In 1892, William Painter changed how we drink beer and soda when he patented a seemingly mundane invention: the bottle cap.
Headquartered in Baltimore for more than six decades, Painter’s Crown Cork & Seal Company innovated a number of important products including the crown cork bottle cap, bottle opener, and a foot-powered bottle capping machine. By the 1930s, Crown Cork & Seal supplied half of the world’s bottle caps and had factories in Europe, South America, and Asia. To learn more about Painter and his company, please visit the BMI’s Maryland Milestones Wall.
Tin round Crown bottle cap made by Crown Cork & Seal
Crown Cork & Seal bottle capper
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