Brief History of Everyday Objects taken for granted

Remember the days of crown corks ?
The crown cork was a very simple bottle cap we that were part of our daily lives. But how many of us "Ever wonder who thought of this idea of using cork inside a bottle cap and why?
The crown cork was in fact the first form of bottle cap and was the brain child of William Painter in 1892 in Baltimore. It's design was quite simple and it was composed of normal metal with a knurled end in the form of an inverted crown, hence the name of crown cap. To effectively prevent leakage of liquid, the cap was covered with a thin cork disc, itself covered with a film sealing the contents of the bottle. This precaution avoided the direct contact between the liquid and the metal, which could have badly affected the taste of the beverage.
The crown cap was widely used for many alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.This design remained relatively unchanged until the 1960s, when plastic discs – less prone to deterioration or contamination — superseded the old cork seals.
Another fascinating historical fact is that the single-use crimped crown corks became one of the world’s first successful disposable products.
When I began my teaching career the infant teachers collected these crown corks , drilled holes in the middle with a hammer and nails and then placed sets of ten on a thick piece of soft wire. This was used to teach infants counting from one to ten and to add numbers. For craft older students used corks to make zwills.
(Source: Virtual Museum of Trinidad & Tobago, Jan 8, 2024)