Coke Bottles

In the 50s and early 60s soft drinks came in bottles. Any soft drink was called a coke as distinguished from Coca Cola.

Part of the purchase price of a ‘coke’ was a deposit on the bottle which the retailer refunded when the bottle was returned. One way we kids made money was to locate ‘coke’ bottles wherever we could, garages, ditches, trash piles…, clean ‘em up a little and take them to a retailer for the refunded deposit.

The Coca Cola plant in Beaumont had an extensive set of machinery for cleaning the returned bottles before refilling them. Our Cub Scout den visited the coke plant and watched the cleaning and filling operation in action. It was an amazing Rube Goldberg (look it up) machine that must have worked reliably enough to make it worthwhile.

Another aspect of those ‘coke’ bottles was the name the city of origin where the bottle was manufactured cast into the base of the bottle. I know that Coca Cola bottles had this feature and I think some other brands also had it. It was always a small adventure to see whose bottle was from the farthest place away.