When you visit the Roman Baths and walk through the
Pump Room, you will come to a small room on the other side called the Sun
Lounge. Here, our A-Z display has now changed from A…to B!
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| Installing the new Alphabet display |
Created by our volunteer Zoë, the display showcases
beautiful bottles through time. Over the summer, Michela did a lot of research
into the marvellous Victorian bottles in the collection and found that every
bottle has got a story to tell:
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| Glass Codd-neck bottle |
This is known as a Codd-neck bottle because it was
invented in 1872 by a British engineer called Hiram Codd. He designed and
patented a bottle specifically invented for carbonated drinks. In fact, the
Codd-neck bottle has a unique closing design based on a glass marble that is
forced against the washer by the pressure of the gas contained in the beverage.
To open a Codd-neck bottle it is necessary to push the marble down and let the
gas spill out. These bottles also have a special chamber to prevent the marble
from blocking the neck when pouring the drink. This clever bottle design is
still used in Japan for carbonated beverages. This bottle was produced in Newport (South Wales) but the drink
that was inside was product by a soda-lemonade factory called Brooke & Co. that was founded in Bath (5 Walcot
Street) in 1846.
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| Glass 'torpedo' bottle |
This ‘torpedo’ bottle was introduced in 1814 to
preserve the pressure of the bottle. This shape does not allow you to keep the
bottle standing up, only lying down! In this way, the liquid keeps the cork covered,
preventing it from becoming dry and avoiding the loss of bottle pressure. This
particular example contained a carbonate drink produced in Bath by a factory called
R. B. Cater & Co. that had a phoenix as trade mark. Can you spot the
phoenix on the side?
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| Medicine bottle containing 'Kay's Linseed Compound' |
This medicine bottle contained a preparation of
chloroform and morphine that was sold as remedy for coughs, colds, bronchitis,
influenza and asthma. This medicine was produced in Stockport by a factory
called Kay Brothers Ltd. that was probably founded in 1867. On the 5th of
December 1908, The British Medical
Journal examined the contents of Kay’s Linseed Compound (page 1698). Reading
the contents, it’s not surprising that it isn’t found in pharmacies today!
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| Extract from the British Medical Journal 1908 |
The A-Z display is free to see in the Sun Lounge
during opening hours. Stay tuned for updates as we work our way through the
alphabet!
Collections Placement
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