The archaeological community is notably silent on the subject of dairy containers.  Jones and Sullivan (1989), the accepted authority for glass terminology contains no category for milk bottles and very little information specific to dairy containers except a brief description of disc closures (see below).  Because milk bottles are usually associated with 20th century deposition (with occasional late 19th century containers found in northeastern contexts), little research appears to have been generated. 

     The Lester Milk Jar was patented January 29, 1878.  A screw clamp held the lid in place, but the entire container was awkward and may never have seen actual use (Tutton 1994:3).  In 1886, a glass container was made that featured an embossed cow.  This may have been the first milk bottle (Gallagher and Munsey 1969:331).  Although the very first patented milk bottle appeared in 1878, it was not until Dr. Harvey D. Thatcher of Pottsdam, New York, patented Thatcher and Barnhart's closure for milk jars in 1886 that the delivery of bottled milk became practical (Gallagher and Munsey 1969:332; Scharnowske,1998:6; Tutton 1985:6).  Thatcher's container became so popular that he was called the father of the milk bottle, and his bottle was called the "Thatcher Milk Protector."  By 1885, Thatcher was advertising his milk protector as "the ONLY PLAN KNOWN that secures to the consumer ABSOLUTELY PURE MILK in such manner that it can be kept sweet for several days, furnish a good coat of cream and is handy to use. . . . THE SEALED BOTTLES are easy for the patron to store as they can be kept in a refrigerator without imbibing its odor" (Tutton 1994:8).  Note that ice boxes were also called refrigerators–mechanical refrigerators did not yet exist in homes.

     Gallagher and Munsey (1969:331) and Tutton (1994:4), however, suggest that the honors for the first milk bottle should really go to the Warren Glass Co. for their Warren Milk Bottles  that were patented on March 23, 1880. The shape was the first to be close to what later became the standard milk bottle morphology.  Surprisingly, Tutton (1994:4) also shows an ad for the Warren bottle from the Farm Journal of December 1879 (before the patent date).  Regardless of who deserves the credit, the Thatcher certainly received the greater notice.

     Late-19th century milk containers were made in a variety of sizes, styles, and finishes.  These were frequently embossed with the owner's (i.e. the dairy that actually owned the returnable milk container) name and at least partial address.  Closures were made from glass or metal, and occasionally the lightning stopper, normally used on beer bottles was employed (Tutton 1985:6-7).  Most pre-1900 milk bottles were used in the eastern section of the US.

     In 1889, H. P. and S. L. Barnhart, employees of Harvey Thatcher, Potsdam, New York, patented the "Common Sense Milk Bottles."  The finish of this bottle had a built-in ledge to support a ligneous (cardboard) disk for a closure.  These cylindrical bottles had a wide body and fairly wide mouth.  They became the industry standard by 1900, replacing the earlier glass top, "tin top," and other finish types (Giarde 1980:114; Pollard 1993:285; Taylor 1971:46).  Thatcher's bottles were advertised as "the handsomest, cheapest, and best milk bottle ever offered for sale in any market" (Gallagher 1969:50; Gallagher & Munsey 1969:333).  By 1902, Thatcher's bottles normally came with "TO BE WASHED AND RETURNED" embossed on the reverse side (Thatcher 1902:3-4).

     An ad in the A. H. Reid Catalog of 1899 (Tutton 1994:11) shows how unsophisticated bottle maker were at that time.  Although the ad notes that "the system of delivering milk and cream in glass bottles has been in use for some time" (emphasis in original), they nonetheless suggest that "the best plan to follow in serving the milk is to leave a full and take away an empty bottle at each delivery.  In this way it will take twice as many bottles as there are customers."  The system does not take into effect breakage or lag time which would require at least four times (or more) bottles than customers.  Hopefully, dairies were more astute than the manufacturer.

     In 1904, Thatcher was one of the first to receive a license for the newly patented (late 1903) Owens Automatic Bottle Machine (Gallagher & Munsey 1969:333).  The Owens machines were slow to become the industry standard because of the Owens leasing arrangement.  Obtaining an Owens lease was a complicated process, and few early 20th century bottlers could comply with the necessary procedures.  As competition became more intense, Owens relented and simplified the process (cf. Miller & Sullivan 1984 for a discussion of automatic bottle machine use).

     Although the common sense milk bottle was in use in parts of the country by the time most Otero County dairies were in business, it was probably not in use in this area until after 1910.  Diffusion of milk bottles from the East Coast and Midwest to the nearest major city, El Paso, Texas, probably took place about 1900 or slightly later, about the time milk bottle used became generally widespread (Apuzzo 1994:160).  J. A. "Uncle Jimmy" Smith, president of the El Paso Diary Co., Inc., introduced the use of common sense milk bottles to El Paso.  His earliest bottles were embossed with the company name and were distributed by the Creamery Package Manufacturing Co., a vendor of milk containers from about 1900 to the early teens.  The finding of similar unembossed bottles with the same manufacturer's marks in El Paso indicates that some of Smith's competitors also bottled their milk during approximately the same period (Giarde 1980:29).  A second style of El Paso Dairy Co. bottle was excavated from the Chamizal trash dump which was used from ca. 1880 to 1907 (Lockhart & Olszewski 1995:45).    Because Federal Marshals evicted families and cordoned off the area with barbed wire in 1907, this bottle style must have been in use prior to that time.  A third style of El Paso Dairy Co. bottle was manufactured by the Thatcher Manufacturing Co. at least as early as 1912 (Thatcher was noted for embossing the last two digits of the date of manufacture on the base of its bottles) (Giarde 1980:112-118).  Because of the railroad's umbilical connection between Alamogordo and El Paso, it is reasonable to speculate that diffusion of the milk bottle to Otero County fairly closely followed El Paso's acquisition of glass containers.

