The Boston Round Bottle, also known as a Winchester Bottle are bottles with rounded shoulders and sides. They are usually made out of plastic, but can also be manufactured from glass. The bottles come in a variety of sizes, so they can be used to hold pharmaceuticals, chemicals, drinkable products and more. These bottles can be purchased in various colors with many different types of lids, so technically any product can be stored in them.
The necks of Boston Round Bottles are usually very straight. They start to take a round form just below the neck, and the sides of the bottle are somewhat rounded as well. At the bottom of Boston Rounds they are flat so that they hold themselves up well. Even though they have a rounded look, the bottles are not circular in shape. This is because they are typically long yet not unnecessarily wide.
These bottles vary in size. A small Boston Round can store one to two ounces (29.6 to 59.1 ml) of liquid, while medium-sized containers could carry up to 4 ounces (118.3 ml). Larger bottles are usually made to contain approximately 8 ounces (236.6 ml) of material.
Boston Round Bottles normally have a narrow mouth. This helps keep a large amount of liquid from being spilled if they do fall over. Consumers who purchase empty Boston Rounds to store cooking products or toiletries may find it supportive to use a funnel when filling them.
At the top of the bottle they vary based on the intended need of them. Some may have ridges or grooves, including a screw-on lid. Those that are purchased for the use of medicine bottles could have a tip that screws on and acts as a dropper. Others may use a spray, squirt, or pump top.
Plastic or clear glass can be used to manufacture Boston Round Bottles. The material used can sometimes be tinted with different colors, such as blue, green, or amber. Boston Rounds can also come in the color black, which is sometimes used when their is a need for medicine bottles or the drugs that they are carrying come in contact with light.
When they become empty, Boston Round Bottles can sometimes be washed and reused. They can usually be cleaned by rinsing them with hot water and mild detergent until all the residue has been fully removed. Using the dishwasher for these bottles is not recommended. Do not store food in the bottles that have previously been used for chemicals.
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Silver Spur stocks a full line of Boston Round glass bottles in popular colors such as amber, cobalt blue, flint, and green in sizes from 1/2 oz to 32 oz. Their convenient rounded shoulder is ideal for storing a variety of items such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, drinkable products and more.
Most people don’t give this much thought, but amber glass is made a certain color and by certain materials for a reason. If you think about all of the dark glass bottles you’ve encountered in your lifetime—beer bottles, cosmetic bottles and jars, essential oil bottles, and sublingual supplement bottles—you’ll realize that the majority of them have that amber color.
It’s safe to say that amber glass is in high demand across a multitude of industries. So, if your business is to supply manufacturers with the essential glass packaging for their products, then amber glass bottles should be at the top of your supply list. Keep reading to find out more about amber glass bottles and why you should always have them in stock.
Amber Glass For Everyone
As mentioned above, amber bottles are made the way they are for a reason. The main reason being that if everything were put in clear bottles, our liquids, oils, and serums, etc. wouldn’t last very long.
Many industries, including the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries, rely heavily on amber glass bottles but the list doesn’t end there. Other industries include:
It may seem like a short list, however, there are hundreds of thousands of different products out there that utilize amber glass bottles. Keep in mind that do-it-yourselfers are never in short supply either, and amber glass is typically their first choice in product packaging.
How is Amber Glass Made?
Euro Round Dropper Amber Glass Bottle
Amber glass has some unique properties that make it a top choice for product packaging. While basic glassware, such as clear glass jars and bottles, are made from a liquefied form of sand that is heated and poured into certain shapes, amber glass is made a bit differently.
Amber glass is actually a mixture of sand, limestone, and soda ash. All of these elements are heated to a very high temperature. When the mixture is completely melted and molten, other materials are added to the mix to give the glass its different properties and color depth.
The elements of iron, sulfur, and carbon are usually added to the mixture to give the glass a nice dark coloring. The reason for this coloring is to protect the product inside, which we’ll talk about more later. From there, machines and workers are used to shape the freshly made liquid glass into bottle, jar, or cup form. Once the glass cools, it begins to harden into its designated shape.
