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Dec 03, 2023

Torpedo bottles

Torpedo bottles, a type of soda/mineral water bottle, are unusual in that they were not designed to stand upright. Instead, the rounded or pointed bases were designed to ensure that the bottle was

Torpedo bottles, a type of soda/mineral water bottle, are unusual in that they were not designed to stand upright. Instead, the rounded or pointed bases were designed to ensure that the bottle was laid on its side so that the wired down cork would not dry out and shrink, allowing the contents to loose carbonation and/or evaporate.

Commonly referred to as “Hamilton’s” by English collectors (William F. Hamilton of Dublin, Ireland, was granted the first patent for them in 1809), torpedo bottles used to be referred to as “ballast bottles” since many, if not most, torpedo bottles were imported from England as “ballast” (weight) in ships returning to the United States. Torpedo bottles are also known as “bombs” or “eggs” or “egg-shaped” by other collectors.

Although round bottom soda bottles are actually different than torpedo soda bottles (torpedo bottles look more like Greek amphorae), in many discussions (including this one) the names are interchangeable.

Torpedo soda bottles were made of thick heavy glass (some bottles weigh as much as a pound) to withstand the carbonation pressures of soda and mineral water. Although true torpedo bottles could not stand up, some rounded bottom soda bottles had a small flattened area in the middle of the base that allowed them to stand wobbly upright. Such bottles are called a “club”, “tenpin”, “semi-round”, or “egg-shaped.”

Torpedo bottles had several manufacturing advantages over flat-bottomed bottles. 1) Forcing the bottle to lie on its side kept the liquid in constant contact with the cork and thereby prevented leakage of air. 2) The shape allowed it to be much stronger than conventional bottles of equal weight, so torpedo bottles were less likely to crack under pressure. 3) Torpedo bottles were easier to pack in crates and safer to ship. And 4) Torpedo bottles were difficult to set down once opened, so you had to drink until you finished the contents. Customers were forced to drink faster, so they purchased more drinks. Makes one wonder why beer companies don’t use torpedo bottles today?

Round bottom soda bottles were usually produced in a true two-piece mold where the neck, shoulder, body, and base were produced by the two halves of the mold, so these bottles are a rounded base version of the “hinge mold” that has a single mold seam that runs continuously from one side of the body, around the base, and then up the other side. Round bottom soda bottles were the last type of two-piece mold bottles manufactured after the 1870s.

Because early torpedo bottles were hand blown, look for imperfections and bubbles in the glass. Imperfect bottles reflect age, which may make the bottle more valuable.

A torpedo bottle’s finish is also unique. The finish of a majority of the bottles is a thick heavy blob, which allowed for the wiring down of a cork closure. The blob finish was a ring of glass applied around the jagged top to give the opening added strength for when the cork was hammered home. The irregular crack often seen inside the blob top is the original jagged top (where the blowing rod was broken away). Other finishes to look for included a crown cap finish (post 1900) and a Codd’s ball stopper finish; although, the Codd’s finish is quite rare so the price of these bottles, if found, is expensive. Oil and mineral finishes can also be found, but they are quite rare in comparison to the number of torpedo bottles available for collection.

The majority of torpedo or round bottom soda bottles that were sold in the United States were imported from Great Britain. Most were embossed with company names and cities from around the British Isles. If you look for different cities, expect Belfast, Ireland, to be a common city of manufacture.

Some collectors only collect torpedo bottles that were either made in the US or made in Europe for US bottlers. Many of these bottles were advertised in US bottle makers catalogs during the early 20th century as “Round Bottom Ginger Ale” bottles. Two names to watch for are the Illinois Glass Company and Saegertown, PA. Mineral Springs water bottles. The Saegertown bottles are from the late 1800s.

It is difficult to know whether a bottle is of European or American manufacture. European bottle making techniques, during the 19th century, were a decade or two behind American techniques, which seems strange given that the Industrial Revolution began in Europe. But a bottle manufactured in Europe in the late 19th century or early 20th century could have been manufactured in America as early the post Civil War years up to 1880 when round bottom bottles ceased manufacture in America.

Because America imported millions of these bottles, they can be found buried in historic sites around the US and in garbage dumps from the era. Torpedo bottles of the same manufacture found in America are also found around the world, in British colonial countries such as Australian and even India, since British manufactured goods were exported everywhere. The greenish aqua color, prevalent in many torpedo bottles, is often seen in bottles manufactured in Britain; however, that color was not used exclusively in England, making the manufacturer’s country difficult to trace.

While the majority of round bottom/torpedo soda bottles date from the 1870s to the 1910s, there are some American made torpedo bottles that date as early as 1840. These are exceptional bottles to add to a collection, but they are rare.

Just before the end of the torpedo bottle era, crown cap bottles became prevalent (1895 and onward). With a crown cap, bottles no longer had to be laid on their sides to keep corks wet, so torpedo bottles with crown caps were often displayed upright.

Machine-made examples of round bottom soda bottles were made from the early 1910s until about 1925 when torpedo bottles slipped into history.

Nearly every antique store in America has a torpedo bottle or two since they were once quite common. If you enjoy digging for bottles, old dump sites and old house foundations (circa 1890) are excellent locations to dig. And in the crawl spaces or rafters of any late 1890 house you may still find one.

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