     Due to very limited historical urban archaeology in Otero County, we have little empirical knowledge of when milk bottle use began.  Some documentary evidence, however, does exist.  By 1919, M. L. Oliver, the "Home Furnisher," offered new, empty milk bottles ("common sense" variety) for sale in Home Furnishings of Alamogrodo.  Quart milk bottles sold for 12 cents each; pints were 10 cents; and half-pints cost 8 cents.  He offered 1,000 milk bottle caps for 50 cents (Alamogordo News October 16, 1919).  Apparently, dairy farmers had the option of buying their bottles from him rather than ordering from a catalog.
 

Alamogordo News October 16, 1919

     On the national scene, a slight variation on the cap seat was patented in 1924.  These containers resemble bowling pins and have a pour spout.  Their popularity, however, was short-lived.  An earlier patent (March 1, 1910) may never actually have been marketed (Tutton 1994:33; 1997:7).

     On March 3, 1925, Norman A. Henderson patented the cream top milk bottle, another variation of the cap seat (Giarde 1980:31).  These bottles display a bulbous neck to contain the cream as it rises to the top of the milk.  A special spoon (or separator), shaped to fit into the bottle neck, was available to remove the cream.  Interestingly, the spoon, invented by Herbert Hill was patented prior to the bottle (Tutton 1994:33).  A subtype of cream top, called a babytop by collectors, was patented on February 18, 1936.  These containers, made in half-pints, tall, tapered half-pints, quarts, and half-gallons, exhibited an embossed baby face on the bulbous neck (Tutton 1994:38).  These bottles survived the change to square morphs as did the regular cream top.  A second, similar type is called cop-the-cream and was patented on January 25, 1938.  These bottles contain a stern face thought to resemble that of a police officer and were made in half-pints, pints, and quarts (Tutton 1994:40). Still another version, the modern top milk bottle, was manufactured with an elongated bulb and a more constricted neck.  These were patented on March 29, 1938 (Tutton 1994:41).  A final variation, called a "toothache" bottle by collectors, had an exaggerated bulge to one side of the bulb.  Patented by R. A. Blunt on July 7, 1953, these are only found on square containers (Tutton 1994:44).  Cream top bottles were used until at least the late 1940s and probably later.  According to Gallagher and Munsey (1969:334), the cream top vanished because "homogenization did away with the problem of cream rising to the top of the bottle."  Although at least two of the standard cream top bottles were used in northern New Mexico, none have been identified from the southern part of the state.

     Late in 1925 (September 22), another unusual cap-seat variation was patented.  This was the "token" milk bottle with an embossed slot for "a metal or fiber token" (Tutton 1997:7).  The rational for the container placed the cause for its invention on restaurants.  During the 1920s, it was common practice to serve milk to customers in its original bottle.  As the cap (often the only company identifier) was removed prior to serving, the token would then specify the bottler (Tutton 1994:34).  As these bottles are quite scarce, they apparently achieved little popularity.

     The cream separator milk bottle, patented by George E. West on July 8, 1930, was very different in design, although it still used a cap seat finish.  It is known to collectors as "the bottle with the dent" because of a sharp, horizontal indentation on one side of the body.  The indented side was held upward while pouring to trap the cream while allowing the milk to flow freely out of the mouth (Giarde 1980:30).

     Although a milk bottle, square in cross section, was patented on November 15, 1898 along with another patented in 1927 (Tutton 1994:35; 1997:7), they were ahead of their time.  Some were used earlier, but the idea did not really catch on until the late 1940s (Gallagher 1969:50; Gallagher & Munsey 1969:333; Rawlinson 1970:13), although Tutton (1989:24, 35) places their popularity as beginning in the 1920s.  My own observation of dates on El Paso square bottles supports Gallagher and Rawlinson (the earliest date I have seen on El Paso square milk bottles is 1949).  During the late 1940s, the McMurry brothers of City Dairy in Alamogordo followed the national trend with a change to square (in cross section) quart bottles, rectangular half-gallons, and square gallons.  Also in the 1940s, a square, squat milk bottle was developed by Buck Glass Co. (Gallagher & Munsey 1969:333).  According to Giarde (1980:20), these became so popular that they "eventually ran the round milk bottle out of town," although they never s
eemed to gain popularity in El Paso or Southern New Mexico.

     In the 1920s, glass jars for cottage cheese became popular.  These 12-ounce jars were made from heavy glass and had very wide mouths (Gallagher 1969:95).  Although it is currently unknown how long they were in use, by at least the 1950s, cottage cheese was packaged in decorated tumblers that could be used as water glasses when they were empty.  The typical decoration was adhered to the glass by the pyroglaze technique in one or more colors, and the name of the issuing dairy was normally only identified on the cap.  Early caps were made from metal, but plastic soon became more popular.

