Brooklyn Seltzer Boys has a century-old carbonator and a museum with a spritzing station. Beat that, LaCroix.

Article here.

"A century ago, before it was called sparkling water or club soda, and before it was sold as LaCroix and Spindrift, it was called seltzer. No plastic bottles or aluminum cans magically appeared on grocery shelves. Instead, factories across New York City pumped fizzy water into heavy siphon bottles that were distributed by deliverymen.

Nearly all those seltzer men are gone now; one seltzer works remains...


Kenny Gomberg, who built most of the factory himself, works as the handyman (being the only one who knows how to repair the old machines).

...The seltzer-making area is a Willy Wonka series of units connected by pipes. The star of the show — and the company’s workhorse — is a squat, century-old carbonator that blasts bubbles into triple-filtered tap water at a 43-degree chill. Its 65 pounds per square inch of pressure — too strong for plastic bottles, hence the use of handblown glass bottles made in Europe — breathes bite into an egg cream.

“Good seltzer should hurt — it should be carbonated enough that it kind of stings the back of your throat,” said Mr. Gomberg, who earned a master’s degree in higher education before opting to revive his family’s abandoned delivery service a decade ago. Now his crew has roughly 600 customers (a 10-bottle case costs $50, including delivery)...

...On a recent afternoon, Walter Backerman, 70, was filling his bottles when a ratty old van backed in. His father, Abraham (Big Al) Backerman, was buried with a seltzer bottle. The younger Mr. Backerman, one of the last of the old-school seltzer men, hobbles from years of lugging cases up and down stairs. His carrying shoulder is shot. Each case weighs more than 60 pounds full and 45 empty, he said.

But he still wakes before 4 a.m. to serve his customers, partly to keep the seltzer man tradition going. “These bottles are basically indestructible. I’m just their custodian,” he said...

As Tevye sang,"TRADITION!"

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"I drank WHAT?" (Socrates)

When I saw that post I thought of Clarabell the clown in the Howdy Doody old TV series. Hopefully a picture of one of Clarabells seltzer bottles below.

https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryServi...-3020&max=1000

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

I still have one of those Clarabell seltzer water squirt bottles somewhere. You make your own by using a CO2 cartridge. I have never used it, probably never will, and that is why it is hidden in some box someplace in the house. It is necessary to start with cold water as CO2 is much more soluble in it than in room temperature water.

On another tack, there was a company in Dover, Ohio called Sparklet Devices. They were in the business of making seltzer water bottles and CO2 cartridges, but during WWII, they manufactured .50 BMG and possibly some .30 steel cartridge cases. The case headstamp used was SD. They must have not made cases in large quantities, as there are very few examples known. And there is virtually no information known about this venture. Does anyone here know anything about them?

In those circumstances, companies could switch from manufacturing one product to another remarkably easily. The Ingis appliance company in Ontario started out in the 19th c. making machinery for flour mills, then steam and pumping engines, boilers and turbines, then just before WWII became a major manufacturer of Bren machine guns, 20mm cannons and of course the "Inglis" Hi Power pistol.

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"I drank WHAT?" (Socrates)

Absolutely. I remember the glass bottles with the silver spigot on top, came in a case of 12. At Moltane's, ice cold seltzer with a double shot of cherry syrup was the best followed closely by seltzer with Bosco. Joe

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Behavior Creates Destiny

I have a seltzer bottle tucked away, and may have had some Sparklet cartridges for it at one time. At least the name rings a bell. But this is the first time I have ever seen Sparklet associated with Dover, Ohio. Funny thing, my pop hailed from Dover, and I visited there many times, but never associated Sparklet with Dover.

In my childhood, I made many visits to Warther cutlery, where Mooney Warther would carve a small block of beechwood into a working plier, and show off his scratch-machined steam locomotives. Years later, I would goto Larry Dinolfo’s pizza parlor, and prowl the countryside taverns in rental cars looking for the best pickled tongue sandwich.

I knew the Marlowe brothers, who had a pharmacy/ cooking school in neighboring New Philadelphia. Jerry Marlowe was notorious for crashing the Michigan/OSU football game when they played in Columbus. Marlowe was also responsible for fixing me up with perhaps the most hilarious date of my life, with a gal named Inflatable Alice.

A lot of this evening would not be appropriate for these pages. In my defense, let me say that I would not be seen in public with her until we got her properly clothed in a cocktail dress we borrowed from Marlowe’s mother, Fanny, who lived next doir to my grandparents, and who could be counted upon to be up at all hours, sipping Scotch in her living room.
At Dinolfo’s, Alice created a scandal with Ike, the dishwasher. Fortunately, the police were not called, as it was past their bedtime.

It comes as a surprise to me after all these adventures that I never learned until now of the connection between Sparklet and Dover.

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Not in jail.

