History of Coca Cola Bottle

In 1886, Coca-Cola was only sold out of soda fountains for 5 cents a glass. In those days, putting soda-drinks in bottles wasn't an easy task since a way to get an air-tight seal on a bottle had not yet been developed.

In 1894 a man by the name of Joseph Augustas Biedenharn, a 28 year old candy merchant from Vicksburg, Mississippi, began selling Coca-Cola in bottles. The bottle he used is known to us as the Hutchinson stopper-type glass bottle, utilizing an iron stopper and rubber washer.

In 1899, Asa Griggs Candler, owner of Coca-Cola, gave two young attorneys, Benjamin F. Thomas and Joseph B. Whitehead of Chattanooga, Tennessee, the rights to bottle Coca-Cola across most of the United States. Because Candler wasn't confident it could be done, the two men only had to pay one dollar for the bottling rights. Thomas and Whitehead not only succeeded, they also started a network of bottling companies. Soon there after, a third Chattanooga lawyer by the name of John T. Lupton would join their venture. By 1909, 379 bottling companies were in operation across the United States.

By 1905, Coca-Cola would be sold in the second bottle type. This bottle is known to us as the crown top, straight-sided bottle, utilizing a cap instead of a stopper. These bottles came in amber, clear and light green colors, and were also the first to have labels on them. Millions of these bottles were used until Coca-Cola started running into problems with their competitors who were trying to imitate Coca-Cola. The imitators came up with names like Coke-Ola, Koka-Nola, Its-a-Cola, Klu Ko Kolo, Loco Cola, Toca-Cola and Zero-Cola. This of course posed a serious problem for Coca-Cola.

Fortunately in 1913, Harold Hirsch, a lawyer for the Coca-Cola Company, came up with a plan. He helped Coca-Cola launch a national competition in which bottle manufacturers across the country would be asked to design a distinctive bottle - a bottle which a person could recognize even if they felt it in the dark, and so shaped that, even if broken, a person could tell at a glance what it was. The bottle manufacturer that won this competition was the Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana. Inspired by a picture of a cocoa pod which was found in an encyclopedia at the Emeline Fairbanks Memorial Library, Earl R. Dean, the designer, made a pencil sketch of the bottle. From this sketch, the contour bottle prototype was made. The prototype never made it to production since its middle diameter was larger than its base. This would make it unstable on the conveyor belts. Dean then reduced the middle diameter and the Contour Coca-Cola Bottle was born.

The Contour Coca-Cola Bottle became one of the few packages to achieve trademark status by the U.S. Patent Office. Today, it's considered the most recognized package design on the planet ... yes, even in the dark !

Today, there are only two prototype bottles in existence. One is enshrined in a showcase by the Coca-Cola Company at it's museum in Atlanta, Georgia. The other bottle, as well as Dean's original pencil drawing, is in the possession of one of his sons.