    Reproductions of some of the more popular (with collectors) milk bottles are fairly common.  These can be made in almost any color including green, blue, cobalt blue, pink tint, and amber.  Some are even made from milk glass or ceramics (cf. Tutton 1985:79).  Although these are unlikely to show up in excavations, some may appear in more recent stratigraphic levels.

     Plate Molds

     Plate molds (often called slug plates by collectors) were circular, oval, or "tombstone-shaped" plates placed in the body of regular molds (both hand-blown and machine molds).  These enabled a customer to use a standard bottle design and personalize it with the company name and other information without having to pay the cost of having a full mold engraved.  I have not encountered "tombstone-shaped" plates on milk bottles, and circular plates seem to be more common than ovals.  Although this style of labeling had deteriorated in popularity by 1920 in most other types of bottles, it remained the primary mode of identification in milk bottles until the late 1930s or early 1940s when it was replaced by pryroglazing, and, in some vicinities (e.g. El Paso), the process persisted until the common usage of the square bottle in 1949.

     The Thatcher Manufacturing Co. catalog of 1902-1903 provides a great deal of information on plate molds used on their milk bottles.  Thatcher calls the molds "name plates" and offers them to customers at $1.00 each and "8 cents per letter" with prices for illustrations varying according to the complexity of the design.  Diameter of the plates varies according to bottle size: "3½" for quarts, 3" pints, 2½" halfpints, 21/8"quarter pints" (Thatcher 1902:3).  Creamery Packaging Mfg. Co. warned its customers that "six weeks is the usual time required to execute an order for lettered bottles" (Tutton 1994:183).

     The first square (cross section) waxed paper milk carton was patented on July 18, 1911, but it seems to have had little popularity.  Cone-shaped waxed paper containers were patented on August 18, 1914 and manufactured by the Purity Paper Vessels Co.  Most of these were not marked with individual dairy names (Tuton 1994:28).  These were still in use until at least 1929 when Science & Invention Magazine prematurely announced that "the old fashioned glass milk bottle, used for over 40 years in dispensing milk, may soon be a thing of the past."  The article believed that a combination of price and sanitation would drive the market to conical paper containers.  Where glass bottles at the time were about 4.5¢ each, paper cartons were on 0.75¢.  "It has been demonstrated," the article stressed, "that milk will remain fresh in [paper cartons] twice as long as in glass."  In addition, paper containers weighed less and required much less space (Farran 2000:6).  Despite these benefits, the industry and the consumers were not yet ready for the change.

     On January 9, 1929, another type of paper carton was initiated in New York City.  The Sealcone, made by Sealed Containers Corporation was a cylindrical waxed paper carton that was crimped at the top (so that the cylinder was cone-shaped from a side view) to form a seal.  These came in three sizes: quart, pint, and half-pint.  Their ads touted the usual advantages of paper over glass, but offered no new reasons for switching (Anonymous 2000a:1).  These containers, used by The Borden Co., were apparently very short-lived.

     Giarde (1980:148-149) suggests that paper cartons (square in cross section and similar to those in use today) were "not put into general use until about 1938."  However, most dairies preferred glass containers until at least the mid-1950s.  By 1969, paper and plastic containers made up about 70% of all milk packaging (Gallagher 1969:95).

     In Alamogordo, City Dairy started using waxed paper containers in the late 1960s but 
bought their cartons from other dairies.  Around 1970, the McMurray brothers leased a paper carton machine which created the smaller size containers, but around 1974 or 1975 they purchased a machine that made larger sizes.  The new machine formed half-gallon, three-quart, and one-gallon cartons, but the three-quart size was never authorized in New Mexico.  Even though the use of waxed paper containers was initiated for sale in stores, City Dairy also used them for home delivery until residential transport was halted by 1970.

     Although the vast majority of milk bottles were produced from colorless glass, other colors were occasionally used.  According to Tutton (1985:7), "amber milkbottles were used before 1900 and during the thirties [Gallagher & Munsey (1969:335) place one amber container at 1921].  However, these containers were unusual.  The earlier bottles can be identified by "a hand tooled lip, no cap seat and [used] a tin top."  These earlier containers mostly held buttermilk (Tutton 1994:25).  Green is another uncommon color that is occasionally found, although, according to Tutton (1985:7), they were used by less than 25 dairies nationwide.  They were apparently used for eggnog during the Christmas holidays during the 1930s and 1940s, although Gallagher (1969:95) notes that H. Kart of Buffalo, New York, patented a green bottle manufactured by the Reed Glass Co. in 1929.   A ruby red milk bottle was commissioned by The Borden Co. from Anchor Hocking Glass Corp. but was never actually used (Tutton 1985:8).  Although the Hotel Sherman College Inn (restaurant) may have served milk for cereal in half-pint, cobalt blue containers, it retains a unique notch in the annals of milk bottles (Tutton 1994:45).  The only other blue milk containers are imitations.

