11/16/2000
| Because Orange Crush bottles are scattered among various bottlers through El Paso history, it is helpful to organize them in a single table by bottle style, dates of use, and local franchiser. |
| Table 1 - Orange Crush Bottling Styles and Probable Dates - El Paso |
| Bottle Style | Dates in Use | Bottling Co. |
| Generic with paper label | 1919-ca. 1923 | Tri-State Bottling Co. |
| Colorless proprietary (pat. 1920)* | 1920-1923 | Tri-State Bottling Co. |
| Colorless proprietary (pat 1920); Empire on base (embossed)** | ca. 1924-1930(?) | Empire Products Corp. |
| Amber proprietary (embossed) | 1930(?)-ca. 1940 | Empire Products Corp. |
| Amber proprietary (Orange & White ACL); El Paso on label | ca. 1940-ca. 1945 | Empire Products Corp. |
| Amber proprietary (Orange & White ACL); El Paso on label† | 1945-ca. 1955 | Barq's Bottling Co. |
| Colorlss White & Green ACL; no city or company designation | 1956-ca. 1969 | Empire Bottling Co. |
| *Tri-State may have only used paper label bottles or may not have embossed
their name on the colorless proprietary bottles. None of the colorless
proprietary containers have yet been found with either El Paso or Tri-State
embossed on the base.
***The closing date for colorless proprietary bottles is based on manufacturer's marks. The company that made bottles with Empire on the base closed in 1931. It is certain that Empire sold the colorless proprietary bottle, but the amber embossed bottle had no designation on it. The amber containers with Orange and White ACL contain the El Paso designation, but they may only have been used by Barq's after 1945. The only dated bottle I have seen was made in 1945. †Bates (1992b:C-32) has dates for these bottles ranging from 1941 to 1954. |
| Obviously, more empirical research needs to be done on these bottles. Because the examples of embossed amber I have seen bore the manufacturer's mark of Owens Illinois Glass Co., they also are dated (although I did not record dates in either case). Future examples should yield better information. It is also possible that Tri-State embossed bottles will appear. |