GC4PG0M Bottlecap Capital of the World (Unknown Cache) in Maryland, United States created by USN Radio Chief

This cache has been archived.

SirCrab: Unfortunately the owner did not respond to the previous note so this is being archived. Should the owner decide to repair/replace this and have it unarchived, it can be done as long as it still conforms to the guidelines.

Regards,
SirCrab
Volunteer Cache Reviewer

GC4PG0M ▼

A cache by USN Radio Chief Message this owner

Hidden : 10/2/2013

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: not chosen (not chosen)

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Geocache Description:

As Promised, A replacement cache in Patterson Park.

CACHE IS NOT AT POSTED COORDS -- THAT IS THE ABANDONED BOTTLECAP FACTORY

A product that nearly everyone touches and twists while hardly giving it a second thought …

The bottlecap was the brainchild of William Painter, a Baltimore businessman who in 1892 had invented a flanged metal cap that could keep beer and other carbonated drinks (such as newly created Coca-Cola) fresh and fizzy in a bottle.

Painter's simple design, which he called "crown corks," used a metal lid lined with a thin cork disc for improving the seal and protecting the drink from the metal's toxicity. (Today plastic is typically used instead of cork.) The caps had a corrugated edge that would be pressed around the rim of the top of a bottle, by hand or by machine. They were designed for one-time use, they were inexpensive, and they were completely leak-proof.

“I, William Painter, of Baltimore…Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bottle-Sealing Devices…(pertaining to) the sealing of bottles by the use of compressible packing-disks and metallic caps, which have flanges bent into reliable locking engagement with annular locking-shoulders on the heads of bottles, while the packing-disk is in each case under heavy compression and in enveloping contact with the lip of the bottle.”

His factory, the Crown Cork & Seal plant, employed over 5,000 people and produced over 40 billion bottlecaps a year, making Baltimore the Bottlecap Capital of the World.

So the next time you twist a top, raise your bottle to Mr. Painter and his invention. Your bottlecap was born in Baltimore Hon!