Burton Union
A Burton Union is a connected set of horizontal wooden beer casks, swan-neck pipes and shared troughs. Fermentation lifts yeast-rich foam into the trough; beer drains back to the casks, leaving yeast behind.
Equipment · Bottles, carboys and demijohns
Marble-stoppered bottle
Codd-neck bottle · Ramune bottle
A marble-stoppered bottle is a glass carbonated-drink bottle sealed by a glass marble pressed against a rubber washer. Its Codd neck holds the marble at the mouth when sealed and gives it a side pinch after opening.
A bottle made to hold its own stopper
A marble-stoppered bottle is a glass bottle for a carbonated drink, with a glass marble trapped in a widened part of its neck. In the Codd design, a rubber washer at the mouth provides the seat for the marble. The bottle can be sealed without a cork: pressure from the fizzy drink pushes the marble upward against the washer. The narrow neck and its shaped side pinch keep the marble from simply falling back onto the mouth after the drinker presses it down.
This makes the bottle a distinctive packaging device rather than a general fermentation jar. Its body holds a beverage; the marble is the stopper, and the neck is part of the closing mechanism. Glass, marble and rubber are the materials documented for the mechanism. No standard capacity, universal body shape or pressure rating is given in the sources.
Sources for this section
How the seal works
The bottle is filled with a carbonated liquid and inverted during sealing, so internal pressure pushes the marble against the rubber washer at the mouth. The marble closes the opening, and pressure maintains the seal. To open it, the marble is pushed inward. It drops from the washer into the bottle’s neck chamber; a molded pinch at one side holds it away from the pour path, allowing liquid to flow while the marble remains captive inside.
That sequence explains why the bottle’s glass shape matters. A simple straight-neck bottle would not retain the marble at the mouth, and without the side pinch the displaced marble could roll back and obstruct the opening. The historic bottle therefore combines an ordinary glass container with a purpose-shaped neck and a loose glass stopper. The museum’s description documents the mechanism but does not specify a pressure rating, rubber formulation or standard dimensions.
Sources for this section
Design, patent and dates
The date of a marble-stoppered bottle depends on which milestone is meant. The Japan Glass Bottle Association’s chronology lists a glass-ball bottle in 1849. The Museum of the Highlands describes a Codd bottle made to Hiram Codd’s 1872 patent. These dates should not be collapsed: one is the association’s earlier glass-ball-bottle entry, while the other identifies the patented design represented by a museum specimen.
The museum holds a glass Codd bottle dated 1900–1920 and lists its size as 23 by 6 centimetres. Its page does not label the axes or present those figures as a standard. The bottle form was later superseded in many drinks by the steel crown cap, but the same source says Codd bottles continue to be manufactured for use in Japan and India. Its history is therefore industrial and multi-place, rather than a design that belongs exclusively to one modern beverage.
Sources for this section
Japan, Ramune and bottle identity
The marble bottle became closely associated with Ramune in Japan, but the drink and its container have separate timelines. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries recounts an earlier cork-stoppered lemonade and dates domestic Japanese production of marble-stopper bottles to 1892. The ministry also gives separate dates for the arrival of carbonated lemonade and for local drink production. Those dates describe beverage history and bottle manufacture respectively; the Japanese name Ramune does not date the Codd design itself.
The Japan Soft Drink Association describes Ramune as the carbonated drink sealed with a marble, distinguishing it in contemporary usage from crown- or screw-capped cider. That naming convention helps explain why a Codd bottle is often called a Ramune bottle, while the bottle design itself is wider than the drink. The equipment-to-Ramune link on this site reflects that documented association; it is not a claim that every Ramune recipe or every marble-sealed bottle is identical.
Sources for this section
Variations and limits of the record
The photographs in the gallery show Japanese Ramune bottles from the 2000s: one full bottle with a paper seal and one close view of the marble in a Sangaria bottle. They are useful for seeing the actual glass material, bottle neck and marble. They are photographs of particular bottles, not evidence that their caps, labels, size or color are universal. The illustration shows one plausible sealed glass example and omits maker marks and modern packaging details.
The available records do not establish a standard volume, a single outside silhouette, a universal gasket material beyond the rubber washer in the museum account, or a tested reuse procedure. The museum’s one specimen measurement is not a specification. This item describes the marble-sealing bottle and its documented historical and Japanese use; it does not provide a safety or pressure rating for filling other bottles.
