Who Was William Painter? The Revolution of the Crown Cap and the Birth of Bottle Openers

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Bottle openers have become part of our personal toolkit, whether they hang from the ring of your key chain, ride in your backpack or serve as a basic kitchen utensil when you go camping.

The bottle opener we choose usually says something about us too. Whether it is a pocket opener from your favorite brewery or an antique piece made of wood and nails, there is always a connection.

And just like with beer, there has never been a better time to start paying more attention.

We usually do not have to dig very deep to come across the book by John Stanley and Donald Bull titled “Just For Openers: A Guide to Beer, Soda, & Other Openers” from 1999.

Beyond the surface, however, the hundreds of bottle openers shown in this magnificent collection also serve today as a historical chronicle, a record of accessories with more than 100 years of history, the crown cap and the bottle opener.

The Birth of a New Industry

In the last decade of the 19th century, carbonated drinks and beers were bursting into shops in many North American cities, usually in glass bottles sealed with an inserted cork or a “lightning” closure, very similar to the modern swing top.

The available options tended to be expensive, since both the bottles and the cork stoppers usually had to be used several times.

The drinks inside often leaked, and sanitation and hygiene problems were becoming a growing concern.

That was the mechanical challenge to which William Painter would devote much of his life.

Painter was born on November 20, 1838, in Triadelphia, MD, a town that was often devastated by the floods that hit it.

Despite a modest education, with a father who worked as a farmer for much of his youth, Painter quickly found work after finishing his studies, first as an apprentice at a patent leather maker and then at a leather shop in Wilmington, DE.

It was around this time that his intellectual life began to take shape, as he joined chess and debate clubs and served as editor of “The Every Monday Night: a Repository of Science, Literature, Sentiment and Fun”.

The many interests he developed at this stage of his life eventually led him, in 1865, to move to Baltimore with his wife Harriet and his son Orrin, where his creativity and his increasingly sophisticated inventions would bring him and his loved ones a great fortune.

William Painter and His Development as an Inventor

Decades later, in his book “Reminiscences of William Painter“, his son would recall that period of their lives with the euphoria of a child let loose in a toy store.

Painter had taken a job as foreman at the Murrill & Kiezer machine shop, providing a steady income for his family and building close ties with the community.

His son was often entertained by the novelties his father had invented, such as a potato gun, a windmill or a ring that could shoot water through a secret hand cylinder.

“In fact,” his son reflects, “we never suffered from a lack of fun.” That early joy would show up in more than 80 patents on different subjects during Painter’s adult life.

His first patents included a cash register, a counterfeit coin detector and a safety seat for railroad cars.

However, the main focus of Painter’s patents would be on inventions related to regulators, hose couplings and devices for privies.

His patents for gaskets and packings, generally all related to plumbing and pipes, eventually found a natural application in bottling, specifically when it came to improving the traditional design of stoppers.

The Birth of the Crown Cap

It was in April 1885 that Painter obtained a patent for his “bottle stopper fastener”, an elegant wire-based closure similar to the common lightning stopper.

Later that same year he received two other patents related to stoppers, including one for a flexible convex stopper he called the “Baltimore loop seal”.

Shortly afterwards, William Painter would begin to change history, since it was on November 5, 1889, that he filed the first of a series of three patent applications for a “bottle sealing device”.

A second was filed in June 1890 and the third (the most important one) was filed just a year later.

All three shared a similar core design, a sealing medium in the form of a thin disc or stopper, held firmly on top of a bottle by a crimped metal disc.

The sealer was cheap, reliable, disposable (something mind-blowing at the time) and firmly attached.

All three versions were granted on February 2, 1892, for a device originally called the “crown cork”.

It is Painter’s third patent (No. 468,258) that we undoubtedly recognize most easily today, with its thin inner lining of cork that was eventually replaced by plastic and its 24 crown-shaped teeth, later reduced to a standard of 21.

The Creation of the Bottle Opener

After that, it was Painter’s second patent that offered a related solution for removing the crown cap (No. 514,200).

The drawings show a dotted, lever-like device hooked over a fixed cap.

Painter stated:

The openers devised may be adjusted and adapted to remove the sealing caps by engaging their projecting edges.

The modern bottle opener was born.

It was so widely accepted that it was used not only for soft drinks but also for bottles of milk, beer and even water.

Thanks to these inventions, the glass industry also benefited from strong growth, which over time led to the manufacture of standardized bottles.

Around that time, the crown cap also began to be used to tell products apart by printing the company logo on its surface, giving birth to a new way of advertising on products.

The Birth of Crown Cork and Seal

Painter’s first factory, “Crown Cork and Seal”, was located at Guilford and Oliver streets and was the place where custom equipment was made for beverage companies, and it soon became a company with an international presence.

When Painter died in 1906, his company already had factories in the United States, Europe, Asia and South America.

A few years later, in the early 1930s, Crown Cork and Seal was already responsible for supplying the sealing services that capped more than half of the bottles on the planet.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. How many teeth should a modern crown cap have?

William Painter’s original design had 24 teeth, but this number was later reduced to the modern standard of 21 crimps (or flutes), which ensures an optimal seal and easier opening.

2. What types of bottle closures were popular before the crown cap was invented?

Before the crown cap, bottles of carbonated drinks were commonly sealed with inserted cork stoppers or with the “lightning” closure (a swing mechanism similar to modern ones), and they tended to be expensive because they were reused.

3. What other important inventions did William Painter patent?

William Painter was a prolific inventor with more than 80 patents. Among his notable inventions not directly related to bottling are a cash register, a counterfeit coin detector, a safety seat for railroad cars and various plumbing devices.

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