Harold the 1932 Bottle Capper

Jim Bingley
Aug 29, 2017
3 min read

Hi, My name is Harold. I was born on July 1st, 1932 at the Indestro Mfg Co., 2649 N. Kildare Ave., Chicago IL. It was a magical place where 100s different types of tools and machines were made.

I was made to cap bottles – all sorts of bottles ketchup, root beer and sarsaparilla but my favorite bottle was always beer. I love beer. All kinds of beer I didn’t care.

My early years were a whirlwind. I first worked at an illegal brewery during prohibition. Wow was that exciting. We would make thousands of bottles of beers In between hiding from Eliot Ness and the Bureau of Prohibition. Never got caught but came close many times.

Later, I went to work in a tiny legal brewery in Denver in the late 1930’s. I liked the work but it wasn’t as exciting as being an outlaw in Chicago. Eventually they got real machines and I moved on.

I lived with George and his family for 30 years in Oakland Ca. He was a home brewer and we made some excellent beer over the years. When not making beer we would drink it, smoke Camel cigarettes and watch TV. Baseball was our favorite.

George and I watched the moon landing, Nixon resignation and the 1976 Olympics where Bruce Jenner was our hero.

When George and his wife retired to Arizona, I retired to an antique store in Oakland. It wasn’t bad but not exciting either. I hung out there for a few years but eventually I moved in with a new family.

The dad thought it would be a good idea to screw a light bulb into my head and plop a cone lamp shade on top. I was not happy at all. I looked like an idiot. Over time, I got used to it. At least they put me in the living room so I could be part of the family. There was the Dad, Mom and two little clown dogs – Bob and Charlie. They were Boston Terriers – not bright but cute.

Later they brought home a little boy. Those were fun years, watching the little boy grow up and the dogs and all.

They moved to Colorado and I’m looking for a new home. The dad gave me a new mount for my light bulb and new more modern lamp shade. I haven’t looked this good in years.

If you need a loyal friend to bring light a corner of your home, take me with you.

How to Adjust My Lamp

When I was capping bottles, my operator would put a full uncapped bottle with an unused cap under my nose. He would crank my handle down on the bottle, pinching the cap closed.

The Dad who made me into a lamp liked to crank my ratchet up and down. At first, I would get annoyed but I’m used to it now.

If you want to try, first center my handle in my ratchet so it does not bang my shade. Rotate my handle up and down. My ratchet will move freely up and down without hitting my lamp shade but it won’t stay in place.

Once you find a height you like extend my handle either way to create a counter balance so the weight of my lamp won’t spin the ratchet down. You can let the handle bump my lamp shade or sort of hang in the air – either way works.

This little game will amuse little boys (big and small) longer than it should.

Nice talking with you, Harold.