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About This ItemExceptionally rare early Coca-Cola advertising wall mount bottle opener from Brown MFG Co. The front carries the classic raised Coca-Cola script, while the heel is marked BROWN MFG CO, NEWPORT NEWS, VA and PAT. APR. 21, 25. The reverse is marked MADE IN U.S.A. along with a mold number.
This unusual Brown heel configuration is thought to represent a very early version produced during, or not long after, the transition of Thomas C. Hamilton's Bottle Cap Puller invention to Raymond M. Brown. Rather than carrying the familiar STARR maker marking associated with so many later Brown openers, this example carries Brown Manufacturing Company's own name and the date of Hamilton's original patent.
The Patent Behind Brown MFG Co.Thomas C. Hamilton was a World War I veteran who entered the soft-drink trade after the war and eventually became associated with the Whistle soda business in Boston. On September 18, 1924, Hamilton filed U.S. Patent Application No. 738,385 for his stationary Bottle Cap Puller.
Hamilton's Patent No. 1,534,211 was issued on April 21, 1925. That exact date is particularly important to this opener because PAT. APR. 21, 25 is cast directly into its heel.
Thomas C. Hamilton's original Bottle Cap Puller patent, No. 1,534,211, issued April 21, 1925. Color scan from original patent material provided by historical researcher and STARR collector Dan Mardis. Historical document shown for context; not included with sale.
Hamilton to Raymond M. BrownThe surviving assignment records reveal what happened immediately before the patent was issued. On April 15, 1925, only six days before issuance, Thomas C. Hamilton assigned the full and exclusive rights in his patent application to Raymond M. Brown of Newport News, Virginia.
The records also reveal an important detail that was largely lost to Brown Manufacturing history for decades: Hamilton and his wife, Mauline Starr Hamilton, were formally described as co-partners doing business in the name of M. S. Hamilton. Mauline separately transferred the partnership's rights, title and interest connected with the Bottle Cap Puller invention to Brown.
Original patent assignment record documenting the April 15, 1925 transfer to Raymond M. Brown. The following entry identifies Thomas C. Hamilton and Mauline S. Hamilton as co-partners doing business as M. S. Hamilton. Color scan from original records provided by historical researcher and STARR collector Dan Mardis. Historical document shown for context; not included with sale.
The timing is remarkable. Hamilton's patent was issued six days after the assignment. Raymond Brown applied to incorporate the Brown Manufacturing Company name the following month, and Brown Manufacturing Company was formally incorporated in Newport News on June 8, 1925.
That extremely compressed sequence makes the marking on this opener especially fascinating: BROWN MFG CO / NEWPORT NEWS, VA / PAT. APR. 21, 25. It combines the newly emerging Brown Manufacturing identity with the exact date of Hamilton's founding patent.
Raymond “Coca-Cola” BrownThe Coca-Cola advertising on this particular example gives the early Brown history another important layer. Raymond M. Brown
