Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 96F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..
Partly cloudy. Low 71F. Winds light and variable.
Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 96F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..
Partly cloudy. Low 71F. Winds light and variable.
The original Thermos bottle patent is shown in this drawing from the U.S. Patent Office.
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The original Thermos bottle patent is shown in this drawing from the U.S. Patent Office.
Editor’s Note: This is the 553rd in a series of articles recalling vanished Huntington scenes.
HUNTINGTON — Invented in 1892 by Sir James Dewar, a Scottish scientist at Oxford University, the vacuum flask was not manufactured for commercial use until 1904, when two German glass blowers, Reinhold Burger and Albert Aschenbrenner, patented a domestic vacuum flask with a protective metal casing. The container was designed to keep its contents hot or cold.
The two glass blowers held a contest to name their vacuum flask and a resident of Munich submitted “Thermos,” which came from the Greek word “therme” meaning “hot.” Soon the two men sold their patent rights for the vacuum flask to three separate companies — in England, Canada and the United States.
American businessman William B. Walker secured the U.S. rights and before long his American Thermos Bottle Co. was busily manufacturing bottles. Sales quickly multiplied. In 1910, the company moved from Brooklyn, New York, to Manhattan to triple its output and then moved again in 1912 to Norwich, Connecticut, again dramatically increasing production of the popular containers.
While production continued in Norwich, the company expanded by constructing additional plants, including one in Huntington that opened at 900 West 9th St., in 1924. The company’s Huntington plant continued to produce Thermos bottles until World War II, when the factory was taken over by the U.S. Army, which used it as a warehouse.
With the war’s end, the Houdaille-Hershey Co. bought the building and turned it into what became the free world’s largest auto bumper plant. The big bumper plant closed in 1980.
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