Closure (container) - History

History

Early pottery and ceramic containers often had lids that fit reasonably snug onto the body of the container. The narrow necks of ancient amphora were closed with a plug of cork, wood, or ceramic and sealed with mortar. Wooden Barrels often had bungholes closed by cork or wood bungs.

Some early tinplate cans were made with threaded necks for screw top closures.

Beverage bottles started using the Hutter Stopper in 1893. This involved a porcelain plug fitted with a rubber washer, which was then forced down into the lip of the bottle. This technique only works with carbonated beverages. The Hutter Stopper became standard in beer bottling in the late 1890s / early 1900s. Bail closures on bottles were invented by Henry William Putnam in 1859. These involved heavy wire bail attached to a bottle's neck that swung over the cork to hold it in.

The world's first modern bottle cap, the crown cork, was invented by William Painter in 1890 in Baltimore. The screw cap using rust resistant aluminum was first used in prescription drug bottling in the 1920s.Molded urea based bottle caps were first introduced in the early 1900s.

A history of accidents involving children opening household packaging and ingesting the contents led the US Congress to pass the Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970.

• Greek pottery with lid, 5thcentury

• An assortment of wine corks

• bail closure on jam jar

• bung in bunghole of a wine barrel