There is not a great deal of reliable information concerning Sparklet available. They may have originally been a British company, and during WWII, they seemed to have been a division of a St. Louis company called Knapp-Monarch which made electric irons. They once may have been acquired by Hoover, the vacuum cleaner company. They seemed to have made many defense-related products during WWII, and possibly later. The Dover location may have been where the ammunition case operations were located, but there is nothing definitive I could locate which is specific about that.

There is little known about Sparklet Devices in the ammunition collector community either, aside from the fact they did exist. One would probably have to do some gumshoe research within the Dover community (library, newspapers, local history groups, etc.) to discover any details, and I am not inclined to do that.

Just looked up Barnett and Foster (the name on that lovely big nameplate in the pic) and came across this entry on The Practical Machinist website (with a few old images) and a YouTube video of the same machine in operation at Pittsburgh Seltzer Works (closed in 2018, apparently)

Joseph Priestley--english multifaceted scientist, is generally credited with discovery of oxygen
he proclaimed his greatest accomplishment to be production of soda water--- he was an avid consumer ---this product was produced by dropping oil of vitriol--sulfuric acid--on chalk

the liberated carbon dioxide was trapped and forced to impregnate water--his words--all of this in 1767

one hundred years later a number of english manufacturing firms offered bottling machinery for production of seltzer water--the most durable machines branded Barnett and Foster

these machines are still in use--Gomberg Seltzer in Brooklyn and Pittsburgh Seltzer Works

On Grace's Guide to British Industrial History is a history of the company (1850 or 1858 - 1950) with this interesting tidbit:

1882 Exhibited at the Naval and Submarine Exhibition the two main types of breathing apparatus for divers - air supplied from the surface, and a self-contained supply carried by the diver; Barnett and Foster were the only one of 7 firms exhibiting who showed both types of apparatus.

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"I drank WHAT?" (Socrates)

The name Joseph Priestley wrung a bell, so I went into some of my ASHRAE books and looked him up. He is credited as having developed the fundamentals of ammonia absorption refrigeration when he discovered that his recently isolated ammonia compound had an affinity for water and would produce a strong endothermic reaction (turn very cold) when mixed with water. It’s the basis of everything from propane powered RV refrigerators to the large tonnage chillers in CoGen plants that use the waste heat from gas and steam turbine electric generators to produce chilled water.
Pretty cool…literally

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USS Brewton FF1086
SWCA#3597

Ammonia is a very efficient refrigerant, somewhat superior to any of the Freons. The major problem in its use is its toxicity in the event of leakage which makes it a non-starter for residential air conditioning applications. Nonetheless, ammonia continues to be used in large-scale industrial/commercial refrigeration systems. In fact it is a requirement for most frozen food manufacturing as it will produce lower temperatures than fluorocarbon refrigerants.

The "Priestley Medal" is the most prestigious annual award bestowed by the American Chemical Society. Joseph Priestley is considered by most scientific historians as the finest "all-around" chemist. He is credited with discovering many processes that are still quite critical today.

Bryan

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Ordnung muss sein
SWHF #789

Is Seltzer the same as Club Soda?

Those seltzer bottles with the spout on top; are they the ones often seen in 3 Stooges shows, etc.? I never saw one in person.

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Waiting For The Sun.

Yes, it is just carbonated water, no flavorings added. Not really very good unless flavored with something.

One local restaurant we occasionally patronize has a soft drink dispensing machine for customers to get their own Coke, Dr. Pepper, Orange Soda, etc., like you would find at any McDonald’s.
Except this is the only one I have ever seen which also dispenses plain unflavored soda water. I suppose some customers like it that way.

I have yet to drink my first Scotch and Soda.

Yes! The 3 Stooges put them to very good use.

I was born in Brooklyn NY and grew up in Queens (sadly, I wouldn't set foot there now - no longer live in NY). My parents got a delivery of Seltzer in those glass bottles each week in a wooden box. In the summer months there were many Seltzer fights which emptied out half the bottles before my parents came home - my Dad was not a happy camper!

Before my Dad passed away 14 years ago he used a modern Seltzer maker daily even though is was actually quite a bit more costly than buying he Vantage Seltzer in the plastic bottles from Costco.I guess it was just a pleasant throw-back to the old days. I drink Seltzer myself, but since we entertain multiple times a week and many of our friends and neighbors also drink it, I just buy the Vantage brand at Costco otherwise I'd be making Seltzer all day long - lol.

My wife loves to make Egg-cream sodas for our guests - they look forward to that! We go through a case per week on average.

We have a small device that makes soda water. I make 4-8 bottles a week. Particularly good with ouzo or sambuca.

Kevin

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Unshared knowledge is wasted.

Club soda has salt added, seltzer doesn’t. Joe

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Behavior Creates Destiny