science · 02 February 1892 · 132 years ago
In 1892, the bottle cap with cork seal was patented by William Painter, Baltimore (U.S. No. 468,226). This replaced the time-consuming cork and wire bale way of sealing bottles, and represented a major saving for the bottlers. The cap was used until the 1970s, when cork in soft drink and beer bottle caps was considered unhealthy, so, manufacturers switched to cans and plastic, instead. Currently, caps used on bottles use plastic cap "liners", instead of cork.
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