How Amber Glass Bottles Are Beneficial
Glass, in general, comes with a variety of benefits for product manufacturers. It’s considered to be inert, which means it won’t break down or seep chemicals into the products. It’s also relatively inexpensive since the materials that it’s made from are widely available. And it can be tempered or have a variety of minerals and metals added to it for strength, and it doesn’t retain heat.
Amber glass, however, takes things to another level:
They Protect Light-Sensitive Products
Boston Round Amber Glass Bottle
One of the main benefits of using amber glass is that it provides the best protection against UV light, blue light, and other light wavelengths under the 450-nanometer range. UV rays can cause what is known as photooxidation.
Photooxidation has the capacity to break down and alter the chemical makeup of a product, thereby cutting its shelf life in half or rendering it completely useless. In some cases, photooxidation can actually cause the ingredients within certain products to become toxic, causing adverse health reactions when used.
The high level of UV protection against different wavelengths of light allows for a longer shelf life of the product being stored. This is precisely why these glass bottles keep beer fresh, essential oils potent, and allows cosmetics and skincare products to work with 100 percent efficiency.
They Provide a Safer Interaction
Glass, in general, is made from natural materials, so manufacturers don’t have to worry about the bottles breaking down and leaking chemicals into the stored product.
This also means that there won’t be any chemical interactions between the glass and product inside, unlike plastic which is latent with chemicals that break down fairly easily and interact with the stored product.
They Are Versatile
Amber glass comes in a wide range of shapes, styles, and sizes. Whether you need amber glass bottles, vials, jugs, or jars, numerous amber glass options are available.
Amber glass bottles are suitable for nearly every product, ranging from a 1 oz sample jar to an entire beer growler. Aside from skincare, cosmetics, wine, and beer, amber glass is also suitable for storing chemicals and other raw materials—including acids and bases.
They Are Recyclable and Can Be Reused
Most glass containers are recyclable, but when there’s color involved, the rules can get a bit tricky. Amber glass is technically 100 percent recyclable—but it can only be broken down and reshaped into a new amber glass bottle, jar, etc.
Amber glass bottles can also be cleaned and reused multiple times. Unlike plastic, they’re durable and take years and years to completely break down. Not to mention, glass isn’t porous like plastic, so it’s perfectly safe to reuse.
Give Your Customers the Best
Amber glass is the best product packaging that you can have in stock for your customers. It’s eye-catching, non-toxic, versatile, recyclable, affordable, and it offers the highest level of UV protection from light and chemicals.
We offer amber glass bottles in all shapes and sizes that will fit all of your packaging needs. So, if you’re in the market for wholesale amber glass bottles, contact us and our team will help you get set up right away.
Everybody talks about the discovery of fire and the invention of the wheel as humankind’s greatest achievements. But there’s another achievement that has an ancient history and a transformative effect on our way of life. The humble Boston Round glass bottle.
Bottles are so commonplace now that it’s hard to imagine them not existing. Our dive into the history of the glass Boston Round bottle needs to begin with how bottles came about in the first place.
When you start to think about everyday items in your home and workplace, you’ll find that you might know little about their histories. Objects we take for granted haven’t been around forever. Yet each one makes our lives easier.
If you’re intrigued about the history of glass bottles and theBoston Round bottles, keep reading to see what we’ve uncovered.
A Leap into the History of Glass Bottles
Before glass bottles, our ancestors made water containers from animal hides and gourds.
The first known invention of glass bottles was in ancient Egypt over 3000 years ago. The Egyptians maderudimentary glass bottles at first. They created a paste made from the natural substance silica and coated it in molten glass.
Glass itself was invented two thousand years prior. It wasn’t until glass blowing techniques came about in the 1st century BC that the material was used for many applications.
As glass jars and bottles are durable and useful, they were made in increasing quantities as the centuries passed. Glass bottles were made on a mass scale with the invention ofautomatic glass blowing technology in the late 19th century.
When Was the Boston Round Glass Bottle Invented?
