A ''flacon'' (from

Late Latin Late Latin is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the 3rd to 6th centuries CE, and continuing into the 7th century in ...

, meaning "bottle"; cf. "

flagon A flagon () is a large leather, metal, glass, plastic or ceramic vessel, used for storing and pouring drink, whether this be water, ale, or another liquid. They are generally not intended to be drunk from directly, like a cup. A flagon is typica ...

") is a small, often decorative, bottle. It has an opening seal or stopper and is designed to hold valuable liquids which may deteriorate upon contact with the air. They are widespread in the food industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and the cosmetics industry. They are generally made of glass for perfumes, but can also be made out of plastics for other uses.

Manufacturing techniques

The plastic bottles can be manufactured using different processes depending on the size and the proposed application (i.e. what the content will be, what the surrounding environment will be etc.). A common technique is

blow molding Blow molding (or moulding) is a manufacturing process for forming hollow plastic parts. It is also used for forming glass bottles or other hollow shapes. In general, there are three main types of blow molding: extrusion blow molding, injection ...

. Like any object made by

extrusion Extrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross section (geometry), cross-sectional profile by pushing material through a Die (manufacturing), die of the desired cross-section. Its two main advantages over other manufacturing pro ...

, it is possible to produce multilayer plastic bottles. This is called coextrusion. The combination of different materials or colours can be used to produce flacons with different properties, such as: impermeability to light, oxygen, recycled inner layer. The glass bottles are manufactured by blow molding.

In popular culture

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics ...

wrote a poem about the flacon, entitled ''Le Flacon'' (The Perfume Flask).Fleurs du Mal.org (in French and English)
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References

Bottles {{pharmacy-stub

Manufacturing techniques

In popular culture

See also

References