It was a bit of a surprise. My daughter had a small bottle of pop that she found in the import section of a local grocery store. It wasn’t that she found some strange imported soft drink that surprised me. It was how the bottle was sealed. It was a modern variety of the Codd neck.
If you are wondering what the heck a Codd neck is, it’s a type of bottle stopper invented in 1872 by Hiram Codd of London. In his case, he used molded bottles with a special chamber at the top that contained a marble. The bottles were usually made in two halves, then had the marble added and were sealed together. When they were filled with a carbonated beverage, the gas in the beverage would force the marble to the top, where it would come up against the top and seal the bottle. To open, just push the marble down into the special little chamber below and drink.
It was a pretty interesting invention. But it’s not something in common use today. However, there is a South Shore connection.
Back in 1889, Samuel and Stephen Kempton of Milton, Queen’s County, opened the Milton Aerated Water Works, making various carbonated beverages and packaged them in Codd neck bottles. It eventually closed down in the 1920s, but the bottles are still quite collectable. An intact one could be worth $200 or more.
Their bottles were slightly ahead of their time for one reason. They could be returned for a refund. Something that was unheard of at the time, but these things were expensive to make. Probably a big reason they almost disappeared. That and the fact that the crown cap was a cheaper and easier alternative.
And those old Codd neck bottles also had a natural enemy. Children. Sure, you could take the bottle back. But a simple toss at a handy rock would get you a free marble to play with. Refund? Or free glass marble? The marbles won for the most part. Which is why you don’t see many old Codd neck bottles around.
But there are still a couple bottlers in Japan and India that use a new version of the Codd neck. The one I saw the other day has the marble in the glass chamber at the top, but it is held in place by a plastic cap. Probably a lot better than sticking two halves of a bottle together. And if you pry the plastic top off, you get a free glass marble and you don’t have to break the glass to get it.
Now that’s progress.
