How About a Coke? Book Now Available…..

A few years ago I posted about the book ‘How About a Coke?’ https://cocacolabottleman.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/another-good-read/

Since then I was able to meet the author in person, Frank Barron Jr.  He spoke at a recent Coca-Cola Collectors Club event and was well received.

The Barron family was a long time Coca-Cola bottler in Rome, Georgia as well as being involved in several other bottling plants around Georgia.  This is a personal look into bottling, the early years up to when they sold the business (and why they sold the business).  It has some very interesting details of bottling and puts a personal spin on it.  I think it is a book worth reading if you want to learn more about the bottling side of the business or just for some good detailed information on this North Georgia bottler.

A great book and I am so glad to see it available again. I’ve ordered a few copies earlier today, one for me and a few extra as gifts.

Here are a few links to order your copy:

Here’s a link to where the paperback OR Kindle copy can be purchased (through Amazon):

 

http://www.amazon.com/How-About-Coke-Frank-Barron/dp/1482393484/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378406988&sr=8-1&keywords=how+about+a+coke

 

It is also available in the CreateSpace e-store:

 

https://www.createspace.com/4164780

Advertisement

A New Book Out about Asa Candler

‘Formula For Fortune: How Asa Candler Discovered Coca-Cola And Turned It Into The Wealth His Children Enjoyed’   

 By Ann Uhry Abrams

                                     ISBN-13:978-1462071685

I am always keeping an eye out for any books concerning the history of Coca-Cola. I came across this book recently.

   It covers the life of Asa Candler and his descendants, how he took Coca-Cola from a patent medicine to an up and coming soft drink and includes his life as a banker, realtor, philanthropist and mayor of Atlanta.  Covering the family history with its ups and downs it endured and the problems encountered with the money made from Coca-Cola.

A very interesting ‘behind the scenes’ look of the early years of The Coca-Cola Company.

A Book for the Coca-Cola 125th

Here is some information on a book that will be coming out for the Coca-Cola 125th year. Below is the information I found online.

____________________________________________

 Coca-Cola

ISBN: 9782759405145

Hardcover / 9.5 x 12″
220 Pages, 125 Images

ASSOULINE Publishing

$65 (Or order a ‘Special Edition’ for $650)
For 125 years, Coca-Cola has connected with more people in more places than any other product the world has ever known. First sipped at an Atlanta soda fountain as a hot weather pick-me-up, Coca-Cola has triumphed by engaging people, one by one. The company’s long-time leader Robert Woodruff sought always to have it “within arm’s length of desire.” He succeeded so well that Coca-Cola has become a part of our landscape, part of our rituals, part of our lives. This illustrated book celebrates the world’s most iconic beverage with the brand’s photographs, advertisements, and designs as well as memories from film, social history, and pop culture. Decade by decade, Coca-Cola represents the zeitgeist with nostalgia and flair.

_________________________________________________________

 Here is the link for the book.

http://www.shopassouline.com/coca-cola.html

(Thanks to Adrian for letting me know about this book)

A Local Coca-Cola Bottlers History

         I’ve recommended books here on my blog that give you a glimpse into the past history of a bottlers life. I found this document several years ago and now it is available online and thought I would share it with you.

          It is from the Rodman Public Library in Alliance, Ohio. The transcript is from a taped interview of Roy and Howard Fullmer, second generation Coca-Cola Bottlers. It describes life as a bottler from the mid 1910’s to the late 1960’s.  It tells of all the problems and issues they faced and what caused many of the small bottlers to close their doors. The interview is from 1973.

  Enjoy!

http://www.rodmanlibrary.com/rpl/history/oral_history/fullmer.pdf

Let’s Talk Soft Drinks

The past few weeks I’ve been down with a summer cold.  The upside of being sick, I’ve been able to peruse the internet and find some interesting things. One thing I found was a book called ‘Let’s Talk Soft Drinks’. Printed in 1960 and written by Ben Ginsburg; 139 pages.

I found several titles for the ‘Let’s Talk’ series, such as ‘Let’s Talk Beer’, ‘Let’s Talk Oil Industry’, ‘Let’s Talk Power Industry’, etc.  I hadn’t been able to find out who this series of books were geared towards.

