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Cool Drinks for Sale

Over 1,500 U.S. patents were filed for either a cork, cap or lid for the carbonated drink bottle tops. The bottles were under a lot of pressure from the gas. Inventors were trying to find the best way to prevent the carbon dioxide (bubbles) from escaping. In 1892, the "Crown Cork Bottle Seal" was patented by William Painter, a Baltimore machine shop operator. It was the first very successful method of keeping the bubbles in the bottle.

Sometime in the 1920's, the first "Hom-Paks" were invented. "Hom-Paks" are the familiar six-pack carrying cartons.
Automatic vending machines also began to appear in the 1920's. The soft drink had become an American mainstay.

In 1899 the first patent was issued for a glass blowing machine for the automatic production of glass bottles.
Earlier glass bottles had all been hand blown. Four years later, the new bottle blowing machine was in operation. It was first operated by the inventor,
Michael J. Owens, an employee of Libby Glass Company. Within a few years, glass bottle production increased from 1,500 bottles a day to 57,000 bottles a day.

Flour and Corn Meal