Bottles on the Border: The History and Bottles of the Soft Drink ...

Hutchinson bottle used at Douglas, Arizona. Even the style of lettering in the circular plate
matches (see Douglas discussion below).
Houck & Dieter Crown-Finished Bottle
Sometime (probably about 1898 or earlier) Houck & Dieter switched to the crown cap as a
sealer, a process that probably began about 1898 (possibly as early as 1895). Houck & Dieter’s
major competitor, R.F. Johnson & Co., adopted a crown-finish bottle sometime between 1895
and 1898 (see R.F. Johnson & Co.). The company very likely used the earliest crown-capped
containers simultaneously with the last of the Hutchinson bottles. This was apparently a fairly
common practice. Elliott & Gould (1988:44) explain:
Though many bottlers made the switch from Hutchinsons to crowns at some
point during this period a number of them retained their Hutchinson machinery
and continued to use Hutchinson bottles as well as crowns. This was practical for
two reasons. First, the bottler’s existing Hutchinson machinery represented a
large investment that was still perfectly good; and secondly, people tend to resist
change, and a whole generation had grown accustomed to drinking from the
Hutchinson bottles.
When making bottles for soda works that used both Hutchinsons and crowns
the glass houses generally made a dual set of molds or plates, one for the
Hutchinsons and one for the crown tops, so that both types of bottles could be
clown simultaneously, speeding production. The same design was usually cut into
each plate and if the engraver was doing fine work the lettering on the resulting
Hutchinsons and crowns, though never quite identical, was often very similar.
The later Houck & Dieter Hutchinson bottles are not a match with the crown-capped bottles. The
styles of lettering are quite different. In fact, the shape of the lettering on the front and the lack
of plate mold are a very close match for the older, original Hutchinson (Matthews) bottle (Figure
5-23).
Method of Manufacture: Blown into mold
Color: Light Blue
Size (in cm.): 19.8-20.3 (h); 6.5-6.6 (d)
Primary Labeling Style: Embossed
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