HutchBook.comCork Closures
The
process of utilizing cork closures to seal carbonated beverages was the
industry standard over a very long time span and corks continued to
satisfy selected soft drink industry needs throughout the entire
Hutchinson era. Knowing more
about the use of cork stoppers helps one better understand why the
introduction of closures such as
The Value of a
Good
Where it is a question of retaining the gas in the
beverage, an inferior cork should never be used.
Mineral waters are the most severe on corkwood, and, unless the
best grained cork is obtained, the life of the liquid is bound to
escape…The cork cannot be superseded by any as yet discovered material
or contrivance for stoppering bottles whose contents are to be preserved
for an indefinite time…Carbonated beverages require a firm,
close-grained cork, and not a soft, spongy article.
Carbonic acid gas will escape through a poor cork in no time, and
as the life of a drink depends altogether upon its gaseous nature, an
inferior cork cannot but work damage to the goods…
The manufacture of corks in this country is carried on
almost entirely by machinery, and is the kind used by bottlers to a
large extent. Were it not
for machine-cut corks the bottling trade would be compelled to pay
enormous prices for their corks, and patent stoppers would be its only
salvation. Until a
comparatively recent date corks were cut by hand, and it took an
experienced workman a whole day to finish a thousand marketable corks,
with great waste of material.
Today a machine run by steam and attended by a small girl does
fifty times the amount of work with unerring precision and the smallest
possible waste of material…
There is no disputing the fact that corks will always
remain in use by bottlers, notwithstanding the apparent activity in
patent bottle stoppers. The
trade cannot close its eyes to the objections raised against the bottler
by consumers, which the former never meets with, and bottlers are
advised to buy none but good quality corks for the proper preservation
of a fine grade of beverages, either carbonated or fermented…
Preparing Corks for Bottling.
Before use, clean the corks in clear cool water to
remove all dust; if they are yet hard, soak them in summer in cold, in
winter in warm, water a little while.
Hot water should not be used, as the corks would get too soft and
lose their bright color. It
is recommended to add a little sweet oil (olive oil) to the warm water
they are soaked in, so that the corks can be forced easily into the head
of the bottle…
Second-hand Corks.
Second-hand corks find a ready market among some
bottlers who want to reduce their cost to a minimum and yet have the
prestige of using corks.
The quality of the beverage is not benefited, and many
instances are known where the use of an unclean cork, of the second-hand
variety, has contaminated the contents.
Therefore, should this practice be followed, the bottler cannot
be too careful in cleansing them, or too cautious is ascertaining the
character of the places from which they have been gathered.
Second-hand corks, after lying
for weeks around in bar rooms, covered with bad-smelling and fermenting
vegetations, are sold to dealers, who subject them to a kind of
bleaching process, run them through a smoothing machine, and sell them
to bottlers, weiss-beer brewers and others, for use again.
A cork may be ever so well cleaned, but the internal fissures in
it always retain some of the vegetations referred to, and communicate
its ravaging properties to the liquids they are used to preserve…
Securing the Corks in the Bottles.
The pressure of the gas in a bottle of carbonated
beverage necessitates the employment of some means of holding the cork
in its place. This may be
done in several ways. The
oldest method is merely to tie the cork fast to the bottle mouth with
twine.
The wire cork fastener for ordinary saccharine
beverages is in almost universal use, and all that is necessary to
secure the cork is to push the cork fastener over the cork before
removing the bottling-machine plunger.
For ginger-ale bottles wires are used to secure the
corks. Also caps to prevent
the wire from cutting into the cork.
The name and address of the manufacturer may be stamped in the
caps.