Sources for this section
History
Marble-sealed bottles predate Ramune’s familiar Japanese form. The Japan Glass Bottle Association lists a glass-ball bottle in 1849; the Museum of the Highlands identifies a Codd bottle made to Hiram Codd’s 1872 patent. Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries distinguishes the earlier cork-stoppered lemonade from Japanese manufacture of glass marble bottles, dated 1892. These are separate design, patent and adoption milestones, not one date for the drink or every bottle.
Equipment details
CapacityNo standard capacity is established. One museum specimen is listed as 23 × 6 cm, but axes are not labeled and those are not dimensions for every bottle.
SizeNo universal measurements are established. The museum catalogue lists one glass specimen as 23 × 6 cm without labeling axes.
PowerNo power Passive glass closure; internal carbonation pressure holds the marble against the washer.
How you get oneNot established Bottle manufacture is documented, but sources do not establish one current supply route for this equipment beyond bottles sold with Ramune.
CareThe sources describe the seal mechanism but do not prescribe a cleaning, inspection or storage routine.
Made of
- glass — bottle body and stopper
The bottle and marble are glass in the Codd design described by the museum; examples vary in colour and exterior shape. - rubber — mouth seal
A washer at the opening provides the seat against which internal pressure holds the glass marble.
Limits
This is a pressure-sealed bottle for carbonated drinks, not a fermentation vessel. The cited history gives no pressure rating or suitability standard for reuse.
Source →The 23 × 6 cm measurement belongs to one museum specimen; the record does not establish a standard capacity or dimension.
Source →Ramune’s name and bottle association are Japanese use history; the marble-seal design has earlier British patent and glass-bottle milestones.
Source →Places
England
Historical attestation · Region evidenceThe museum identifies Codd as an English inventor and the specimen as made to his 1872 patent; this records a patent context, not an exclusive origin for every marble-sealed bottle.
Japan
Documented use · Country evidenceThese sources place use and manufacture in Japan; the bottle’s design is not claimed to have originated there.
Japan
Manufacture · Country evidenceThe ministry dates Japanese domestic production to 1892; earlier beverage/import milestones are distinct.
India
Documented use · Country evidenceThe museum notes continuing use in India; it does not present India as the invention site or specify one local form.
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Sources
Japan Glass Bottle AssociationHistory · Equipment
History of glass bottlesThe association’s chronology lists a glass-ball bottle in 1849 outside Japan.
Cited in: Design, patent and dates
Museum of the Highlands, Brora Heritage CentreEquipment · History · Mechanism · Geography
Marble in Codd BottleIdentifies a bottle made to Hiram Codd’s 1872 patent and describes its glass body, marble, rubber seal, narrowed neck and side pinch.
Lists one 1900–1920 glass specimen as 23 × 6 cm; the page does not label the axes or claim these dimensions are standard.
States that Codd bottles remain manufactured for use in Japan and India.
Cited in: A bottle made to hold its own stopper; How the seal works; Design, patent and dates; Variations and limits of the record
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, JapanHistory · Geography
食品産業の発展：ラムネ・サイダー～炭酸飲料の登場Distinguishes Perry-era cork-stoppered lemonade from the later UK marble-stopper bottle.
Reports the start of Japanese manufacture of glass marble-stopper bottles in 1892; also gives separate dates for lemonade introduction and drink production.
Cited in: Japan, Ramune and bottle identity
Japan Soft Drink AssociationGeography · Classification
「ラムネ」の名前の由来を教えてくださいDescribes Ramune as the marble-stoppered carbonated drink and distinguishes it from crown- or screw-capped cider by closure.
Cited in: Japan, Ramune and bottle identity
Wikimedia CommonsImage
Ramune-lemonade,japan.JPGShows a full Japanese glass Ramune bottle with its marble and top paper seal; licensed CC BY 3.0.
Cited in: Variations and limits of the record
Wikimedia CommonsImage
Ramune Sangaria (Coddneck marble).jpegClose photograph shows the marble inside a Sangaria Codd bottle; file license is CC BY-SA 3.0.
Cited in: Variations and limits of the record