A Codd-neck bottle (more commonly known as a Codd bottle or a marble bottle) is a type of

bottle A bottle is a narrow-necked container made of an impermeable material (such as glass, plastic or aluminium) in various shapes and sizes that stores and transports liquids. Its mouth, at the bottling line, can be sealed with an internal ...

used for

carbonated drinks A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a class of non-alcoholic drink, usually (but not necessarily) carbonated, and typically including added sweetener. Flavors used to be natural, but now can also be artificial. The sweetene ...

. It has a closing design based on a glass marble which is held against a rubber seal, which sits within a recess in the lip.

Design

In 1872, soft-drink maker Hiram Codd of

Camberwell Camberwell ( ) is an List of areas of London, area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles' Church, Camberwell, St Giles ...

, London, designed and patented a bottle designed specifically for

carbonated Carbonation is the chemical reaction of carbon dioxide to give carbonates, bicarbonates, and carbonic acid. In chemistry, the term is sometimes used in place of carboxylation, which refers to the formation of carboxylic acids. In inorganic che ...

drinks. The bottle was designed and manufactured with thick glass to withstand internal pressure, and a chamber to enclose a

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

and a rubber washer in the neck. The bottles are filled upside down, and pressure of the

gas Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...

in the bottle forces the marble against the washer, sealing in the carbonation. This use of pressure to aid in containment can be seen in other types of

check valve A check valve, non-return valve, reflux valve, retention valve, foot valve, or one-way valve is a valve that normally allows fluid (liquid or gas) to flow through it in only one direction. Check valves are two-port valves, meaning they have ...

. The bottle is pinched into a special shape to provide a chamber into which the marble is pushed to open the bottle. This prevents the marble from blocking the neck as the drink is poured. Some older examples had the bullet shape of soda bottles.

Popularity

Soon after its introduction, the bottle became extremely popular with the soft-drink and

brewing Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and #Fermenting, fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with Yeast#Beer, yeast. It may be done in a brewery ...

industries mainly in Europe, India and Australasia, though some

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

drinkers disdained the use of the bottle. One

etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

of the term '' codswallop'' originates from beer sold in Codd's bottles, though this is generally dismissed as a

folk etymology Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology, analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a mo ...

. The bottles were regularly produced for many decades, but gradually declined in usage after the introduction of the steel

crown cork The crown cork (also known as a crown seal, crown cap or just a cap), the first form of bottle cap, was invented by William Painter in 1892 in Baltimore. The company making it was originally called the Bottle Seal Company, but it changed its na ...

bottlecap. Since children smashed the bottles to retrieve the marbles, vintage bottles are relatively scarce and have become collector items, particularly in the UK. Bilas, a company in Portugal, created a drink named after the bottle design (Pirulito). However, the marble inside did not seal the liquid; instead it was a normal cap which could be removed without breaking the bottle. Codd bottles are still used for the Japanese soft drink Ramune and the Indian drink Banta.

References

{{reflist Carbonated drinks Glass bottles Bottles 1872 introductions British inventions

Design

Popularity

See also

References