Re: Perfume Packaging History? Do you know something I don't?
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Posted by Phil on October 05, 2007 at 17:33:10:
In Reply to: Re: Perfume Packaging History? Do you know something I don't? posted by stew on October 05, 2007 at 07:51:56: Atomizers go back in France to about the same age as Dr DeVilbiss. They were commonly used before 1900 ... more like around 1875.
Problem with atomizers of the bulb style -- if you tip them or whatever, they leak. Rexall introduced it's "Kantleek" to overcome this problem. It wasn't for perfume but rather throat spray. It's design was quite similar to the DeVilBiss throat atomizer ... except for the on/off function. Marcel Franck in France used a similar on/off function.
High end perfums today still use just a stopper -- no atomizer. The atomizer, it seems, is for the masses when put onto a perfume bottle. Some of the French manufacturers first used to the atomizers in store displays, for tester bottles. Then Coty put out an atomizer with an on/off function (and bulb) in the 1930's or 1940's ... don't know the exact date. This was, of course, patented.
The atomizer took off when the pump style replaced the bulb style. (DeVilBiss had used pump style atomizers early in the game but many seem to have preferred the bulb.)
The first atomizers on commercial perfume bottles were fixed to the bottle with a crimp that, today, looks quite primative. Little by little the technology has evolved.
Again, the problem for commercial perfume maufacturers was leakage. THEY didn't want to be the ones responsible when Madam's fancy perfume leaked all over her fancy purse.
For lots more on this, read "The Perfume Atomizer" by Triza True Latimer.
: : I'm trying to collect some background on perfume packaging starting from the beginning of the 20'th century and could use help.
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: : From what I've seen, perfume makers -- the big ones of their day -- didn't have atomizers on their bottles. Instead, their closure was some form of a plug -- a cork or glass stopper. The glass stopper (Chanel, Guerlain, etc.) could be used as a DABBER ... to dab on a bit of perfume.
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: : But, in the aftermarket (do you call it that?), atomizers existed. They came in two varieties: the bulb type (a hose connected to a bulb, a la Britney Spear's "Curious") or a brass fine mist spray pump.
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: : The DeVilBiss company was making spray pumps for medical applications before 1900. Around 1907, they started using them for perfume bottles -- and in Detroit as paint sprayers for auto company production lines. DeVilBiss still exists and is now owned by Champion Sparkplug.
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: : During the era of the 1920's, there were lots of DeVilBiss spray pumps around, on perfume bottles. It was one of the company's line.
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: : What I'd like to know is, who were their competitors? Were European firms offering atomizers too or were they using DeVilBiss technology? Were there patents on the technology?
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: : Next question would be, when did the perfume makers start to use fine mist spray pumps on their products? In the 1970's I think we still saw a lot of dabbing. Today dabbing or splashing is pratcially unheard of. Some when -- and how -- did the change take p
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