Bot′tle.
A vessel with a relatively small neck, and adapted to hold liquids.
In ancient times they were made of leather.
The Psalmist declares he has “become like a bottle in the smoke,” that is, shriveled and wrinkled.
It is also advised by the Savior, — a metaphysical meaning being couched in the words, — not to put new wine into old bottles, as they could not withstand the action of fermentation.
The skin-bottles of the
East are made of goat-skins; when the animal is butchered, its head and feet are cut off, and the skin drawn off without ripping.
In
Arabia it is tanned with acacia bark, the hair being left on the outside.
The several openings are sewn up, and the neck, which serves as a spout, is tied.
Such bottles were used by the Greeks, Egyptians, and
Romans, being mentioned by
Homer,
Herodotus, and Virgil.
They are also used to the present day in
Spain and
Sicily, and other Mediterranean countries; they are called
borrachas in
Spain, and the peculiar flavor of marsala and some other wines is attributed to the skins in which they were originally brought to market.
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Skin-bottles. |
Bottles of earthenware are usually made with handles, and are called flasks.
Cast-iron bottles, closed by a screw-plug, are used for holding quicksilver.
Glass is, however, the material almost universally employed in the bottle manufacture.
It is generally of the coarsest and commonest kind, made from inferior materials; in fact, the use of any others for the purpose was prohibited in
England until a comparatively recent period.
Six persons are employed in the necessary manipulations; one of whom dips the red-hot end of an iron tube into the pot of molten glass, turns the rod around so as to surround it with glass, lifts it out to cool a little, then dips and turns it around again, and so on until he has collected a ball of sufficient size to form the required bottle.
He then hands it to the blower, who rolls the plastic lump of glass on a smooth stone or castiron plate until he brings it to the very end of the tube, forming a pear-shaped lump, when he introduces it into an open brass or cast-iron mold, which he shuts together by pressing a pedal with his foot, and, holding the tube vertically, blows through it, expanding the glass so as to fill the concavity of the mold.
Upon removing his foot from the pedal the two halves of the mold open, turning upon a hinge at the bottom.
The bottle is then removed and handed to the finisher, who, by touching the tubular neck of glass by which the bottle adheres to the pipe, cracks it off smoothly at the mouth; the finished bottles are then placed in the annealing-furnace and allowed to cool slowly for twentyfour hours or more.
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Peruvian bottle. |
This kind of mold produces a seam down each side of the bottle, causing a rather unsightly appearance.
See glass.
Glass bottles were known to the Romans of the
Empire, and are found in
Pompeii.
A glass bottle with a capacity of 112 gallons was blown at
Leith, in Scotland, about 1747.
Fig. 825 shows an earthen bottle from
Peru, with two faces.
The sectional view shows the shape of the neck and handle.
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Earthenware bottles. |
Fig. 826 shows a number of ancient bottles.
a b c are from
Thebes.
d is Etruscan.
e is from
China.
f from ancient
Egypt.