Although a fairly short book, it covers a great deal of material. Information on Asa Candler (Coca-Cola), C.D. Bradham (Pepsi-Cola), C. L. Grigg (7 Up), Charles Hatcher (Royal Crown), R.S. Lazenby (Dr Pepper), Charles Hires (Root Beer), Henry Millis (Cliquot Club), and many others.

Other chapters cover the Study of Efficiency, Early Beginnings, Industry Today, Franchise System, Technical Aspects, Competition, Marketing, Management, etc.

Even though the some of the information is dated it is a great look at the Soft Drink Industry in 1960.

I think this book will be a little hard to find on the internet. I just happened across it by accident. It is worth tracking down though.

Good Luck in your search!

Blowpipes: Northwest Ohio Glassmaking in the Gas Boom of the 1880’s

Last month I reviewed a book by Jack Paquette, The Glassmakers Revisited. This led me to another book by Jack, Blowpipes: Northwest Ohio Glassmaking in the Gas Boom of the 1880’s.  Printed in 2002. 557 pages.

Let me begin by telling you what a Blowpipe is, it was used in the bottle manufacturing process and a person would place a molten blob of glass on the end and blow into the pipe to form the bottle.  The other thing is the Gas Boom; pockets of natural gas were discovered in Ohio in the 1800’s. Factories that had been in the Eastern United States saw this natural gas as a free source of power for their factories. Many companies moved to the mid-west and several new companies opened.  This book discusses the over 70 glass companies that opened in Ohio during this time. It covers the history of those glass manufacturers.

Also discussed in the book is the 19^th century glassmaking techniques, children in the glass making industry, Fostoria Glass, Libbey Glass, Owens Glass and the Owens Bottle  Machine Company and many other lesser known glass manufacturers.

The book is very interesting and has detailed descriptions of the companies and the glass making techniques of the time. Any collector of early American bottles will find this a useful tool to identify bottles as well as learn some of the history of how the bottle was made and about the manufacturing company.  Also, anyone wanting to learn about the early glass companies in America will find this book very useful.

This book is still in print.  It can be ordered in paper back or hard back versions from the publisher, Xlibris (a division of Random House), toll-free at 1-888-795-4274, or on line at either Xlibris.com or Amazon.com.

The Big Drink

I have gotten behind on my summer reading!  I’ve been so busy, plus I have found SO many great books recently concerning bottles, collecting or Coca-Cola. I have a huge stack of books I want to share with you.

            At the recent Coca-Cola Collectors Club Convention I found several MORE books.  One of them is ‘The Big Drink, The Story of Coca-Cola’ by E.J. Kahn Jr., written in 1960. 174 pages.

            The book is based on a series of articles that Mr. Kahn had written for The New Yorker magazine.

            Although his humorous views are a bit dated now, it is a great look into the times and peak of the Coca-Cola Company.

            Some things he covers are:

• How Coke was available world wide, even in the jungles of South America, where people had not heard of the United States, but knew what Coca-Cola was.

 

• Coca-Cola in World War II, how it reminded troops of home and how it was able to get a foothold and expand around the world.

 

• How some countries could not get enough Coca-Cola, while others outlawed Coca-Cola from being sold in their country.

 

• How many Coca-Cola Bottlers became the most important businessman in town

 

• Many of the problems Coca-Cola had with imitators, the image perceived by many in the early years of any soda bottler as producing an unclean and unsanitary product.

 

• 7x, the secret ingredient in Coca-Cola

 

• A humorous and brief history of the Coca-Cola bottle

 This book is a classic. It has inspired other books such as Mark Pendergrast, author of: For God, Country and Coca-Cola mentioned in his first edition that E.J. Kahn was a huge influence on him and his book.

 Look for the book online. I know Amazon has a few available. Check out your favorite used book site and track this book down. Maybe it will inspire you to write a book!

The Glassmakers, Revisited: A History of Owens-Illinois, Inc

The Glassmakers, Revisited: A History of Owens-Illinois, Inc

 By Jack K. Paquette

May 17, 2010

272 pages

             I have always had a deep interest in glass, china and pottery. For many generations my family worked in all those industries. I remember several relatives who had kilns at home and would make beautiful pieces, things that would be considered folk art. They did not see it that way; they merely saw it as a hobby.

            So when I found this book a few weeks ago while searching for ‘The Man Behind the Bottle’ I ordered it. I enjoy reading the history of companies; it usually gives you insights into the industry as well as useful information and facts.

