Common uses forbottles made fromglass include food condiments, soda,liquor, cosmetics, pickling and preservatives; they are occasionally also notably used forthe informal distribution of notes. Aglass bottle can vary in size considerably, but are most commonly found in sizes ranging between about 200 millilitres and 1.5litres.
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Glass bottles and glassjars are found in many households worldwide. The firstglass bottles were produced inMesopotamia around 1500 B.C., and in theRoman Empire in around 1 AD.[1] America's glass bottle andglass jar industry was born in the early 1600s, when settlers in Jamestown built the firstglass melting furnace. The invention of theautomatic glass bottle-blowingmachine in 1903industrialized the process of making bottles.[2]
The earliest bottles or vessels were made by ancient man. Ingredients were melted to make glass and thenclay forms were dipped into the molten liquid. When the glass cooled off, the clay was chipped out of the inside leaving just the hollow glass vessel.[3] This glass was very thin as the fire was not as hot as modern-day furnaces. Theblowpipe was invented around 1 B.C. This allowedmolten glass to be gathered on the end of the blow pipe and blown into the other end to create a hollow vessel. Eventually, the use of amold was introduced, followed by the invention of a semi-automatic machine, called the Press and Blow, by Yorkshire Iron founder, Howard Matravers Ashley, in 1886.[4][5] In 1904,Michael Owens invented the automatic bottle machine, after working on the production ofelectric lightbulbs, inOhio, for Edison.[6]
Once made, bottles may suffer from internal stresses as a result of unequal, or too rapid cooling. Anannealing oven, or 'lehr', is used to cool glass containers slowly to preventstress and make the bottle stronger.[7] When a glass bottle filled with liquid is dropped or subjected to shock, thewater hammer effect may causehydrodynamic stress, breaking the bottle.[8][9]
Modern bottles, when moulded, are given marks on the heel (bottom). These marks serve a variety of purposes, such as identifying the machine used in the production of the bottle (for quality control purposes), showing the manufacturer of the bottle, how much to fill the bottle to, the date the bottle was manufactured, as well as other information. Embossing on a bottle consists of raised lettering, numbers, and/or designs which were intended to inform the purchaser in some way of the contents or to establish ownership of the bottle.[10][11][12][13]
Glass bottles have a variety of closures to seal up the bottle and prevent the contents from escaping. Early bottles were sealed withwax, and later stoppered with a cork. More common today are screw caps and stoppers.[14]
Glass recycling recovers a high rate of raw materials.[quantify][15] Some countries have adoptedcontainer-deposit legislation to encourage recycling.
Common shapes in modern commerce include:[16]
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