Garbage (Trash) (Dust)) Can Advertisement, 1911

JF Ptak Science Books Post 227

[Update: as of May 2015 this is still the only time I've seen a 100+ year-old advertisement for a trash can.]

In the many years of dealing with unusual publications and images and illustrations and such, I do not recall ever seeing an advertisement for a waste can.  And so today, here at the tail end of the summer of 2008, I stumbled upon one, tucked away in the back of the Official Catalogue and Guide of the Ohio Valley Exposition of Cincinnati, 1910.   (Actually I was browsing the ads in the pamphlet when I saw the eye-popping half-page ad for The Weir Frog Company.  It took as few moments for me to realize that they were selling railway frogs and other major-heavy hardware, but the thought of the frog farm did linger a bit...) I cannot say that trashcan tech had improved sharply between 1911 and now.  I can say that the advertisers used an awful lot of exclamatory arrows to make their point, which leads me to perhaps a wrong assumption that this trash can was cutting edge.  Or perhaps not; after all, how much can one say about it?  (Yes, there's the patents for bomb-proof, smokeless, half-vented, lid-tethered, wheeled, semi-wheeled, clip-lidded and etc. garbage cans--actually I can count thousands of patents award to and about garbage cans.  But, basically, its pretty much the same.) See the wonderful Timeline of Garbage here.

Comments

[Jeff]

I'll have to peruse the Timeline of Garbage again. 1935 caught my eye -- Krueger's Cream of Ale made the first can of beer. Did you ever drink Genessee Cream Ale? I'd forgotten about cream ale. And then 1958 -- Bic Crystal Company introduced the disposable pen. I've been writing with a Bic Crystal pen this evening. The world is a magical place! Which is not to say that I miss the corrugated garbage can with the tight lid that was hard to get off. The plastic carts with wheels and hinged lids that now hold our garbage are to be preferred. Happy Labor Day.

[John Ptak]

Genie Cream Ale? yes. Yes. I remember driving to Montreal on the Northway and stopping around Saratoga and finding a case of Genie (sp?) Cream Ale for sale at a derelict gas station for 99 cents! I bought it and threw it away, instantly--at least I could go into the future with the story of having bought a case of any sort of beer for a buck, even if that was in 1977. Still. A dollar? What in the "h" "e" double-toothpicks could that stuff have tasted like? I'd like to say that I punctured every can with a BIC PEN to bring some closure to this story, but I didn't.
I like the garbage cans that you can't open!
Actually, in another story ABOUT ME I was driving my brand new used Chrysler New Yorker pimpmobile in 1981 when, innocently driving down the street and playing around with my fancy foot-controlled FM radio search button, my car was hit by a metal trashcan that was thrown (empty) by the hauler from the back of his truck across two lanes of traffic. He was a bit short, and landed the thing on my fender. Let me tell you, *that* was unexpected. He told me he could've made the throw if he wasn't drunk. All things being equal, it was an impressive effort.

[patti digh]

Dear Jeff -

Not only is the world a truly magical place where Bic Crystals stand in for wonder, but - as it turns out - life is also a verb! (smile)

[Jeff]

patti, a Bic Crystal IS a wonder. And although I can't find the verb form of "life" in the American Heritage Dictionary (at Bartleby.com), what do Americans know about the English language? When Tevye sings "To Life!" he may well have been using the verb form. I can't be sure. I saw Herschel Bernardi as Tevye, not Zero Mostel, and so may not have heard the authoritative version.

[Jeff]

Oh, and John ... Genessee Cream Ale was the best deal around for many years, although I think you were wise to toss the 99-cent case. It should have cost 3 bucks more. Clearly, you had an eye for value. In the movie of your life, ironic comic relief will be provided by the scene in which your new New Yorker is beaned with a garbage can.