Hiram Codd
Encyclopedia
Hiram Codd was an English engineer. In 1872, he patented a bottle filled under gas pressure which pushed a marble against a rubber washer in the neck, creating a perfect seal.

Early life

Codd was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

, the son of Edwin Codd, a carpenter, who died when Codd was young. He had two older brothers and an older sister.

On 5 February 1856, at the age of 18, he married Jane Colebrooke. Early in his working life he became a mechanical engineer and at the age of 23, whilst working for the British and Foreign Cork Company, greatly improving the production of corks, he was offered the position of 'traveller for the business'. He recognised a need for better bottle filling machines and a new type of closure to reduce the need for corks.

Invention of the Codd bottle

In 1862 he brought out a patent for measuring the flow of liquids and in 1870 devised a patented bottling machine.

To understand the mineral water
Mineral water
Mineral water is water containing minerals or other dissolved substances that alter its taste or give it therapeutic value, generally obtained from a naturally occurring mineral spring or source. Dissolved substances in the water may include various salts and sulfur compounds...

 trade better and to prove the worth of his invention he experimented at a small mineral water works in the Caledonian Road
Caledonian Road (London)
The Caledonian Road, in Islington, North London is a road, about one and half miles long, running north-south from Camden Road near the junction with Holloway Road to Pentonville Road in the south. It is often known colloquially as the "Cally" and forms the entirety of the A5203.The street is...

, Islington
Islington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...

, in London. A letters patent
Letters patent
Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...

 issued to him in November 1870 stated he was a soda water
Carbonated water
Carbonated water is water into which carbon dioxide gas under pressure has been dissolved, a process that causes the water to become effervescent....

 manufacturer living at 6 Park Place, Islington.

Frederick Foster and William Brooke became early backers. In 1872 he was introduced to Richard Barrett, of London, whose two sons owned the Malvern Mineral Water Co. at Grove Lane, Camberwell. Barrett became Codd's partner. This enabled Codd to continue his research into the globe-stopper idea and in particular the tool used to form the groove in the lip of the bottle and in 1873 he perfected his globe-stoppered bottle.

Mineral water soda manufacturers who wanted to use Codd's Globe Stopper bottles had to pay a yearly fee for a licence to use his patent bottle. By mid 1873 he had granted 20 licenses and received a further 50 applications. This was boosted further by a Trade Show
Trade fair
A trade fair is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products, service, study activities of rivals and examine recent market trends and opportunities...

 held in London in the same year. By 1874 the licence was free to bottle manufacturers as long as they purchased the marbles, sealing rings and used his groove tool, and the mineral water firms they traded with had already bought a license to use his bottle. Codd had two factories in London solely producing marbles, one in Kennington and the other in Camberwell, which was run by F. Barrett, the son of his financial backer.

Hope Glass Works

In September 1873 he met Ben Rylands, and by 1877 they formed a partnership and started the Hope Glass Works in Barnsley. They remained partners until Rylands's death in 1881.

During this period he still had a separate partnership with Richard Barrett, who let Codd look after the day to day running of their interests. Late in 1881, owing to failing health, Barrett retired and passed the management of the Codd's Patents solely to Hiram Codd. His Malvern Mineral Water Works and both marble producing factories continued to thrive and he was still involved with Frederick Foster and William Brooke, his early backers.
In 1880 Codd instigated the idea of a bottle exchange in London. This was slow to start but eventually caught on in London and all over the country. Many thousands of empty bottles could be returned to their original owners via bottle exchanges. Agents charged a small fee on each bottle for providing this service (one penny per each 144 bottles).

Dan Rylands took over the partnership after his father's death, and in 1882 they patented 'the crystal' (valve codd).

On October 6, 1884, Codd allowed his partner to buy him out of the business and started trading at 41 Gracechurch Street
Gracechurch Street
Gracechurch Street is a street in the City of London which forms part of the A10. It is home to a number of shops, restaurants, offices and Leadenhall Market....

, London.

In February of the same year, his wife died at age 54. They had three surviving children: Maud, Edith, and Alfred Charles. Codd married his second wife, Elizabeth Brundell (whose brother worked for the firm) in June 1885.

As he did not renew any of his earlier patents, his products could now be manufactured without fear of prosecution. Early examples of these bottles sometimes have "CODD'S EXPIRED PATENT" embossed on them.

Death and legacy

He died at his family home, Suffolk Lodge, 162 Brixton Road
Brixton Road
Brixton Road is a road in the London Borough of Lambeth , leading from the Oval at Kennington to Brixton, where it forms the high street and then forks into Effra Road and Brixton Hill at St Mathews church at the crossroads with Acre Lane and Coldharbour Lane...

, Brixton
Brixton
Brixton is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in south London, England. It is south south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....

, London, on 18 February 1887 from "congestion of the brain and chronic disease of the liver and kidneys" and is buried in London's Brompton Cemetery
Brompton Cemetery
Brompton Cemetery is located near Earl's Court in South West London, England . It is managed by The Royal Parks and is one of the Magnificent Seven...

.
Codd's patented globe stopper bottle is still manufactured in India by the Khandelwal glass works. His earlier bottles are prized by antique bottle collectors worldwide and the term "codswallop" is still heard today.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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