A Brief History
of ACL's
The Applied color label process of painting soda bottles and glasses began
around 1936. Most bottlers used paper labels or custom molded bottles to
identify their products. Through the process of bottle washing and
distribution, paper labels did not last long and had to be reapplied each
time. This was time consuming and costly to the bottlers. Custom molded
bottles could not achieve the bright colors and designs of the paper
labeling.
When applied color technology became available, bottlers and glass makers
were eager to use this inexpensive, long-lasting label. By using screen
print technology, colorful and bright designs could be applied directly to
the bottle or glass surface. Because of the pine oil mediums used, 5 to 10
minutes of drying time was needed between screen applications, resulting in
most early ACL bottles having 2 colors or less. This screening process only
allowed about 25 to 30 bottles or glasses per minute, depending on the
number of colors applied to them.
But by the mid 1950's, a thermoplastic wax medium was introduced that
eliminated the drying time between color applications. This increased
production to 100 to 128 units per minute.
After the paint application, the bottles were passed through a lehr, which
is basically a large oven capable of 1100-1200 degrees F. The lehr would
fuse the paint to the bottle or glass thru a process called annealing.
Thousands of different ACL labels were designed. The more elaborate
contained designs of planes, trains, animals, peoples, mountains, rivers,
and buildings. The diversity of designs and attractivenesss of the labels
makes ACL soda bottles and glasses a popular segment of soda collecting.