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Glasgow Pottery - John Moses & Co.

Mercer Pottery

O.P.Co. – Syracuse China




Bloomfield Industries
Corning Glass Works

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The L.A. Becker Company of Chicago was the inventor and manufacturer of the 20th Century Sanitary Soda Water Fountain. It was owned by Louis Alexander Becker (L.A. Becker), who was the company's president.

The company was incorporated in 1898, organized in 1902 and "absorbed" by the Bishop & Babcock Co. of Cleveland on March 3, 1911, under the name of Bishop-Babcock-Becker Co. The ad at the right is dated 1909. (Click on it for a larger image.) This flip would probably have been produced, therefore, between 1902 and 1911.

The soda fountain flip pictured below is incredibly heavy for its size, and is approximately 7 1/2" high, 8 1/2" deep and 5" wide. In some places the glass is 1/2" thick.

It was intended to be inserted into a soda fountain set-up, with only the top half with its magnificent glass pattern visible to customers.

The bowl is impressed X-RAY FRUIT BOWLS on the inside bottom. The name X-ray comes from the slogan: Fruits in Sight – meaning that the bowl's contents could be easily identified.

I submitted this soda fountain insert to the Early American Pattern Glass Society for possible ID. I was told by EAPG historian Paul Kirk: "This is not a pattern found on other tablewares, so my guess is that this was produced specifically for Becker, or that they were capable of making glass items."

 

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