  One of the earliest closure types was the "tin top," a metal cap that was held in place by an arrangement of wires (like the glass top closures, these were essentially lightning-type fasteners).  Indeed, a metal closure designed to fit a large opening, patented January 5, 1875, may be the first bottle-related patent connected with the dairy industry (Tutton 1994:2-3).  According to Taylor (1971:82), tin tops in general may be dated between the early 1880s and "at least 1903," although Rawlinson (1970:13) states that "for all practical purposes the use of the ‘Lightning' type closure on milk bottles came to an end shortly before 1900."  These included the "common tin top" patented by G. L. Carll on April 17, 1888 (Tutton 1997:6) and the Smalley Milk Jar, patented by A. G. Smalley & Co. on April 5, 1898 (Taylor 1971:49; Tutton 1971:7; 1994:23).  Gallagher & Munsey (1969:333), however, date this bottle at 1896.  In addition to its glass closure, the Smalley jar is distinguished by a metal handle attached to the neck and upper body by metal bands.  Small mouthed bottles (similar to large soda bottles) with actual lightning stoppers were used by some early dairies (cf. Tutton 1997:6).  Other varieties are shown in Tutton (1994:5, 9-11).

     A second early closure was the "glass top," clamped in place by a thick wire.  In operation, these were very similar to the lightning fastener used on soda and beer bottles. [Link] The earliest of these was the Thatcher milk bottle patented April 27, 1886.  Whitell Tatum & co. made the original milk bottle for Thatcher, but the company patented its own glass closured bottle on September 11, 1888 (Tutton 1997:6).  Although I have not found a source for general dates, various glass stoppers were probably used in the late 1880s and early 1890s.  A specific type of glass top was "F. K. Ward's Milk Preserving Jar."  The jar was patented in both 1890 and 1892 (Gallagher & Munsey 1969:333; Taylor 1971:48; Tutton 1994:20).

     After the introduction of a number of other closure types, the ligneous (cardboard) disk was introduced along with the "common sense" milk bottle in 1889 (patented September 17).  Commonly called a cap seat by modern archaeologists and collectors, a ledge was molded inside the mouth of the "common sense" bottle for the insertion of the special ligneous disk.  This method of closure was easy to use and acceptable for limited periods of time and transportation over short distances.  The ligneous disks originally sold for 40¢ per thousand and were available in lots of 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 in sacks and 50,000 lots in barrels.  The disks were marketed as cheap, sanitary, and easier to use than prior closures.  The combination of the common sense bottle and the ligneous disk revolutionized the dairy industry, and the disk continued in use as long as glass containers were the industry norm (Gallagher & Munsey 1969:333; Jones & Sullivan 1989:161; Rawlinson 1970:13, 32-34).  An ad in the Champion Milk Cooler Co. Dairy Supplies Catalog of 1899 states that the "caps are used but once and therefore are always clean and carry no filth or disease" (Tutton 1994:14).

     An ad in the J. S. Biesecker Catalog of 1900 offers this description of the cap on the common sense milk bottle:
 

     Thatcher (1902:8) noted that:
 

     Thatcher caps were available in three qualities: the Thatcher Cap (40 cents per thousand); the Star Cap (30 cents per thousand); and the Crescent Cap (24 cents per thousand) and were available in five diameters (see Table 1).
 

     By at least 1917, caps had undergone various transformations.  The San Lac Seal was made of "four disks from the best pulp board, wire stitched after being thoroughly waxed, which insures a proper coating on the edges."  The Perfection Pull Cap included a tab in the uppermost disk which could be bent upward and used as a handle to remove the cap.  The base of the tab was reinforced by a staple through all four layers.  Certified Caps contained a rectangular tab of paper stapled onto the cap.  Flipper caps had their tabs built in as an extension (appearing as if a nipple extending from one side of the cap).  The tab was bent upon insertion onto the cap seat and was thus left sticking up to aid in removal.  The Kuvercap was advertised as "convenient and sanitary.   Easy-to-grasp flange projects over rim, protecting pouring edge.  Easy to lift off, and snap back on.  Very low in cost."  Finally, the School Cap was a standard pull cap with a hole beneath the tab to allow a drinking straw to be inserted without removing the cap.  This helped prevent spillage when used by children (From the Dairymens Supply Co. catalog of 1917–Tutton 1994:152-3, 159).

     A combination of the cap (ligneous disk) and a metal closure (tin top) were offered by the Creamery Package Mfg. Co. by 1912.  Replacement tops could be ordered: "Lightning Tin Top Trimmings with cover, spring and wire fastener; can be easily attached to jars where old trimmings become rusty or worn out" (Tutton 1994:185).  These offered the customer either double protection or the option of which method to use for recapping.  Although I have not found specific dates, clip-on metal covers were also available for use on regular cap seat (common sense) milk bottles.

     The Crown Cork & Seal Co., manufacturer's of the crown cap which was frequently used as a closure for beer and soda bottles, also adapted their cap for use on milk bottles.  By at least 1929, the closure was called the Dacro Sealing System (Tutton 1994:26-27).  The seals were used until at least the 1950s and possibly later.  The earlier bottles have finishes that resemble a large crown finish, but later ones lack the characteristic bulge below the lip and have a notable embossed ring as the base of the finish to keep the bottle from slipping out of the hand during pouring.  I have not found an examples of crown sealed milk bottles in Alamogordo.