Jack Paquette had a 33 year career with the Owens Illinois Glass Company and retired as a vice president. At some point during his career he became the Company Historian and wrote the history of the company. ‘The Glassmakers Revisited’ is an updated revision of the 1984 and 1994 editions. The book covers the history from 1818 to 2009.

     Owens Illinois Glass Company is one of America’s oldest businesses and was one of the industry leaders for many years, especially after Michael Owens invented the automatic bottle machine in 1903.

With the Owens Bottle Machine the industry saw many changes. The Owens machine could produce 10 bottles per minute and up to 14,000 in 24 hours and ran with a two man crew. The way bottles had been made before consisted of seven skilled workers plus several children (Child labor was huge in the glass industry) and could produce 3,600 bottles per day by hand.  The Owens machine could make uniform bottles (unlike the hand made versions) which allowed the U.S. Government to establish the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. The machine also revolutionized the bottle industry and did more to reduce child labor than any legislation had been able to do.

The book also covers the background of the Illinois Glass Company and how these two companies were able to form the Owens Illinois Glass Company, a leading glass manufacturer for many years. The book covers a lot of years on few pages, I would liked to have seen more in depth information, but it is still a good read for bottle collectors. It mentions many advances through the years and when these advances happened which allows the reader to understand bottle production and helps you determine how they were made, which can tell you ages of bottles.

An interesting read with some photos too.

 You can find the book here: 

http://www.amazon.com/Glassmakers-Revisited-History-Owens-Illinois-Inc/dp/1450075428/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276867953&sr=1-1Also

For more information on Michael Owens:

http://www.utoledo.edu/library/canaday/exhibits/oi/OIExhibit/Owens.htm

The Man Behind The Bottle, Book Review

The Man Behind The Bottle; The Origin and History of the Classic Contour Coca-Cola Bottle as Told by the Son of its Creator

 By Norman L. Dean

Illustrated with B/W photos

162 pages

We are all familiar with the famous Coca-Cola Contour bottle. Even if we just see the shape of the bottle we know what it contains. But how many of us are familiar with the history behind the Contour Coca-Cola bottle?  When was it designed? Why was it designed?  Who designed it?  Well, that last question of who designed it is something that hasn’t been easy to answer. Sometimes history gets lost or rewritten along the way.

             Norman L. Dean is trying to clear all of that up for us in his new book, The Man Behind The Bottle.  Mr. Dean is the son of Earl R. Dean, a machinist and bottle designer and mold maker for the ROOT Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana, the birthplace of the Coca-Cola bottle.

            For many years a man by the name of Alexander Samuelson, Plant Superintendent for the ROOT Glass Company has been credited with designing the Coca-Cola bottle. How did this mix up come about? The official U.S. Patent listed Samuelson as the inventor. Also, an interview in the 1940’s led to some inaccurate information according to Norman Dean. Then things just snowballed from there. Many books and articles began to quote the 1940’s interview and listing Alexander Samuelson as the man who designed the world famous bottle.

   In Mr. Dean’s book he presents his fathers recollections, analyzes the interview in question and presents detailed information about the subject. He hopes this book will set the things straight and show that his father was the true inventor of the Coca-Cola bottle.

 So, did Earl R. Dean design the Coca-Cola bottle? Well, you will need to read the book yourself and see what conclusion you come to.

 Available in Kindle Edition, Paperback or Hardback

http://www.amazon.com/Man-Behind-Bottle-Linda-Dean/dp/145005403X

 For some great information on the book and to order directly from the publisher go to Norman Dean’s website.

http://www.themanbehindthebottle.com/index.html

The Man Behind the Bottle

I am always looking for books on Coca-Cola or anything soda related. I came across this book today: The Man Behind The Bottle: The Origin and History of the Classic Contour Coca-Cola Bottle as Told by the Son of its Creator.

  Written by Norman Dean, he tells the true story of how the Contour bottle came about. I had talked to the grandson of Norman last year about this very subject, but did not realize his grandfather was working on a book.

  You can go to the Antique Bottle forum and see a few links and see a picture of the cover.  http://www.antique-bottles.net/forum/NEW-Coca%2DCola-Book-out/m-312333/tm.htm

I ordered a copy, as soon as it arrives and read it,  I will post a review.