weighed 30
ounces and cost more than 10 cents
each.
The glass cover peaked about an
inch above the bottle’s rim and was
kept closed with an eccentric lever
and bail or yoke pivoted to it. In
1886, Thatcher invented a paper
washer to seal the milk bottle that
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often leaked.
He further modified his bottles to
include a capseat and a tin top.
Then, in 1889, he devised a disc
closure procedure that is still being
used.
Glass bottles were .available in
all sizes and in colors ranging from
light green to varying shades of
amber. The Thatcher bottles had a
small mouth and a short neck.
Soon its sides were tapered to
lower the creamline, as milk with
lots of cream was favored.
Because housewives poured off the
cream for cereal and coffee, some
dairies used cream separator
bottles. They had a pronounced
dent at the bottom of the bottle
neck that held back cream while
allowing the skim milk to be
poured. Others used cream-top
bottles and provided cream spoons
to pinch off milk while cream was
poured off.
Before glass bottles were
available for home delivery, milk
was poured or dipped from cans or
vats into customer’s containers.
Then glass was used exclusively
for home delivery, the main sales
route for milk, for nearly 50 years.
Glass bottles were also used in
“Ma and Pa” stores until the
Robinson-Patman Bill created
Maryland 4-H kicks off fund drive
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The
Maryland 4-H Club Foundation has
kicked off its annual fund drive
with a goal to raise $50,000 from
businesses and industries
throughout the state.
If achieved, this would be the
most successful fund drive in the
foundation’s 15-year history, ac
cording to Amy F. Leber, Ex
tension resource development
coordinator at the University of
supermarkets in the 1930’5.
Today only 1 percent of the fluid
milk sold in the United States is
packaged in glass bottles.
Disposable paperboard cartons
and plastic containers replaced
returnable milk bottles. Paper is
used for 42 percent of the milk
packages and plastic molded
containers for 57 percent. Twenty
years ago, glass was used for 31
percent of milk containers, paper
for 64 percent and plastic for
barely 2 percent.
Sizes of milk packages have also
changed. The original glass milk
bottles were quart size. In 1964,
only 13% of milk containers were
quarts, while today the number is
less than 5 percent. In 1964, 54
percent of milk was sold in half
gallon containers. By 1981, 57
percent of milk sales were in
gallon containers.
Increasing sales of larger-size
containers fits with other lifestyle
patterns: fewer trips to the store,
greater use of refrigeration, and
changes in milk packaging.
The newest milk, Ultra Heat
Treated (UHT), has a 3-6 month
shelf life, and is aseptically
packaged. When opened, UHT
milk stays fresh as long as whole
and lowfat milks.
Maryland.
Last year, the foundation raised
$35,000, Leber reported. It topped
$30,000 for the first time in 1982,
and in 1980 the total was $13,200.
The 1984 fund drive represents
the finale of a three-year campaign
to help expand financial support
for the statwide 4-H youth program
administered by the University of
Maryland’s Cooperative Extension
Service.