     At some point, hoods were used to cover the caps on common sense milk bottles.  These offered an extra barrier for sanitation.  In 1941, Smith Lee introduced the "Cellophane Hood."  As may be supposed, these were made from cellophane and came in three colors (red, tango, and green) as well as a colorless hood.  The hoods included a paper disk that displayed advertising and had their own special machinery for crimping the closure to the bottle (Ryan 2000:7-8).

     After market closures were available at least as early as 1914, when the Dorsey Milk Bottle Cover was advertised in Time Magazine (Rawlinson 1970:6).  These aluminum disks were clamped on the lip of the bottle with four tabs after a common sense milk bottle had been opened.  A pour spout extended from one side with a corresponding hole sealed with a smaller swivel cover riveted to the disk.

    Picks and Accessories

     Although later caps were altered in various ways to create a tab to assist in removing the discs, the earlier caps had to be pried out with a knife or special tool commonly called a pick.  Picks were manufactured from heavy-gauge wire and generally followed two configurations.  The first was useable only as a pick.  The front or pick end was flattened into a blade and trimmed to a pointed end.  The rear or handle end was bent into a guitar shape and flattened.  Embossed lettering frequently advertised the issuing dairy, although some only have decorative embossing.  These usually only occurred in two lengths: 5 inches and 3 3/4 inches (Cernitisch 2000:4).
 

     In the second configuration, the pick end was identical, but the handle end was in a an oval loop with two small, flattened projections to act as a bottle opener.  The central section of the wire was flattened to allow embossing.  This style often advertised businesses "from undertakers to politicians" as well as dairies.  The pointed blade was usually stamped "Patd 1/28/12 which sets a beginning date for this style of opener.  Normally, these were 6¼ inches in length.  At least two minor variations exist, both with slight differences in the bottle opener end.  One of these has the proximal end of the oval ring bend straight so that if forms a "D" shape.  The second variation is more rounded and has twin flattened projections that creates a "V" shape between them (Cernitisch 2000:4).  I have not discovered the use for the projections.

     Heavy gauge wire openers were also made for the removal of the Dacro closures.  These resembled the heavy gauge wire openers used on for the removal of crown caps on soda and beer bottles, except that they were much larger.  The typical soda/beer opener measured 3 3/8 inches (8.8 cm.) in length and 1 1/2 inches (3.6 cm.) in width, where the typical Dacro opener measured 4 1/16 inches (10.4 cm.) In length and 2 1/4 inches (5.3 cm.) in width.
 

     Wire carriers (handles) that slipped over the lip of the common sense finish were available by at least late 1919 when they were advertised in Hoard's Dairyman (Rawlinson 1970:6).

     The "painted" label process that was adapted for use on glass bottles was generally called by different names in the soda bottling and dairy industries.  The carbonated beverage industry adopted the name originated by Owens-Illinois Glass Co., Applied Color Labeling (ACL).  The Thatcher Manufacturing Co., a leading maker of milk bottles, identified its technique as Pyroglaze, a name which came into general use for the process in the dairy industry.  Although 1934 is the year generally recognized as the beginning of ACL usage in soda bottles, Rawlinson (1970:13) suggests that pryroglazed milk bottles were available as early as 1931 [Gallagher & Munsey (1916:335) place the change a "mid-1930's"].  Giarde (1980:154) refutes Rawlinson but places the starting date as 1933 and notes that the English glass industry preceded the U. S. by introducing pyroglazing in 1929.  Pyroglazed milk bottles were typically labeled with a single color, generally orange or red.  Brown or black are found but were less common.  Bichrome containers usually use combinations of red/black, orange/black, green/black, or green/red (Tutton 1982:1; 1985:9).  Tutton (1985:174) includes a chromatic chart of available pyroglaze colors.

     Tutton (1982:1) describes the pyroglaze process:
 

     Labeling Laws

     Local laws requiring that individual dairies label their bottles with the company's name began around the turn of the century.  Thatcher's catalog (1902:7) noted that "the custom of requesting the design of a name plate is becoming necessary in large cities where special laws are inaugurated to enable owners to identify and claim their property wherever found, and in some cities Milk Dealers' Associations provide collectors to reclaim and return name plate bottles with very profitable results."  Although junk and bottle collection firms existed in El Paso from 1900 to 1920 (cf. Lockhart 2000:App. C), there is no indication that anything similar appeared in Alamogordo, probably because of its size.

     Generally speaking, dairy customers became interested in progressively larger milk containers as refrigeration technology improved.  Oral tradition suggests that customers with poor quality ice boxes or no refrigeration were more likely to prefer half- or quarter-pint containers.  With improved ice boxes, pints became more popular; quarts became the norm about the time of the shift to mechanical refrigeration.  With the advent of the supermarket and higher quality of refrigeration at all levels, half-gallon and gallon milk bottles became common, and their popularity increased with lighter weight waxed paper and plastic container.

     Despite this generalization, larger capacity bottles were available fairly early in milk bottle history.  Thatcher's turn-of-the-century catalog (1902:7) provides the information for the following table which includes half-gallon bottles.
 

     Taylor (1971:21) states that "the advent of paper cartons in the 1940s brought [the manufacture of quarter-pint bottles] to a halt. 