Whether you recognize the name or not, you’ll recognize the bottle. The Boston Round bottle is commonplace, particularly in drug dispensaries and pharmaceutical companies. In fact, you might well have a few in your bathroom cabinet.
When glass bottles became easier to make in the 19th and 20th centuries, production shot up. They were particularly popular in the medicinal industry as the ideal form of packaging because glass is airtight and keeps odors out (or in). The ability to create dark-colored glass such as amber was also beneficial, as it prevents UV rays from degrading light-sensitive products inside.
Boston Round glass bottles could potentially have been designed to store liquids over solids as they have a narrow neck. Thisnarrow diameter would’ve helped prevent any evaporation around the original cork stopper, something a solid, like a tablet, wouldn’t suffer from.
There are no records to describe when the Boston Round bottle came about. This is possibly because many glass bottle suppliers existed in the late 1800s and 1900s, each offering similar bottles.
Where Did Boston Round Bottles Get Their Name?
When glass bottle manufacturing took off in the pharmaceutical industry, bottles were commonly described by their shape. Bottles containing beverages, particularly carbonated drinks, were often round. This is because a round bottle has much more inherent strength than one of any other shape.
The likelihood is that Boston Round bottles have “round” in the name purely as a shape descriptor.
So why are they named “Boston”?
Strangely enough, they were also referred to as a Winchester bottle, particularly in the UK. Named Winchester Quart bottles, they were commonplace in 1860 at least when thePharmaceutical Journal Part Two was published. The journal states, “…a Winchester quart bottle, which every druggist has in his store-room…”
It was named Winchester, not for the English city but after a measure at the time called a “Winchester”.
There’s no indication of why Winchester Quart bottles are also known as Boston Round bottles, but they were a common bottle at the turn of the 20th century and manufactured by many glassmakers.
What Are Boston Round Bottles Made From?
Traditional Boston Round bottles were made of glass, oftenbrown-colored glass. This was most likely to protect its content from light. This is why you typically see an amber Boston Round bottle as opposed to a clear glass bottle. You can also choose from a cobalt blue or a green soda lime glass color.
The Boston Round glass bottle type has never gone out of fashion though thanks to its useful shape and these days it can be made out of glass or plastic. Glass is durable, easy to sterilize and 100% recyclable, making it an ideal material for storing a range of medicinal compounds.
Plastic has the benefit of being lightweight and still strong. The Boston Round also features a threaded neck for a screw cap. These became common from 1930 onwards and took over from corks and glass stoppers as the most useful sealing method.
Why Are They So Popular?
Whether you call them Boston Rounds, Winchester Bottles or Winchester Quarts, the bottle shape has seen enduring popularity for over a hundred years. The rounded shoulder is useful for solids and creams as angled shoulders can cause the contents to get stuck. The narrow neck is traditionally beneficial for liquids, preventing evaporation and making it easier to pour accurately. As they’re round, they’re also exceptionally strong and more comfortable to handle.
Of all the glass bottle shapes, it seems that this was the optimal design. You can use them with many different types of tops as well. We’ve even optimized the caps to the bottles to include liquid droppers, lotion pumps, spray tops, as well as the standard screw-on black cap.
These days, you can buy Boston Round bottles in a widevariety of colors. From clear glass to amber, cobalt blue, and green, both colored plastic and glass bottles are available to suit your needs. The amber color can protect your contents from the sun, whereas the clear Boston Round bottles allows for maximum visibility of the contents in your bottle. Clear Boston Round bottles are perfect for liquids that you want to display such as colorful herbal supplements.
Boston Round Bottles Are Popular As Ever
The history of pharmaceutical equipment is fascinating and often overlooked. Boston Round bottles are such a popular shape that we all have instances of them around our homes. These glass bottles have been used for packaging for many years and are tried and true.
Useful for everything from essential oils to medicines to CBD’s and creams, we can’t see the Boston Round falling out of favor.
If you’re looking for Boston Round bottles,check out our selection. When you start using your new Boston Round bottles, you know you’ll be using a little piece of history.
Of all the glass bottle shapes, it seems that this was the optimal design.