John Lumb & Co. Ltd, Castleford, Yorkshire

John Lumb & Co Bottles recovered from False Creek Flats in Vancouver.

John Lumb & Co. Ltd. of Castleford, Yorkshire, was one of the first companies in England to embrace semi-automatic bottle machine technology. As early as 1904 they had decided to dispense with mould-blown operations and concentrate on their machine line. The Simpson-Bradshaw was in commercial use by 1905 (Turner 1938:254, 256). They started out with 8 machines. By 1907 they had 23 machines, and by 1914 had 38 (Ibid). Turner (1938) does not mention which machine they started with, but it was likely the Simpson-Bradshaw machine , which they developed in house.  By 1915, John Lumb & Co. was being taken over completely by Walker’s Whisky (Johnnie Walker’s) (Morgan 2021:125), possibly ending their beer bottle production (I have no evidence of this, just guessing).

Four John Lumb & Co Ld C bottles from False Creek – all semi-automatic machine made. #121 (19.4 cm tall), #122, 123, 124

The Simpson-Bradshaw machine was described in 1924 and sounds very similar to the workings of the Ashley Machine: 

"Around a semi-circle of brickwork several men were engaged in dipping out ‘gobs’ of metal [molten glass] and depositing each into the mouth of the machine. A second man rapidly clipped it off with a pair of scissors, and with the pulling of a few bundles [sic., “handles”?] the machine did the rest. The ‘gob’ was first shaped and then inverted into a mould, where it was blown into the form required (Leeds Mercury February 20, 1924 p.6)."

Four complete bottles from the collection have the Lumb mark and were clearly made in a semi-automatic machine (two 6-oz apollinaris-style, one 10-oz appolinaris-style, and one 10-oz whisky or beer). The complete bottles all have mould seams up and over the finish as well as around the base of the finish. Ghost seams when visible go from the finish downward, not from the base upward. See this post and this page: https://snratch.wixsite.com/portfolio/ashley-bottle-video-clip.

The two mossy-green splits-sized apollinaris-style bottles (6 oz) with sloping shoulders (#121 and #122 – see photo above) have “J L & Co LD C (arch) / 1843” and “J L & Co LD C (arch) / 1795” on their bases (see photo below). The third complete bottle is 10 oz in size (#123) with sloping shoulders, and has “J. L & Co LD C (arch) / 1492” – the added period on the larger bottle (#123) seems to be a mistake of sorts. The fourth semi-automatic bottle (#124) is also a 10 oz bottle and is marked “J L & Co LD C (arch) / 1343, but this one has a defined shoulder and is made of a darker emerald green glass – for beer or, perhaps, whisky (see photo above and below). All of them have the “C” after “LD” which I assume stands for Castleford – where the company was located. All of the complete bottles with the JL&CoLdC marks are made in 2-piece post bottom moulds.

Lumb bottles: #121, 122, 123, 124

Two basal fragments were also found. One (#246) is marked J L & Co LD C (arch) / 1690 and is the same diameter as the 10 oz complete whisky or beer bottle. One (#180) is marked J L & Co LTD C (arch) / 857 – a 6 oz size of emerald green. This one was different from all the rest as it was made in a 2-piece cup bottom mould – the embossing on the bottle is different and it only has a three digit number, so I wonder if it is slightly earlier. 

Lumb Bottles: #246, 180

Five other 6-Imperial-ounce Apollinaris style bottles were recovered made in semi-automatic machines with the same shape, colour, codes and fonts on the base, but no company initials. Because they are the same, it is safe to assume they also came from John Lumb.

#216-220

Because of the semi-automatic mould seams (1905) and the end date of the site, all these bottles date from ca. 1905-1915.

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