     In addition to Toulouse's two manuals (1968; 1971), the archaeological standard, and Peterson (1968), two other guides provide specific dating for dairy bottles.  Taylor (1971:102-105) specializes in milk bottles but generally provides only beginning dates (as does Peterson).   Giarde (1980) not only limits his research to diary containers, he devotes most of his book (pp. 2-143) to manufacturer's marks.  Giarde goes well beyond Toulouse in dating and discussing marks of all sorts on milk bottles.
     Giarde (1980:2) warns that:
 

My own experience echoes that of Giarde.  Both empirical and historical dating schemes are frequently corrected as new data becomes available.  Dates for all manufacturer's marks (including Toulouse) should be treated as general, rather than specific, dates).  Giarde also notes that the reason for dates on milk bottles was to allow the company to monitor the life expectancy of their bottles (see Bottle Life/Deposition Lag below).

     Taylor (1971:82) claims that the Duraglas mark on milk bottle bases was "much used in milk bottles after 1927," although other sources (Giarde 1980:77; Toulouse 1971:403) place the inception date at 1940.  Giarde goes beyond the year alone and specifies that the script Duraglas went into use in September of 1940, and the all caps version (DURAGLAS) was used from October 1963.  The late beginning of use in 1940 explains why there are bottles dated during that year both with and without the script Duraglas mark.

     Giarde (1980:67) disagrees with Toulouse in a number of cases.  For example, he states that the L. G. mark used by Liberty Glass company was in place from 1924-1936.  The L-G mark was used from 1934-1954.  Toulouse (1971:321) ends the first period (L. G.) in 1946 and begins the L-G mark at 1946.  My empirical observation supports Giarde's dates. 

     Giarde (1980:77) also extends the use period for Owens-Illinois' I-in-an-oval-superimposed-on-an-elongated-diamond mark to 1956, although he admits that the official date for the change (cited by Toulouse 1971:403) is 1954.  Giarde (1980:80) notes that empirical evidence suggests that the actual change in milk bottles did not occur until 1956.  Although Julian Harrison Toulouse did not address the subject in his famous book Bottle Makers and Their Marks, Munsey (1971:191) and Giarde (1980:78) cite the development by Toulouse of a "light weight squat round milk bottle" (as distinguished from a heavier squat bottle used earlier) in 1936 which led to the evolution to a "light weight squat square" (called a "handi-square") by Royden Blunt in 1940.  By 1944, Owens-Illinois had ceased production of heavy weight milk bottles.  Giarde (1980:79) includes a table showing differences in bottle weights:
 

Heavy weight bottles were phased out between 1940 and 1944; however, light weight bottles have been found with basal dates as early as 1938.

     Much more work needs to be done on which Owens-Illinois plants made which bottles, but Giarde (1980:80) has accomplished the task where milk bottles are concerned.  He states that "the three major milk bottle plants were numbers 17, 18 and 23."  Giarde (1980:89-90, 98) locates the plants at Clarion, Pennsylvania (from 1930); Columbus, Ohio (1930-1947); and Los Angeles, California (from 1932), respectively.  Note that Toulouse (1971:395) suggest a starting date for this plant about 1948.  Giarde (19980:98) directly refutes this date as inaccurate.  Giarde (1980:87-91, 95-97) also notes that milk bottles were produced at plants 7 (Alton, Illinois), 9 (Streator, Illinois), 20 (Oakland, California), 21 (San Francisco, California/Portland, Oregon), 26 (Terre Haute, Indiana) and creamers were made at plants 9 (Streator, Illinois) and 12 (Chicago Heights, Illinois).  He also notes that the majority of all known creamers were made by these two Owens-Illinois plants.

     For a discussion of the Owens-Illinois dating scheme, see Lockhart 2000, Chapter 2. Giarde (1980:82-85), however, offers an alternate option for dating milk bottles and provides seven tables as dating aids.  Because I believe that the dating scheme I introduced (see above link) reduces or eliminates the need for these tables, I have not reproduced them here.

     Giarde (1980:112-120) also offers a much deeper analysis of Thatcher Manufacturing Co. marks than the single mark offered by Toulouse (1971:496) and also provides a guide for locating basal dates on Thatcher bottles (1980:117).  Prior to 1923, two-year digits are located somewhere on the base, but from 1923 until about 1935, Thatcher placed the digits within the valve mark, "usually with an alphabet letter between the two digits."  About 1935, the company returned to the policy of placing the numerals outside the valve mark.
 

     In addition, Thatcher used a mark that appeared as either K 9, K-9, or K. 9.  Although the purpose for these marks is unknown, they identify Thatcher bottles that are otherwise unmarked as well as containers that also bear one of the Thatcher manufacturer's marks.  They are generally found on bottles made from the 1920s to the mid-1930s (Giarde 1980:118).
 Giarde (1980:145-155) also addresses various other marks found on milk bottles (e.g. SEALED, REGISTERED, or triangles enclosing "minn" and a numeral).  Although he offers no dating scheme for any of the marks, he informs us that they were used in compliance with the many state laws governing the use of glass containers in the dairy industry.  For those interested, he also discusses examples of laws affecting the industry. 

     The Borden Co.

     Gail Borden became involved in milk production in 1857 and was primarily involved in condensed milk.  Fluid milk sales began in 1875 with bottling of the product following a decade later (1885).  The oldest bottles are embossed with an eagle and PROPERTY OF N. Y. CONDENSED MILK CO.  About 1900, bottles were still embossed with an eagle, but the embossing was changed to PROPERTY OF BORDEN'S CONDENSED MILK CO.  The name was diminished to The Borden Co. in 1919, and bottles were embossed PROPERTY OF BORDEN'S FARM PRODUCTS DIVISION.  At an undisclosed later date, bottles were marked PROPERTY OF BORDEN'S FARM PRODUCE CO., INC.  A final notable dating device was the introduction of Elsie the cow at the 1939 World's Fair.  Elsie became a national success and was used on subsequent advertising including pryroglazed bottles (Tutton 1992:49-50; 1994:159-160; cf. also Frantz 1951).

     The longevity of bottle usage was of vital importance to the producing dairy.  According to Giarde (1980:80), on Owens-Illinois milk containers, "the digits were used . . . so that the company had a means of monitoring the life expectancy of its bottles and so forth."

     In 1902, the Thatcher Manufacturing Co. claimed that: 
 

     Stanpac (Anonymous 2000f:7), founded in 1949 as a manufacturer of bottle caps, noted that there was a small revival of the use of returnable milk containers in 1980 for some local dairies.  Although small, returnable containers made up just over one percent of all liquid milk shipments in 1996.  In an attempt to use this market, Stanpac noted that "typically, a refillable glass container is reused on the average of 25 times."  Therefore "a bottle refilled 25 times will use 95% less glass and 90% less energy than the total process of producing 25 bottles in closed-loop recycling."

     To further confuse the issue, larger bottles break more easily under normal use in delivery and handling by customers.  Since life expectancy is usually given for quarts, smaller containers could be expected to have a longer use-life during round trips to the consumers.  The opposite problem, however, was noted in The Milk Dealer in 1928 (Anonymous 2000e:3).  Generally, more small bottles were broken in plants.  Pint and smaller containers "often stick in the filling machines, especially when being filled with cream, and the pressure in the bottle washer sometimes forces them out, whereas quart bottles usually give no trouble in this respect."  The breakage of smaller bottles was mitigated, however, since "quart containers have a tendency to chip more easily than do the smaller bottles."  Unfortunately the article did not specify whether the greater chipage in larger bottles was equally offset by the greater breakage of smaller ones.

     There seems to have been two major problems involved in the retention of returnable bottles: 1) theft by consumers; and 2) theft by other (usually smaller) dairies.  I use the word theft because the containers were owned by the dairies–not the customers.  Consumers bought the contents of the bottle; the container, itself, remained the property of the issuing company.  That most customers were unaware of this ownership is legally irrelevant, but it provides an explanation from a practical viewpoint.

     Although soda bottlers had dealt during the early part of the 20th century with the twin problems of the use of labeled containers by other companies (called foreign bottles in the trade) and lack of returns by individuals and stores, such problems plagued the dairy industry until at least the late 1920s.  Unlike soda bottlers, whose main sales derived from retail sales through stores, sales by dairies were divided between the normal retail outlets and home delivery by the company.  The losses from retail sales were similar to those experienced by soda bottlers (see Lockhart 2000).  These included hoarding, reuse for both dairy products and other liquids or solids, and, occasionally, for curation (collecting) and decoration.

     The laws and the exchange that addressed the use of foreign bottles (see below) were ineffective in tracing containers lost to individual customers.  In an ingenious solution, some dairies placed ads in the local papers that "appealed to the fairness of the milk consumers," asking them to return any empties that had accumulated in their homes.  Not only was the strategy effective, a follow-up, "Thank You" letters in the same papers were equally effective in attracting lost bottles from the customers.  The results of the nine-day advertising campaign was the return of 40,000 bottles.  At a bottle cost of 5¢ each, the dairies attained a net profit of $1,850, a substantial sum in the late 1920s!

     Surprisingly, some of the worst offenders lived in the "better section[s] of the city."  Instead of returning the bottles, maids were often accumulating them in basements or other storage areas.  It was not unusual for drivers to pick up 40 to 100 bottles, and one home returned 400 containers.  In fact, many maids and housewives admitted that they had not realized that the companies expected their bottles to be returned–glass containers were simply discarded or stored as if they were waxed paper cartons used for butter or ice cream.

     Although, in the past, the dairy industry had assumed that missing bottles were used to store paint, preserves, home brew, etc., the campaign showed that most were "simply stacked away" (Anonymous 2000d:4).  In some areas, however, missing bottles were actually put to use.  Willy McMurry (interview, 1999) noted that in Alamogordo both the bottles and the wood-and-steel carrying cases often disappeared.  Route men frequently observed the cases being used to prop up automobiles and the bottles collecting the oil drained from the crank case.  A charge for missing bottles was then added to the bill.

     An anonymous writer discussed the use of foreign bottles in Springfield, Illinois, in the pages of The Milk Dealer in 1927 (Anonymous 2000d:3-4).  A bottle exchange operated by the city's three largest dairies was proving effective in reducing the theft or use of labeled bottles by other companies.  The article noted that:
 

     In 1936, Metzger Dairies in San Antonio, Texas, noted that at least some of the return problem derived from labeling for two reasons: 1) poor visibility of embossing; and 2) the open use of foreign bottles.  The labels on colorless, embossed bottles is very difficult to see clearly.  It becomes even more difficult when the bottle is filled with white liquid.  As a result, consumers returned bottles indiscriminately (Anonymous 2000c:2)

     In addition, San Antonio had no bottle exchange service, so that none of the dairies "could say we filled even 50 percent of our own bottles."  The use of bottles from foreign dairies was further confused by the use of caps that identified the dairy most recently filling the container.  So many containers actually had two labels–one on the cap and a different one (embossed) on the bottle.  Metzger's suggested two solutions: 1) brighter pyroglazed (or applied color) labeling that was more noticeable than embossing; and 2) the use of cooperative, generic bottles by all dairies in town.  If cooperative advertising worked, they reasoned that cooperative bottle use would work also (Anonymous 2000c:2).  A similar solution was used by small dairies in the El Paso Milk Bottle Association in the late 1940s.

     In 1887, the Thatcher Manufacturing Co. presented specifications for "Milk Jar Crates or Cases."  Although any lumber would do, "basswood is preferred, as it is strong and less liable to split in handling."  The company added that "a place sawed out of the end near the top large enough to admit the hand, will be found a convenient handle for lifting the crates."  A final suggestion was that "all should be thoroughly put together with glue and screws or nails" (Taylor 1971:99).  Such wooden cases were used during the late-19th and early 20th centuries.

     Early case development had included shipping cases to contain ice and milk together (up to 20 quarts or 42 half-pints), wooden boxes with partitions (with or without lids), steel reinforced wooden boxes, and even iron cases (guaranteed to outlast any other styles).  Galvanized steel cases and wooden cases with wire bottoms were used by at least 1911 and continued in use until at least the 1930s.  Wider cases were developed for use with the squat bottles that became popular in the 1940s (Anonymous 2000b:1).  [For a look at eleven different types of cases available in 1928, see Anonymous 2000g:4-6.]  Less steel was used in construction during World War II, when many metals were restricted to war use.  After the war, when steel once again became available, cases were made from heavy-gauge steel wire, but some of the older wooden cases continued to be used.  City Dairy of Alamogordo used wire cases in the 1940s and after but continued using steel-reinforced wooden cases for square pint-size bottle (McMurry interview).  Steel wire was also used to make baskets or carrying cases for milk delivery.  These devices held anywhere between four and eight containers and allowed a deliveryman to more easily carry milk from the truck (or wagon) to the customer's door.  Although wire baskets for delivery were used at least as early as 1887 (Taylor 1972:97), the design had changed little by the end of home delivery in 1970.

    With the increased replacement of glass bottles by paper cartons in the 1950s, new cases were made from wood or aluminum, although these were rapidly replaced by tough, lighter, square molded-plastic cases beginning in the late 1950s (Anonymous 2000b:1-2).  The combination of paper and plastic weighed much less and allowed the larger dairies to ship greater volumes of milk at lower prices.  By the time outside dairies became interested in Alamogordo, most of their cases were plastic.  Most of these were only labeled by larger dairies due to the gradual demise of the small dairies by that time.  Carriers, used by route men for home delivery, were made from steel frames with aluminum bands to contain the bottles and originally held eight quart bottles.  Later carriers held four half-gallon bottles plus four quarts, and the final carriers held four half-gallons.

     In 1887, Thatcher Manufacturing Co. was suggesting that dairies provide receiving boxes for their customers' use.  Although the box could be of any size, Thatcher recommended that it hold at least six quart bottles.  The company did not provide a detailed description for designing the box (Taylor 1971:101).  Early receiving boxes were most likely made of wood and were not insulated.  Although I have not found references to such boxes, a photograph of one is provided in Stewart and Cosentino (1976:70).

     Although receiving boxes were certainly in use during the intervening years (along with "milk chutes" that slid the dairy bottles into the house), insulated boxes seem to have been initiated during the early to mid-1930s.  These were metal boxes (usually aluminum to prevent rust) with a hinged lid on top, lined on all sides with insulating material.  Insulated boxes not only reduced breakage caused by freezing in wither, they also limited spoilage in summer, provided protection from "contamination by dogs and cats," and helped eliminate theft.  Dairies generally provide boxes free of charge to their better customers (Anonymous 1999b:4-5).

     In 1887, Thatcher Manufacturing Co. encouraged using:
 

 Order Signals (also called Dairy Order Indicators) were in use by at least the early 1930s (Gottleib 2001:6).  Made from stiff cardboard, these typically consisted of a ruler-shaped base that was placed in the throat of a milk bottle.  A larger, often circular segment provided a pivot for the identity tabs and kept the indicator or order signal from slipping into the bottle.  Held in place by a central rivet, the number of tabs varied according to the products offered by each dairy and indicated items wanted above the normal order, such as 1 Qt. Milk EXTRA, ½ Pt. Table Cream EXTRA, etc. [see Price's photo] A customer could thereby order extra products by placing the order signal or indicator in one of the empty milk bottles inside the receiving box or on the porch.  These probably remained in use until the end of home delivery.